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B-202455 1 (1981-04-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabjcn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: /-717/ COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON D.C. 20548 April 20, 1981 / /The Honorable Richard L. Ottinger Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power Committee on Energy and Commerce House of Representatives WY4IAD.9tiO J6 Dear Mr. Chairman: Tlihsrefers to your letter of March 4, 1981, requesting an opinion/- on theLlegality of the establishment and operation of- Energy Polic4\ Task Force(EPTF), an advisory committee of the Department of Energy (DOE). You expressed concern that not all requirements of section 17 of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, the Federal Advisory Committee Act and DOE regulations had been followed in relation to the EPTFCharter filing requirements and the composition of its membership. Due to the urgency of your request, there was insufficient time to obtain an official response from DOE. The information contained herein was developed through interviews with Office of Management and Budget (OXB), DOE, and General Services Administration ,(GSA) officials concerned with the formation of the EPTF, memoranda and other materials supolied by DOE, including the DOE Secretary's letter to you dated March 20, 1931. Establishment of EPTF Section 17 of the Federal Energy Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-275, approved May 7, 1974, 88 Stat. 96, 110, 15 U.S.C. § 776 (1976), set forth procedures for the Administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, the predecessor of the Department of Energy, to establish advisory comm-ittees. Subsection (d), 15 U.S.C. § 776 (d), provides that unless inconsistent with this section, the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. Apo I (1976), will also apoly to DOE's advisory commit- tees. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that some of FACA's provisions governing the establishment of advisory committees were not complied with. Section 9(a) of the FACA prohibits establishment of an advisory committee unless there has been a formal determination by the head of the involved agencv, after consultation with the Director of the OL, that the proposed comm.ittee is in the public interest in connection with thehI' performance of duties imoosed on that agency by law. A timlv Federal Register notice of that determination is also required. 5 U.S.C. Appen- dix I, § 9(a) (197G). (Executive Order No. 12024, December 1, 1977, 42 Fed. Reg. 61445, under authority of Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1977 (42 Fe . Rc. 56101, Cctober 21, 1977), transferred advisory committee act oversight functions from OMB to GSA.) cO /0 ~5~1 B-202455 -AC Q 0 0 -V 1

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