SUMMARY STATEMENT Materials have played an important role throughout the development of our civilization; in recent decades this role has become dominant, so that ours is indeed a "Materials Age." Accepting this term, we must be aware of the different aspects of the importance of materials in our society; some of these are outlined, as follows: We should insure an adequate supply of all types of materials needed in appropriate balance for our production requirements, both in peace and during national emergencies; we should husband our resources by efficient processing techniques and by the use of commonly available materials as alternates for materials that may become short. Future concerns will involve the ability of the materials and energy resource base to support national and world aspirations for economic growth, and the implications for the economy of periodic changes in the relative prices of various materials. We need to develop new materials with novel properties to satisfy the more stringent demands of advanced technologies. Finally, it is of the utmost importance that, from the initial stages of production of materials through their ultimate use and disposal, we conduct our operations and activities in such a way as to minimize pollution of air and water and to avoid despoliation of the environment, both physical and biological. All these aspects of materials management were considered by the members of the ad hoc committee-as they have been by similar investigative bodies in the past. The problems are not new, but an increased urgency attaches to their solution. The threats posed by pollution are not only nationwide but worldwide in scope and demand worldwide attention. It is therefore recommended that a national commission be formed whose concern will be the drafting of recommended national policies governing the handling of materials from extraction to disposal, and the formulation of guidelines for congressional consideration. The body of this report outlines in greater detail the different aspects of the materials problem to which reference was made above. An overview of the items recommended for consideration by the Commission may be had from a listing on page 10. Preface__ TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary statement_ Concurrence_ Introduction The supply requirements problem in materials. The problem of the interaction of materials and environment. - Identification and continuing appraisal of national goals of materials.. Technological and political changes affecting the materials supply/requirements balance....... Methodology for integration of materials information and information management. ___ Establishment of a national consensus on materials policy and action.. Proposal for a national commission on materials policy.. List of appendices-- (VII) Page VII VII 1 3 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 10 13 TOWARD A NATIONAL MATERIALS POLICY I. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to present an informed opinion as to national action in the field of materials that is judged to be needed now in furtherance of the national interest. The report identifies significant issues that require assessment and policy decision. It proposes a means to make these issues more visible, to examine them in depth, and to develop conclusions and recommendations for their resolution. Sound policies for supply, use, and disposal of materials are regarded as essential for the attainment of national objectives. Adequate resources and their prudent use have long been a national concern. Indispensable for the production of useful goods in peace and war, materials are now also perceived to be a cause of environmental degradation. As human society becomes more and more populous, as living standards rise, and as the benefits of industry and technology are extended to a larger proportion of the inhabitants of the globe, more and more materials are consumed, and more and more waste products threaten to degrade the environment. In the historical evolution of the United States, the role of materials in commerce has undergone periodic change. Initially, materials were principally an article of export. Then processing industries developed and began to consume increasing percentages of materials at home. Exports were mainly of manufactured goods, and an increasing proportion of total imports were of raw materials. In copper, for example, the United States has moved in the past half-century from the position of the world's leading exporter to one of the world's leading importers. World War II provided a dramatic lesson as to the role of materials in national defense. The deep concern for insufficiencies in materials experienced in that war led to the creation of the national stockpile, to provide essential reserves for future possible war emergency. During the Korean war, the President's Materials Policy Commission, under the chairmanship of William S. Paley, made a comprehensive survey of national requirements and supplies of materials, including energy sources and water. This landmark study, now nearly 17 years in the past, provided valuable guidelines for the Nation. Many of its recommendations were followed; some were not. In particular, the Paley Commission foresaw that many changes would occur in industrial technology, in consumer demands, in conditions of overseas supplies of materials, and in patterns of conservation, reclamation, and disposal of waste materials. The Commission concluded that national materials policy could not possibly be prescribed for once and for all. It would require periodic reassessment. This, said the Commission, should be a regular and continuing function of Government. It should not be that of an 30-057-69 pt. 1 - 27 operating agency. Its energies "should be directed to broad, long-range analysis and not diverted into immediate problems of operation." It could call attention to the need for new projects or changes, coordinate public and private activities, and "survey the total pattern of activities in the materials and energy field." In the words of the Commission: There must be, somewhere, a mechanism for looking at the problem as a whole, for keeping track of changing situations and the interrelation of policies and programs. This task must be performed by a Federal agency near the top of the administrative structure. Such an agency [continued the statement], at the level of the Executive Office of the President should review all areas of the materials field and determine how they can be best related to each other. It should maintain, on a continuing basis, the kind of forward audit which has been this Commission's one-time function, but more detailed than has been possible here; collect and collate the facts and analyses of various agencies; and recommend appropriate action for the guidance of the President, the Congress, and the Executive agencies. Contemporary expansion of world trade, and enlargement in world requirements for industrial materials, have occasioned concern for the future adequacy of materials and raise once more the issue of reliance on sources abroad versus development of self-sufficiency at home. On this issue the Paley Commission said: ***The United States must reject self-sufficiency as a policy and instead adopt the policy of the lowest cost acquisition of materials wherever secure supplies may be found: selfsufficiency, when closely viewed, amounts to a self-imposed blockade and nothing more. Materials continue to be indispensable in the application of technology in the modern world. Vast advances have been made in materials since the Paley Commission completed its assignment. The effect of technology on increased purity of materials has had a far-reaching effect on industry. (See app. B.) New technology in materials has contributed indispensably-often creatively-to many new industries of the present day, such as: solid-state devices, computers, lasers, composite materials, aerospace, deep-diving submarines, titanium, nuclear power, desalinization, and many more. (See app. C.) Many new alternatives and options, in the solution of materials problems, have become available. Modern information technology is producing means of information transfer and coodination not previously available. At the same time, the problems presented to the modern world by needs, uses, and disposal of materials have become more complex and more serious. Therefore, it is now time for a reassessment at the national level of policies regarding materials. (See apps. D and E.) II. THE SUPPLY/REQUIREMENTS PROBLEM IN MATERIALS All energy- and product-oriented economies are heavily dependent on materials. The maintenance and expansion of our already prosperous economy will draw on materials to a substantial degree, although, as that economy is balanced more toward services than products, the rate of growth of demands for materials will not parallel that of the rate of growth of the economy as a whole. Nonetheless, the increasing population in the United States, as well as the growth of the economy, will lead to increased, and not lessening, demands for materials. Simultaneously, the United States has long recognized, as a national objective, the desirability of encouraging the development of prosperous economies abroad. Despite the ravages of World War II, an advanced stage of industrial development enabled European nations to ingest large amounts of United States economic assistance and translate that assistance into the increased productivity of goods and, more recently, services. Accordingly, European demands for materials have gone up very rapidly on a per capita basis, probably more rapidly than that of the United States. By their very nature, the developing countries, at a lower stage of technology, have responded less rapidly and less efficiently to an influx of support from the United States and from other countries. Nevertheless, their economies have grown and so have their demands for materials. As many of these economies approach a point of increasing selfsufficiency in an economic sense, it can be expected that they will have explosive demands for new materials in order to satisfy the needs of their burgeoning populations for goods. As a basis for expansion of their economies, many of these countries have become international suppliers of raw materials. As their economies mature, more and more of those raw materials will be upgraded in order that the advantages to the local economy of adding value to the export will be realized. While the United States is still an important producer of raw materials, it is increasingly dependent on world supplies. In the changing raw materials economy of the world, demand threatens to rise faster than supply; the economic security of the United States, to the extent that it depends on materials from abroad, is thereby in jeopardy. Fortunately, the higher degree of technological sophistication in the United States makes it possible to increase the degree of interchangeability of materials so that more available materials can be substituted for less available ones. This element of technology has reduced the tension and the dependence of the United States on some of the products which are available largely or solely from abroad. Nevertheless, the competition for materials can be expected to grow and, as the underdeveloped world becomes more mature economically, to grow at an increasing rate. |