Theodore M.
The
studies led to what might be characterized as a dogfight within the
National Research Council representing the bones that the dogs were fighting
over. In the end, the money was pretty well spread through the organization.
Having a committee representing organizations instead of disciplines is not the
way the academy usually does things, so I'm not really too proud of how that
million was spent. However, there were some good reports made; a series
of 10 reports were published. Whether it made Jamie
happy or not, I
don't know. A man like Jamie
probably never paid much attention to
them.
Why don't you continue with what you did after you left the National Academy
of Sciences. When did you join the Conservation Foundation? Was it when you
were still with the academy?
A: No, but let me continue with what #happened as they reorganized. When Frank
Press, who had been a member of the Commission on Natural Resources before
he became President Jimmy Carter's science adviser, was elected to the
presidency of the National Academy of Sciences in 1981 which made him
chairman of the National Research Council, the work was slowing down. There
had been a lot fewer contracts during the Carter administration because we
were perceived as being partial to industry. I remember one official of the EPA
telling me, "I'm not going to piss away any more money on the National
Academy of Sciences.
I had been quite busy with a study on water resources research, of which Bill
from Illinois was the chairman. It was an analysis of the Office of
Water Resources Research's proposed five-year plan, which they drew up
toward the end of 1980. We got our report out in January 1981, but nobody
was interested. They never even put it on the shelves with other unread reports
because that's when the Reagan administration decided to abolish the Office of
Water Resources Research. There weren't going to be any shelves!
There didn't seem to be any influx of studies coming in from the Reagan
administration, probably because, by that time, we were perceived as being
partial to environmentalists.
Anyway Frank Press decided to reorganize the National Research Council staff.
For the lower work load, the administrative structure may have been considered
top heavy. The work of the Commission on Natural Resources had dwindled
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