In 1975, Energy Czar Wastes Energy While Urging to Stop Wasting Energy
In November 1975, Sen. William Proxmire gave bureaucrat Frank Zarb a Golden Fleece award for wasting energy during an energy crisis — as he was urging people not to waste energy.
Proxmire gave the award to Zarb, administrator of what was then the Federal Energy Administration. It was created in 1974 to address the 1970s energy crisis, and in 1977, merged with the Energy Research and Development Administration into the newly-created U.S. Department of Energy.
Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, gave awards to wasteful and nonsensical spending, eventually handing out 168 Golden Fleece Awards between 1975 and 1988.
“Since Jan. 1, 1975, this winged wastrel of energy, fuel and taxpayers’ money has used chartered Air Force and private aircraft on 13 trips to places such as New Orleans, Louisiana, Jackson, Mississippi, Little Rock, Arkansas and New York City,” the senator said of Zarb.
He spent $25,000 — $137,690 in 2022 dollars — and used almost 19,000 gallons of fuel in 1975 “jetting around the county in chartered aircraft urging businessmen and civic groups to economize on energy and fuel.”
“In half or more of the total cases, Mr. Zarb flew in a plush four-engine Air Force jet, which burned enough fuel in an hour to supply the average American driver with enough gasoline to drive for an entire year,” Proxmire said.
While he called Zarb a “hardworking, conscientious administrator,” he should be able to see the “supreme irony” of his actions.
Proxmire noted that on occasions where Zarb charted the Air Force jet, a commercial flight was also flying from his originating point to his destination — at 1/20th of the cost.
The private plane he flew to Little Rock used more than 2,500 gallons of jet fuel and the flight cost the government $3,053. When he arrived, he urged residents to end their “romance with the chrome-plated gunboat,” a luxury car that had been an American status symbol.
Zarb should have received two awards, one for wasting taxpayer money and another for his laughable hypocrisy.
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