Award of Grant by the San Francisco Operations Office of the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration for the Energy Awareness Project

The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) awarded a grant to the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance for the purpose of increasing awareness of the national and local energy situation, including needs, issues, problems, and opportunities, among various groups throughout California. The grant was referred to as the Energy Awareness Project. Ten seminars held under the grant were intended to provide an overview of the energy situation nationally and in California and to provide resource materials to seminar attendees so that they could continue energy education in their own communities.

There was no evidence that federal funds were used improperly or to perform lobbying activities. Interviews with seminar attendees and review of the seminar handout materials did not indicate that the seminars were presented in a biased manner or that the attendees were encouraged to contact their elected representatives in order to support the administration's energy proposals. The selection of the council for the project could be questioned from a public relations aspect since the council's stance in previous energy matters clearly established them as pronuclear. While project funding sources within ERDA were identifiable, the justifications used for transferring project funds did not adequately or fairly reveal the real purpose for which these funds were to be used.