William Flynn Martin - Department of Energy

Department of Energy

In June 1986, Martin was nominated by President Reagan and confirmed by the United States Senate as United States Deputy Secretary of Energy, the number two official of the United States Department of Energy . Martin reported to Secretary of Energy John S. Herrington. The DOE is responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons complex, scientific research and energy policy. At the time of his confirmation, the department had over 150,000 employees and contractors. Martin was awarded the department’s highest award by Energy Secretary John S. Herrington for a report he produced, Energy Security: Report to the President of the United States . It was the first comprehensive inter-agency, publicly available study on US energy security and concluded that energy imports would continue to rise and that US must strive for greater energy efficiency and development of clean coal technology, safe nuclear power, natural gas, solar and other renewable technologies, as well as to maintain incentives for environmentally sensitive domestic oil development. Martin testified before the United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the study conclusions. His testimony can be seen here . For this, he was commended by the Democratic Chairman of the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, John Dingell . Martin was also the administration's top energy adviser on the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement that opened up energy markets between the United States and Canada. He was commended for his work as a member of the negotiating team and core member of the Cabinet group that oversaw the negotiations with Canada . Martin's testimony on behalf of the agreement before the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on International Economic Policy, Trade and Western Hemisphere Affairs can be seen here . The full text of theses Congressional hearings on the agreement is available here .

In 1986, Martin engaged then-Governor and future President Bill Clinton in a debate before the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on the merits of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's powers to set interstate electricity rates . The Senate Committee supported Martin's view, objected to by Clinton, that an electricity holding company, Grand Gulf, could justifiably raise electricity prices in the state of Arkansas due to cost overruns of the Grand Gulf Nuclear Generating Station operating in Mississippi. Though Arkansas received no power from Grand Gulf because of their interstate jurisdictions under US federal law, this debate was significant in that it established firm guidelines for the US electricity industry during a period of deregulation and concern over "rate shock."

During Martin's tenure at the DOE, he was presented with and approved a proposal by Dr. Alvin Trivelpiece to map the Human Genome . The Human Genome Project was the crown jewel of 20th century biology. This chart (available here )was used in the Spring of 1986 by Trivelpiece, then Director of the Office of Energy Research in the Department of Energy, to brief Martin and Under Secretary Joseph Salgado regarding his intention to reprogram $4 million dollars to initiate the project with the approval of Secretary Herrington. This reprogramming was followed by a line item budget of $16 million the following year. This modest effort triggered the activities that led to the sequencing of the Human Genome. It is notable that this scientific gem was launched by the math, physics and supercomputing strengths of the Department of Energy . Trivelpiece and Martin, under the supervision of Secretary Herrington, also collaborated on a project to launch the Superconducting Super Collider. A letter from Martin to Dr. Trivelpiece recounting the origins of ITER, Human Genome and SSC can be seen here .

In 1987, Acting Secretary of Energy Martin also joined President Reagan and members of his cabinet and the United States Supreme Court to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the United States Constitution. President Reagan, accompanied by his Cabinet, spoke on the footsteps of the US Capitol addressing hundreds of thousands of Americans celebrating the event on the National Mall.

Martin has continued to work with the DOE on various projects since his tenure as Deputy Secretary. From 2002 to 2004, he served on the Secretary's Advisory Board (SEAB), chairing the industry-government sub-committee and participated in the drafting of its 2003 report Critical Choices: Science, Energy and Security. Since 2002, he has been Chairman of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee (NEAC) and was a committee member of a SEAB group to review the Department of Science. Recently, he served in an advisory capacity on the DOE’s Strategic Technology Energy Plan (STEP) aimed to utilize technological gains in energy efficiency to both reduce carbon emissions as well as overall energy consumption. His contribution to the project was to create an energy supply/demand ‘matrix’ approach to detail all sectors of energy use (industrial, commercial, residential etc.) and supplies to meet those demands. A sample matrix can be seen here .

Martin has testified more than twenty-five times before the US House of Representatives and US Senate on topics including: United States energy security; the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement; oil and gas tax policy; the future of natural gas; China's nuclear power prospects; US coal exports; electricity deregulation; the US-Japan Nuclear Cooperation Agreement; the priorities of the Department of Energy, the role of International Energy Agency; renewable energy prospects; the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; the Reagan-Gorbachev fusion agreement; and US economic sanctions policy. A full list and links to the individual testimonies can be found here .