May 23, 1974

St Clair says Nixon will not give HR Judiciary Com further data on ITT antitrust case and pol contributions from dairy indus, lr to com special counsel Doar; says tape recording of Apr 4 ‘72 conversation on ITT matter will be revd and Nixon will give com transcript of ‘pertinent portion,’ not requested tape; says Nixon feels providing more data on ITT will not serve useful purpose (S)

NY Times survey reveals that US‐Canadian effort to clean up pollution in Great Lakes has made tremendous strides and that once heavily‐polluted Lake Erie and Detroit River are now supporting wide range of fish life (L)

Fed Judge Gerhard Gesell, presiding over White House plumbers trial, raises possibility that he will be forced to dismiss case if Govt refuses to turn over natl security evidence that is helpful to defendants; says he may have no other recourse if ct rules documents are relevant and material and Govt does not produce them; says there is not going to be any exec privilege or natl security privilege in case; agrees with defendants, in another action involving different documents, that they are entitled to access to their personal files in White House and issues subpoena for them returnable at 2PM May 24; William H Merrill, head of prosecuting team, says he agrees that prosecution will end if Govt refuses to turn over relevant documents; asst special prosecutor Charles R Breyer tells Gesell that he is reluctant to make available Govt information not relevant to case and that is covered by natl security or exec privilege; indicates this information is included in some documents that are of possible value to defense; Breyer agrees to permit defense attys to rev some documents in full before some portions are excised; Gesell also promises to intervene in attempt to obtain any relevant material from Cong; was told that at least 1 com was reluctant to turn over its transcripts of closed‐door ints in connection with plumbers unit; tells Andrew C Hall, Ehrlichman atty, that if Hall identifys natl security matters with any kind of particularity ‘I'll give you a subpoena'; Gesell por (L)

passage of homosexual civil rights bill appears in doubt as councilmen face rising public opposition; bill, which was voted out of com in Apr, is no longer ‘safe measure’ that was assured passage; some factors noted, including fact that 33 of 43 Councilmen are up for re‐election and tear pol defeat (M)

Long Island Lighting Co (Lilco) files $186‐million Fed suit against Standard Oil Co of Calif, Texaco Inc, Mobil Oil Corp, Chevron Oil Trading Co and Tex Overseas Petroleum Corp, charging cos put pressure on New England Petroleum Co (Nepco), its chief supplier, for purpose of protecting their business interests in Persian Gulf; alleges defendants achieved monopoly over all phases of petroleum indus; files NYS suit against Nepco for breach of contract, which it says was intentionally caused by Calif Standard Oil refusal to supply Nepco with low‐sulphur crude oil since Sept ‘73; says breach resulted in $62‐million damages to utility and its customers, impairment of its cash flow, need for power purchases from other cos, preparation of generating plants for coal firing, loss of business and injury to Lilco's financial reputation and goodwill; will pass any settlement in suits on to customers (M)