committees, and again this year, on January 19, before the Senate Public Works Committee.

Mr. Chairman, Tennessee supports the President's Appalachian program. It will become a "vehicle" for 11 States jointly with the Federal Government to lay the foundation for economic development, to provide the base for creating job opportunities in order that all of our citizens can partake of the affluent society. Tennessee is conscious of its regional interdependence with surrounding States. We have had firsthand experience with the Tennessee Valley Authority in developing the water resources of the great valley. Just as highways and water resources cannot terminate at any State line, problems of low income and unemployment cannot be confined to sections of any 1 of 11 States. We feel that only by a joint local-State-Federal effort can problems common to Appalachia be dealt with.

In hearing testimony before this committee about this region called Appalachia you have no doubt become aware of the physical, economic, and social characteristics which unite this area in contrast with the Nation, and which contrasts internally in Tennessee between the urban and industrial growth of the great valley and the underdeveloped resources of the hills, the mountains, the upland valleys, and the tributaries.

But just as the people of the growing metropolitan areas within Tennessee's Appalachia-Chattanooga, Knoxville, the tricities-realize that their destiny depends on the total development of their region, the State of Tennessee realizes now and has always realized that the development of this area in Tennessee depends on the total development of this region, from Pennsylvania to Alabama and from Ohio to Georgia.

It was decided once and for all with the establishment of the National Public Health Service as a necessary and proper interstate function decades ago that bacteria do not respect State lines. The same is true of dollars, the symbol in our market system of economic development. Private investment goes where the prerequisites are met, where the transportation access is good, the water is harnessed for human use, the natural resources are readily available, the surrounding market is growing, the basic community facilities are available, and the labor force is suited for the productive process.

But what would happen if one State in Appalachia were to develop its highway system to the State line but nothing were on the other side? What would happen if one State in Appalachia were to place a dam on one of its rivers but it were left to run wild upstream just across the State line? What would happen if one State tried to develop a regional market center in one of its Appalachian cities but the economy of the communities across the State line remained stagnant? What would happen, to borrow again from our health analogy, if one State were to develop excellent health facilities for diagnosis and treatment but across the State line the health needs of the people were totally ignored? What would happen if a State tried to promote its tourist attractions but there were no parkways between it and the large out-of-State urban centers, whose people flow by the millions to such attractions?

And, finally, what would have happened to the United States of America if our Founding Fathers had not had the courage to recognize that the rigid colonial boundaries of the Articles of Confederation had to be erased before real progress could be made for the new Nation?

Happily for Tennessee and this Nation, we do not have to answer these questions I have just posed. For before this committee is a legislative act which embodies the cooperative spirit of federalism in tackling the common problems which are found in this region called Appalachia, in harnessing underdeveloped resources and laying the groundwork for total development.

No State in Appalachia is to be left hanging at the State line. This is a program which aims at meeting the mutual felt needs of all the States which lie wholly or partly in Appalachia. We in Tennessee approve of the program which is presented to you in the sections of this legislation and embodied in the report of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission. Further, we in Tennessee feel that it connects brilliantly with many of the efforts which we have made in the past and attacks comprehensively many of the problems with which we have struggled in the past.

The capstone of the whole program, of course, is the creation of the joint Federal-State Appalachian Regional Commission to provide leadership, planning, and coordination. This approach has been successful in formulation of the program that is now before you; it will be successful in executing the intent

of Congress if this program is approved. Leaders from all areas of developmental concern in our State from communities in all geographical sections of Tennessee's Appalachia have followed closely the work of the President's Commission. We believe this is an indication of the kind of support and involvement that the joint Federal-State approach will bring in Tennessee. My personal involvement in the deliberations of the President's Commission with concerned persons from other States and the interested Federal agencies has convinced me that this approach is sound in theory and sound in practice. We in Tennessee intend to pay our share of the costs and to contribute our share of the effort to make this approach successful.

Each of the "special Appalachian programs in this act," we feel, has applicability in Tennessee and we are anxious to make every effort in its success.

The developmental highway system is essential for opening up this region. The rugged terrain and vast rural open space of large areas of this region in Tennessee need to be connected to the major highway networks. We are particularly concerned about the Tennessee "highway gaps" identified in the President's Appalachian Regional Commission report: to the southeast adjoining Georgia and North Carolina; to the northeast adjoining Kentucky and Virginia, and connecting with West Virginia; and in the Cumberland Plateau area of Tennessee. Each of these areas is being given the kind of compensatory development highway emphasis in this program which we feel is the backbone of this regional development program. In addition, assistance with our growing State access roads program will contribute to new industrial sites, new school consolidations, new livestock and timber markets, and new recreation areas.

Despite a strong effort in Tennessee to establish local health offices in every county, rugged terrain, rural isolation, and small local budgets have cut off some of the people from adequate health care. The possibility for creation of multicounty demonstration health facilities under section 202 will be a major step toward local governments providing the kind of services needed.

Much of Tennessee's Appalachia farmland is going through agricultural revolution in shifting from marginal cropland to more profitable pasturage, the key in many cases to rural economic survival. Section 203 is aimed at assisting this adjustment to market demand and optimum soil potential will be very helpful to balancing our agriculture.

Much of Tennessee's Appalachia is forested but in many cases these timber stands lack the quality and market organization to make them profitable. In many instances the know-how of good management is not available. Development highways and access roads will provide the transportation link; good forest management must make the resource worthy of being transported to market. The Department of Agriculture technical assistance program to timber development organization in section 204 will make this possible.

Each of the "supplementations and modifications of existing programs" also opens up new ways of intensifying development programs in this region where intense and comprehensive emphasis is needed to solve many of the hard-core problems.

Tennessee is presently establishing area vocational and technical schools serving subregions of the State. However, the construction of supplementary Vocational education facilities closer to the homes of persons in the most isolated areas is crucial to eliminating the hardest core education and training inadequacies. Providing new funds for this purpose under the Vocational Education Act in section 211 is vital.

A community which has no sewage treatment facilities or inadequate facilities and which otherwise has a potential for development is prevented from becoming an industrial location and is frequently the breeding place for disease. Modifying the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in section 212 to expand grants for this purpose will enhance Tennessee's water pollution control program and eliminate this threat to health and curb to development in these communities. The Tennessee Valley Authority in cooperation with State and local agencies has carried out some strip mine reclamation pilot projects in a few areas of Tennessee and surrounding States, but to reach hard-core areas with fish and wildlife restoration projects to upgrade the recreation potential of these mineeroded lands will take the special supplemental effort provided in the act in section 205.

Tennessee has been a leader in the Nation in the field of comprehensive planning and is developing a comprehensive State and regional planning program. We recognize the need, therefore, for the Appalachian Regional Commission,

under section 213 of the act, to be eligible for comprehensive planning grants to aid in cooperatively expanding our regional planning programs so they connect across State lines and with national development needs as well.

Previous State and Federal efforts to assist the neediest communities in Tennessee's Appalachia and elsewhere in Appalachia have the basic bottleneck that some communities are so much in difficulty that they cannot pay the "downpayment" of financial sharing to participate in the very grant-in-aid programs which are designed to reach them. Section 214 provides the much-needed discretionary power to adjust the Federal share in these special cases to make the grant-in-aid programs, especially for vital community facilities, more useful to these localities where new job opportunities can be created.

And, finally, the creation of a Federal-State commission with the cooperative powers to assist basic development processes through planning, research, coordination, technical assistance, and financing provides the proper medium and means to make the program effective.

We in Tennessee join with our sister Appalachian States in this effort because we realize that we share a common problem and a common opportunity. We in Tennessee have participated in the efforts of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission because we realized that only as a cooperative effort of Federal, State, and local governments and peoples can the problems of Appalachia be solved and the opportunities of Appalachia realized.

We urge that this committee carry this effort a step further toward the achievement of our ultimate goal: the maximum development of our total society and the maximum participation in our society for all its people.

Mr. JONES. Representative W. Pat Jennings, of Virginia, it is a great pleasure to have you before the committee, and I am quite sure you have some interesting information to supply.

|STATEMENT OF HON. W. PAT JENNINGS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA

Mr. JENNINGS. Yes, sir.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity to appear before the committee and I am very much for the bill. I have introduced one myself, and that is what I want to testify to here in relation to that, and I appreciate the courtesies and considerations of every member of the committee.

I am a cosponsor of the basic program that is outlined in H.R. 4, the bill introduced by the chairman of this committee, and S. 3, the bill approved in the Senate earlier this week. My bill is H.R. 1708, which contains all of the provisions of H.R. 4 and S. 3, plus a few amendments that I shall outline in a moment.

I appeared before this subcommittee last year in behalf of the legislation being considered at that time. I favored the bill least year; I favor it today. My district's 12 counties and 2 cities are eligible for this program. We hope that final action will be taken in the Congress this year. We are appreciative of the President's efforts to bring about approval of this program. We are, as stated, grateful for your subcommittee's early attention to these bills.

My district is not only a part of the Appalachian region, but I have the distinction of also having the town of Appalachia in my district. The mayor of this town has consistently called for the approval of this legislation. The people of the community and the surrounding county are in agreement that we can benefit from the economic development that is proposed.

My district produces most of the coal mined in Virginia. The problems of these counties and communities are similar to those you have

heard discussed in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia. The report published last year by the President's Appalachian Regional Commission clearly states the case for this legislation to help these areas. I shall not dwell on the question of need. It is clear. We should move to meet it.

Virginia State officials, including the Governor, have endorsed the legislation you are considering. Especially, we are interested in the section to establish the Appalachian highway network and provide desperately needed access roads. The "developmental" concept on which the highway and road system will be based is one that I have long advocated. Provide the roads and there will be progress in these cities and towns and counties.

Let me now turn briefly to the provisions of the bills. As I stated, I favor the several sections of H.R. 4 and S. 3. If there are questions on these, I shall be happy to have them and will comment to the best of my ability and knowledge. I shall comment, then, on certain provisions in my bill and certain sections of special concern in all three bills.

I mentioned the highways, section 201. H.R. 1708 calls for the same amount of mileage as the other bills. However, the additional 500 miles than has been added since last year would be for other than the access roads. H.R. 4 and S. 3 would allocate the additional mileage for access roads. It is my belief that the region could best be served by more "through" or "developmental" highways.

U.S. Highway 23, which passes through a part of my district, was included in the proposed Appalachian Highway System last year. I have proposed the inclusion of another route that is of major importance to Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky, U.S. Highway 460. Further, I recommend that U.S. Highway 58 be considered as a part of the system. In this respect, I ask the subcommittee's permission to file for the hearing record a statement from the New River Valley Steering Committee on Roads, which is a Virginia organization heading the campaign to bring improvements to U.S. Highway 460 and have it included in the Appalachian System. I shall, of course, bring to the attention of the Federal Development Planning Committee for Appalachia and the Bureau of Public Roads all information relating to U.S. 23, 460, and 58. These are definitely routes that should be included in the system that will be designated when the legislation has become law.

I am strongly in support of section 207 of the bill, which relates to the water resources survey for the Appalachian region and the undertaking of more flood protection projects. Flood protection, next to roads, is among our greatest needs. I would hope the Corps of Engineers will propose this year that additional funds be appropriated for Appalachian region authorized projects that are favorable or near favorable under the existing benefit-to-cost procedures, and that construction can be undertaken as rapidly as possibly. I propose to communicate with the corps, and other agencies concerned with flood control, regarding the projects that are needed.

Section 205 of my bill is not included in the other bills. Titled "Coal Resources and Development," this section is patterned after the timber development section of last year's bill. It further recognizes the coal resources of the area as a prime asset and one that is deserving of

attention in this program. It would provide technical assistance in the organization and operation of coal development organizations having as their objective the carrying out of coal development programs to achieve improved coal productivity and an increased return for coal operators. There are, for example, hundreds of small coal producers in the Appalachian region that might, through this bill, consolidate their operations into more efficient management units to provide more and longer employment to thousands of workers. Coal production will continue to be a major source of employment in the region. It should be encouraged. It is my understanding an organization composed of small producers from throughout the region will present testimony on the needs in this area. It should receive the careful consideration of this subcommittee.

H.R. 1708's section 208 is an amendment that I proposed to last year's legislation. It would authorize the construction of the Allegheny-Cumberland Parkway from Harpers Ferry, W. Va., through areas of West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky (including the Breaks Interstate Park) to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, which is located in adjoining areas of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. A survey of this parkway has been completed by the National Park Service but has not been published. It would provide a tremendous boost to the area's economy through construction, a major through route, and the opening up of great areas for tourism and recreation. I believe it merits the approval of this subcommittee.

I strongly endorse the bill's provisions relating to vocational education, sewage treatment works, and the supplementation of existing grant-in-aid programs. This latter provision, section 214, will help communities in providing their share of the costs for aided projects. Under the accelerated public works program, some of my communities wanted to secure a grant but could not provide the matching funds. Section 214 will help fill this need.

While I am on this subject of community projects, I would hope the House Committee on Public Works will find it possible to extend the accelerated public works program or provide a new and similar plan. This has been of great help to many of my communities and the Appalachian Regional Development Act, as now planned, does not fill the need for grants to help communities develop new water systems and carry out other needed and worthwhile projects. I bring this to your attention and urge that legislation be approved along these lines.

Because of your wish to expedite these hearings, I shall end my comments. However, I have not touched on some of the subjects included in my testimony last year. I am attaching to this statement for the benefit of the subcommittee members and not for inclusion in printed hearings, copies of my statement last year.

Again, I stress my interest and support of this legislation and my appreciation for your early attention to its enactment in this new Congress.

Mr. JONES. Thank you, Mr. Jennings.

Mr. JENNINGS. Thank you.

Mr. JONES. Our next witness will be Mr. Harsha, of Ohio, a member of this committee; you may proceed.