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Senator MUSKIE. Our last scheduled witness this morning is Dr. Walter B. Hibbard, Jr., Director of the Bureau of Mines.

I understand Dr. Hibbard is accompanied by Mr. J. Wade Watkins, Director of Petroleum Research.

You may proceed, sir.

STATEMENT OF DR. WALTER R. HIBBARD, JR., DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF MINES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; ACCOMPANIED BY J. WADE WATKINS, DIRECTOR OF PETROLEUM RESEARCH

Dr. HIBBARD. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to have this opportunity to testify before this committee. May I introduce my colleague, Mr. Wade Watkins, who is Director of Petroleum Research for the Bureau of Mines.

The Bureau of Mines has a long history of interest and research on the prevention of water and air pollution. As far back as 30 years ago, Bureau engineers and scientists provided guidance for the petroleum industry in methods for disposing of brines produced with oil by injection into subsurface permeable rock formations in such a manner that contamination of surface and subsurface waters would not

occur.

If I may digress for a moment from the written testimony, back in 1923 the Bureau of Mines entered a cooperative agreement with the General Motors Corp. and the Ethyl Gasoline Corp. in cooperation with the U.S. Public Health Service, to make experimental studies on the effects of ethyl gasoline and its combustion products.

Bureau monograph No. 2 which I have here is the result of these studies which were conducted in close cooperation with the Public Health Service.

In fact, Dr. R. R. Sayers, who subsequently became a director of the Bureau of Mines, was at that time our Chief Surgeon and also an officer in the Public Health Service.

Senator MUSKIE. Does that contain a summary or conclusion that might be well to include in the record at this point?

Dr. HIBBARD. This is a monograph which is largely concerned with information as a result of the studies. There is a summary but it is fairly complicated and more factual than it is interpretive. Senator MUSKIE. Could that be available to the staff of the committee?

Dr. HIBBARD. This can be made available to your staff; yes, sir. In 1957 the recognized competence of Bureau researchers in fuels combustion research was responsible for the initiation of cooperative research with the U.S. Public Health Service in its own laboratories. In fiscal year 1966 funds transferred from the Public Health Service were obligated in the following amounts: (1) Bartlesville Petroleum Research Center, $325,000; and (2) Pittsburgh Coal Research Center, $345,000.

A recent cooperative agreement was negotiated with the new Committee on Air and Water Conservation of the American Petroleum Institute for a 3-year research program at our Bartlesville Petroleum Research Center on the effect of fuel volatility on automobile exhaust

emissions. The total funds expected to be available from the American Petroleum Institute over the 3-year period are about $480,000.

The research studies will cover losses of automotive fuel from the fuel system and will probe the effect of changes in fuel volatility on the amount of hydrocarbon unburned in the combustion process. Hydrocarbons are lost to the atmosphere by evaporation from the fuel tank and by boiling from the carburetor.

Tentative allowable standards for evaporation loss have been suggested by air pollution abatement officials. At the same time that it becomes desirable to reduce losses from vehicular fuel systems, engineering changes made to meet exhaust hydrocarbon emissions standards have resulted in increased temperatures in auto engine compart

ments.

Changes in fuel formulations may be required to meet evaporation loss specifications. Moreover, it is possible that changes in fuel volatility would have deleterious effects on vehicular emissions.

It is expected that the experimental work will involve several fuels with volatility varied between 5 and 12 pounds Reid vapor pressure; other fuels to be included in the tests will have hydrocarbon-type distribution altered to remove the photochemically reactive material from components that might be lost through evaporation.

A part of the planned research will be a comparison of the emissions from fuels containing the national average amounts of lead antiknock additives with emissions from fuels formulated to have adequate antiknock quality with substantially less than average amounts of lead additives. The interest in this study is not upon lead per se but upon the effect of changing fuel formulations to allow a reduction in lead additive level.

It should be emphasized that the Bureau of Mines neither professes competence nor considers as part of its research mission the health effects of automotive emissions as air pollutants. This properly is a responsibility of the Public Health Service. The Bureau's research on fuels combustion is organized to (1) identify and measure the effluents that are generated in fuels use, and (2) study the interdependence of factors in the vehicle and combustion system.

These factors encompass the fuel, oxidant, engine and combustion parameters, and the exhaust system. This research does include the kinds and amounts of the various components of the exhaust stream and their comparative reactivities in producing photochemical smog. It is factfinding relative to fuels utilization.

The Bureau's concern is to minimize air, water, and land pollution by any and all effluents and residues-gaseous, liquid, or solid-resulting from minerals extraction and utilization, including fuels. We are pledged to work toward the objective of promoting conservation through the wise and efficient utilization of our mineral resources, while maintaining the quality of our environment.

Senator MUSKIE. Thank you, Mr. Hibbard.

I have here a copy of a release from the Department of the Interior dated June 1, 1966, entitled "Better Gasoline Formulas Sought in New Government-Industry Air Pollution Research Program." This release will be included in the record at this point.

64-886-66- -10

(The exhibit referred to follows:)

[News release, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines]

BETTER GASOLINE FORMULAS SOUGHT IN NEW GOVERNMENT-INDUSTRY AIR
POLLUTION RESEARCH PROGRAM

Special "anti-pollution" gasoline formulas that may produce cleaner auto exhaust will be tested soon in a joint research program by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Mines and the American Petroleum Institute.

Bureau of Mines Director Walter R. Hibbard, Jr., said today that under a newly agreed upon cooperative arrangement, the API will contribute $480,000 to the program and the Bureau will furnish research personnel and facilities.

Many different gasoline "recipes" will be devised and tested, Hibbard said, to determine which produce the cleanest exhaust when burned in a variety of engines under varying conditions. The results, he predicted, should prove indispensable to Federal, State, and local officials concerned with possible air pollution regulations covering gasoline-engine exhaust emissions, as well as to the petroleum and automobile industries.

Hibbard described the cooperative program as "another effort by Government and industry to meet their point responsibility for air pollution abatement." He added, "We believe that, in the long run, joint efforts of the kind typified in this agreement will prove to be the most effective way of combating the Nation's growing air pollution problems."

Bureau scientists will test two general classes of fuel, Hibbard explained. The first consists of gasoline without tetraethyl lead, the common anti-knock compound. Lead is toxic, and because increasingly large amounts of it are released into the atmosphere from auto exhausts, considerable interest has been aroused in research on possible new types of unleaded motor fuel to reduce air pollution. Since removal of the lead requires "juggling the recipe" to preserve the fuel's anti-knock characteristics, the Bureau of Mines will test many different formulas of unleaded gas to determine which gives the best combination of performance and clean exhaust. The tests will cover commercially available unleaded gas as well.

The second class of gasolines to be studied, Hibbard said, are those containing a higher-than-normal proportion of volatile ingredients, such as pentane and butane. There is evidence to indicate that the exhaust from engines using such fuels contributes relatively little to the formation of smog. Hibbard noted, however, that fuel volatility can contribute to vapor lock in fuel lines and carburetors a problem that would have to be overcome before such gasolines could become a commercial reality.

The joint research project is scheduled to last three years, and will include use of a wide variety of automobiles, representing most of the passenger car engine types on the market today. Most of the work will be conducted at the Bureau's Bartlesville (Okla.) Petroleum Research Center, which has for many years been a leading institution in research on efficient production and use of mineral fuels.

Senator MUSKIE. Included in that release is the following statement which I think supplements what you have already testified to this morning.

Bureau scientists will test two general classes of fuel, Hibbard explained. The first consists of gasolines without tetraethyl lead, the common antiknock compound. Lead is toxic and because increasingly large amounts of it are released into the atmosphere from automobile exhausts considerable interest has been aroused in research on possible new types of unleaded motor fuel to reduce air pollution.

One of the objectives of the study is to undertake to develop fuels which will operate without lead as well as they operate with lead. Dr. HIBBARD. Fuels without lead additives are included in the study. Senator MUSKIE. This study is being conducted under an agreement with the American Petroleum Institute?

Dr. HIBBARD. Yes, sir.

Senator MUSKIE. And it is in part financed by funds which will be made available by the American Petroleum Institute?

Dr. HIBBARD. Yes, sir.

Senator MUSKIE. What will be the Bureau's contribution to the cost of the study?

Dr. HIBBARD. Generally in these cooperative agreements there is a matching of contributions. Our contribution will be in providing facilities and people and the obtaining of information to carry out the tests and the preparation of reports.

Senator MUSKIE. Now are your studies in this field limited to the studies which you will undertake under that agreement?

Dr. HIBBARD. Our general studies in the field of air pollution are not limited to this particular agreement. We have undertaken work for the Public Health Service, mentioned in my testimony, which is concerned with the characteristics of emissions from auto exhausts, including diesels, under various conditions of combustion parameters.

In other fields we have undertaken work sponsored by the Public Health Service on studies of sulfur in coal and SO, removal from the stack effluents from the burning of coal. In addition we have funds of our own which have been reprogramed into this general area of air pollution.

Senator MUSKIE. Will there be any duplication between the studies conducted under your agreement with the American Petroleum Institute and any of these other studies which you have undertaken?

Dr. HIBBARD. No, sir; we make sure that the studies we undertake are complementary to our other work and are of use and interest to the Federal Government as well as to the sponsor.

Senator MUSKIE. So that any work that is done to develop substitutes for lead as an antiknock additive will be done under this agreement with the American Petroleum Institute?

Dr. HIBBARD. That is correct.

Senator MUSKIE. I would like to ask some questions related to your agreement with the American Petroleum Institute so that I may understand its implications. First of all there will be included in the record at this point a copy of your cooperative agreement with the American Petroleum Institute which is dated May 9, 1966. (The document referred to follows:)

COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE

This cooperative agreement, entered into this 9th day of May, 1966 between the United States of America, acting through the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines (hereinafter referred to as the "Bureau") and the American Petroleum Institute, a non-profit corporation operating under the laws of the District of Columbia located at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York etc. (hereinafter referred to as the "API”):

Witnesseth that, it is agreed as follows:

1. The Bureau and the API shall during the term of this Agreement cooperate in studies, laboratory experiments, and vehicle testing operations to gain information on (1) the influence of motor gasoline volatility in vehicle emissions and (2) the emissions from vehicles fueled with prototype unleaded gasoline. "Emissions" as used in this Agreement shall include both (a) tailpipe emissions and (b) evaporative losses.

2. The cooperative work contemplated by this Agreement shall be performed by and under the direction of the Bureau with the advice and counsel of representatives of the API. Laboratory experiment and vehicle testing operations

shall be conducted at the Bureau's Research Center, Bartlesville, Okla., and at such other locations and utilizing such other facilities as are available and required for use in fulfilling the experimental objectives of the work.

3. The fuels, vehicles, equipment, supplies and experimental procedures to be used in the work shall be selected and the experimental program to be carried out shall be specified by agreement of representatives of the Bureau and the API.

4. The Bureau shall provide at its Research Center, Bartlesville, Okla., such facilities, equipment, materials, supplies, and technical and operating personnel as are available and suitable to perform the work under this Agreement. Additional facilities, equipment, and supplies may be provided by purchase, lease, or other arrangement as deemed necessary and appropriate by the Bureau. Vehicles to be used for test under this Agreement will be purchased by the Bureau with monies provided by API as hereinafter set forth. Excepting such test vehicles, all equipment, supplies, and material purchased in connection with the work under this Agreement are and shall become or remain the exclusive property of the Bureau. Any test vehicles obtained for use in connection with work under this Agreement shall be used exclusively for test purposes and are by the terms of this Agreement construed as test equipment. The vehicles obtained by lease or purchase shall be sold or lease cancelled when no longer required for testing under this Agreement. All monies collected from the sale of the test vehicles sold shall be returned to the trust fund further defined in Section 5 of this Agreement.

5. The API shall pay to the Bureau the sum of $480,000 as its full and proportionate share of the costs and expenses to be incurred by the Bureau in carrying out the work under this Agreement, such sum to be paid by the API to the Bureau in installments paid over a three-year period. Payments shall be made to total $230,000 paid during the calendar year 1966; to total $150,000 paid during the calendar year 1967; and to total $100,000 paid during the calendar year 1968. First payment in the sum of $100,000 shall be made upon execution of this contract and the second payment in the sum of $130,000 to be paid on or between June 15, 1966. Subsequent payments may be made as agreed upon by representatives of the Bureau and the API, except that at least one-half of any year's installment must be received prior to April 15 of that year, and the remaining half must be received prior to November 1 of that same year.

Payments made by the API to the Bureau under this Agreement shall be deposited in a trust fund in the Treasury of the United States for the use of, and to be drawn upon by, the Bureau for payment of any costs or expenses, under this contract, including, but not limited to, travel expense of Bureau employees, other personnel expense including attendance at meetings and conventions, relating to the cooperative work under this Agreement, and as set forth in Paragraph 4 above, for the payment of any material, supplies, and equipment purchased by the Bureau and for the costs of modifications, adaptation, or extesting or other experimental research involved in the cooperative work. tension of the Bureau's existing facilities as necessary to accommodate vehicular The Bureau shall by March 15 following each calendar year in which work is done under this Agreement, and upon termination of this Agreement or completion of the work hereunder furnish to the API a written statement of its expenditures to be funded from the trust fund established under the preceding paragraph. Such statement shall be deemed prima facie accurate and correct, it being understood that the Bureau is not required to maintain any system of cost accounting in drawing upon and expending money contributed by the API. Upon completion of the work under this Agreement or the earlier termination of the Agreement, the balance of any money contributed by the API remaining in the said trust fund which has not been expended or obligated by the Bureau shall be returned to the API.

6. Subject to the provisions of Section 13, hereof, this Agreement shall become effective as of January 1, 1966, and shall continue in force and effect until December 31, 1968. It is understood that the term of this Agreement may be extended by written agreement of the parties hereto.

7. The Bureau shall suitably tabulate and collate all data, information, and conclusions derived from work under this Agreement and shall furnish to the API written technical reports of progress setting forth such tabulations, collations, and conclusions. Such progress reports shall be made at such times as the Bureau and the API acting jointly judge progress in the experimental

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