Frido, November 7, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY rage Sever ~rida9, November 7, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY t'age Sevev GRADUAL DECONTROL Congress agrees on oil plan i orberg Nook *'fop WASHINGTON (1')-Congres- sional conferees reached agree- ment yesterday on an oil-pric- ing plan that would gradually increase fuel prices after the 1976 elections. It was unclear whether the legislation is ac- ceptable to President Ford. The complex pricing plan is part of a broad energy bill that Congress expects to approve next week. Its passage and ac- ceptance by Ford would end a 10-month stalemate between the White House and the Demo- cratic-controlled Congress over setting a national energy policy. THE PRICING proposal of the Senate-House conference com- mittee, which has been working on the energy bill sinceOct. 6, /would result in a four-cent roll- back in the retail price of a gal- lon of gasoline within the next 14 months, economists estimate. By 1980, gasoline prices would /l ' be increased by about 7% to 91 cents a gallon above today's av- erage price of 60 cents. The conferees are expected to complete work on other provi- sions in the bill early next week. THE COMPROMISE p 1 a n would retain federal controls on oil prices for 40 months, through the spring of 1979. John Hill, deputy administra-' tor of the Federal Energy Ad- ministration, told reporters the ' pricing provisions are unaccept- able to Ford, mainly because they do not allow special high S < prices for oil from Alaska. But in several hours of give- AP Photo and-take, the conferees resolved their own differences and moved' closer than ever before to the pricing policy advocated by the aster un- Ford administration. ago. Still U N D E R THE compromise 1976. measure, the average price of U.S. crude oil would be rolled back and then gradually allowed ' to {rise to compensate for infla- tion and to provide greater in- have allowed oil prices to rise1 centive for increased produc- gradually to keep pace with in-1 tion. flation while removing federal However, the increases could controls from about half the not total more than 10 per centj U.S. oil that is subject to con-c a year. Rep. John Dingell (D- trols. Mich.), a conferee, said he had! been assured that the adminis- IN 4S MONTHS, all controls tration would oppose the Demo- would have expired. cratic proposals. The majority of the Demo-l Earlier yesterday, Hill told a crats on the conference com- House Government Operations mittee want to retain controlsf subcommittee that he was dis- for only 40 months - through mayed that Congress has not March 1979-but would hold do-r acted faster to deal with the mestic oil prices much lower' nation's natural gas shortage. during that period. Ford says higher prices would HILL SAID that unless inter- force Americans to conserveI state natural gas prices are de- fuel and would mean more regulated, it will be necessary money for the oil industry to to pass emergency legislation produce more energy. each year "to deal with short- Democrats say it is far more ages which will only continue to important to hold down fuel worsen." prices during a time of infla- At the conference on the! tion and high unemployment. energy bill Dingell tried to gain! The current price controls, acceptance of a plan that he which expire on Nov. 15, have said was acceptable to Ford. held the price of 60 per cent of The Dingell plan, rejected 4 U.S. oil production at $5.25 a to 3, would have resulted in barrel while the oil that is free higher consumer prices for fuel of controls sells for $14. That after about 10 months. It would results in an average for all Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at The University of Michigan presentsI The Taraknath Das and Mary K. Dos Lecture by Richard L. Park' Prof. of Political Science at The University of Michigan "THE EMERGENCY IN INDIA, 1975" Rackham Amphitheater Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. Nov. 11, 1975 U.S. production of $8.75 per barrel. H: .&*U The oil-price provisions are PURPLE only the most controversial part of the bulky energy bill. It also would require manufacturers to E almost double the fuel efficiency P