Energy Research Authorization (H.R. 3474) The vote is on the Hechler amendment to remove $6 billion in federal loan guarantees to encourage the commercialization of synthetic fuels, such as oil shale, coal gasification, and coal liquefaction. Environmentalists have strongly opposed any subsidies for the development of synthetic fuels, because they require huge amounts of energy and capital, extensive strip mining and the depletion of scarce Western water supplies. Synthetic fuels may require almost as much energy to produce as they will eventually yield in fuel, and are so expensive that they cannot compete in a free market without mammoth subsidies and price supports. Meanwhile other more efficient and less damaging energy alternatives remain underfunded. The loan guarantees were adopted in the Senate without hearings and the House had no opportunity to amend the bill in Committee. As Rep. Hechler stated, Òto adopt this program assures us that we will continue the same wrong-headed fiscal and regulatory policies that have brought us to the current energy crisis.Ó The President opposed the amendment. Motion agreed to 263-140. December 11, 1975. ÒYESÓ is the correct vote.