Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen it is a privilege to have the honor of addressing you this afternoon.
It is always a pleasure to be in this great state and this most fascinating of all American cities. This is the only convention city in the country where they give you a chance to make expenses.
We recently detonated a nuclear device underground with the aid and cooperation of the Atomic Energy Commission as part of its Plowshare Program and I am happy to say that, as in all of more than 200 such shots to date, this one has been conducted without evidence of any hazard or possible harm to any living being.
Dr. Edward Teller has called Project Rulison the first thoroughly practical use of nuclear energy for peace. This sets this apart from all other underground nuclear detonations, but it does not mean that we could have accomplished such a use of nuclear energy without Project Gasbuggy and all of the preceding underground nuclear tests.
Our purpose, as was that of El Paso Natural Gas at Gasbuggy, was to attempt to stimulate the almost impermeable rocks of the Mesaverde formation containing vast stores of natural gas and totally resistant to now known conventional well stimulation techniques.
I believe it is unnecessary for me to explain how rapidly the demand for natural gas is mounting, and how desperately the gas industry and the government are facing the problem of meeting both present and future requirements for this perfect fuel. Gas is recognized as the cheapest, safest, cleanest, and most convenient energy in the history of human endeavor.
Despite the barriers thrown in the path of explorers by puzzling and emotional changes and interpretations of the law and incomprehensible decisions of the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court, the search for gas in this country has never been greater. Nothing could inspire such a herculean effort to find new gas, except the knowledge that we are running out of supply.
