MR. CHAIRMAN AND DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE: My name is Edmund W. Littlefield, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Utah International Inc., a surface miner of steam coal, uranium, copper, and iron ore in the United States and coking coal, iron ore, and copper outside the United States. I also serve as Vice Chairman of the American Mining Congress and Chairman of its Energy Committee. The United States faces the prospect of importing more foreign oil to meet a growing share of its energy requirements unless domestic energy production can be sharply increased. In the near term this necessity will remain even after measures to conserve the wasteful use of energy have been adopted. This Committee is now considering and wisely so the role that coal can play in providing a larger share of our energy requirements and displacing foreign oil that otherwise must be imported. Coal is our most abundant domestic fuel resource. Other fossil fuels or uranium reserves necessary to underwrite our future requirements are yet to be discovered. Coal reserves are already in being and ample enough to serve our needs for hundreds of years provided the coal in the ground can be brought into consumption in ways deemed to serve the national interest. The national interest requires that the coal be available in the market place at a price that is reasonably competitive with other alternative fuels. It further requires that the coal be produced and consumed in a manner that is environmentally acceptable and not harmful to the national well being balanced against our other choices. In considering our energy problem many carefully prepared projections have been made of the role that coal may play in meeting our future energy needs. The forecast figures vary widely depending upon the assumptions used. The National Petroleum Council report presented four cases, the most