Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 90 Part 1.djvu/1201

 PUBLIC LAW 94-385—AUG. 14, 1976

90 STAT. 1151

administered program would not be as effective as one which is tailored to meet local requirements and to respond to local opportunities; the State should be allowed flexibility within which to fashion such programs, subject to general Federal guidelines and monitoring sufficient to protect the financial investments of consumers and the financial interest of the United States and to insure that the measures undertaken in fact result in significant energy and cost savings which would probably not otherwise occur; (5) to the extent that direct Federal administration is more economical and efficient, direct Federal financial incentives and assistance should be extended through existing and proven Federal programs rather than through new programs that would necessitate new and separate administrative bureaucracies; and (6) such programs should be designed and administered to supplement, and not to supplant or in any other way conflict with, State energy conservation programs under part C of title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act; the emergency energy 42 USC 6341. conservation program carried out by community action agencies pursuant to section 222(a) (12) of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964; and other forms of assistance and encouragement for 42 USC 2809. energy conservation, (b) It is, therefore, the purpose of this title to encourage and facilitate the implementation of energy conservation measures and renew,.,, able-resource energy measures in dwelling units, nonresidential buildings, and industrial plants, through— (1) supplemental State energy conservation plans; and (2) Federal financial incentives and assistance. PART A—WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE FOR LOW-INCOME PERSONS FINDINGS AND PURPOSE

SEC. 411. (a) The Congress finds that— 42 USC 6861. (1) dwellings owned or occupied by low-income persons frequently are inadequately insulated; (2) low-income persons, particularly elderly and handicapped low-income persons, can least afford to make the modifications , necessary to provide for adequate insulation in such dwellings and to otherAvise reduce residential energy use; (3) weatherization of such dwellings would lower utility expenses for such low-income owners or occupants as well as save thousands of barrels per day of needed fuel; and (4) States, through community action agencies established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and units of general 42 USC 2701 purpose local government, should be encouraged, with Federal note, financial and technical assistance, to develop and support coordinated weatherization programs designed to ameliorate the adverse effects of high energy costs on such low-income persons, to supplement other Federal programs serving such persons, and to conserve energy, (b) It is, therefore, the purpose of this part to develop and implement a supplementary weatherization assistance program to assist in achieving a prescribed level of insulation in the dwellings of lowincome persons, particularly elderly and handicapped low-income persons, in order both to aid those persons least able to afford higher utility costs and to conserve needed energy.

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