Though the Arab oil embargo recedes mercifully into history, its legislative progeny remain with us. One such creation is the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974¹ (ESECA), a proclamation by Congress that the oil- and gas-burning electric utilities of the nation would, where feasible, have to convert to the use of coal. Recent months have seen this mandate move from rhetoric to reality in a dizzying rush of events that included issuance of impact statements, promulgation of regulations, issuance of conversion orders, and congressional consideration of amendments.

It is time to take stock.

Some environmental issues are clear-cut, capable of being fully analyzed within their own four corners. Coal conversion epitomizes the opposite type, touching as it does on several of the most intensely fought environmental issues of the day. It has, most visibly, led to disconcerting pressures upon the Clean Air Act, an enactment already under anti-environmental fire. It has renewed the prennial debate on the health effects of the stationary source emissions, and has provided a focus for further attacks on the stack gas scrubber. It has brought new urgency to the stripmining controversy. Lastly, and most significant, it has forced government officialdom to ask the critical question: Where should the burden of the nation's drive to reduce oil consumption and lessen import dependency fall most heavily?