51 1 responsibilities under this Act. Each Board member shall 2 refrain from any action which may actually or apparently 3 impugn his stated belief in the purposes of this Act. To fur4 ther assure the independence of Board members, their com5 pensation shall be continued for a period of 1 year after they 6 cease to be members thereof, at a level equal to three7 quarters of the compensation received by them during the 8 final year of their final term. 9 "(8) Any member of the Board may be removed from 10 office at any time by joint resolution of the Senate and the 11 House of Representatives. 12 "(d) POWERS OF BOARD.-(1) The Board shall, with13 out regard to the provisions of civil service laws applicable 14 to officers and employees of the United States, appoint such 15 officers, managers, employees, attorneys, and other person16 nel as are necessary for the transaction of its business (in17 cluding personnel to perform temporary and intermittent 18 services), fix their compensation, define their duties, require 19 bonds of such of them as the Board may designate, and pro20 vide a system of organization to fix responsibility and pro21 mote efficiency. Any appointee of the Board may be re22 moved at the discretion of the Board. 23 "(2) All contracts to which the Corporation is a party 24 and which require the employment of laborers and mechanics 25 in the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of 52 1 facilities authorized under this title shall contain a provi2 sion that not less than the prevailing rate of wages for work 3 of a similar nature in the vicinity shall be paid to such 4 laborers or mechanics as determined by the Secretary of 5 Labor in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. 6 276a). In the determination of such prevailing rate or rates, 7 due regard shall be given to those rates which have been 8 secured through collective agreement by representatives of 9 employers and employees. The Board shall not enter into 10 any such contract without first obtaining assurance that 11 required labor standards will be maintained on the construc12 tion work. Health and safety standards promulgated by the 13 Secretary of Labor pursuant to section 107 of the Contract 14 Work Hours and Safety Standards Act (40 U.S.C. 333) 15 shall be applicable to all construction work performed under 16 such contracts. Where such work as described in this para17 graph is done directly by the Corporation the prevailing rate or rates of wages shall be paid in the same manner as though such work had been let by contract. 18 19 20 21 "(e) POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE CORPORATION.— Except as otherwise specifically provided in this section, 22 the Corporation "(1) shall have succession in its corporate name; "(2) may sue and be sued in its corporate name; "(3) may adopt and use a corporate seal, which shall be judicially noticed; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 53 "(4) may make contracts, as authorized; "(5) may adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws; "(6) may purchase or lease and hold such real and personal property as it deems necessary or convenient in the transaction of its business, and may dis pose of any such personal or real property held by it; "(7) shall have such powers as may be necessary or appropriate for the exercise of the powers herein. specifically conferred upon the Corporation; "(8) shall explore for natural gas and oil on Federal, State, foreign, or private lands, employing for such purpose the best available geological and geophysical technology including seismic surveying, magnetic surveying, gravitational surveying, surface hydrocarbon detection, and bottom sampling; "(9) shall make available to the general public, in a manner determined by the Board, such geological and geophysical information as it acquires in the course of its activities pursuant to the preceding paragraph; "(10) shall have the power to develop and produce 21 natural gas and oil from reserves on Federal or foreign lands which it has located in order to accomplish the purposes of this section, and shall have the power to sell any natural gas or oil so developed and produced into interstate commerce; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 54 "(11) shall have the power to obtain, by sale, lease, purchase, exchange, or contract, such amounts of natand oil as are necessary to carry out the purposes ural gas to build and operate any facilities necessary or appro- "(12) shall have the power to explore, develop, acquire, produce, or sell natural gas and oil alone or on a joint or cooperative basis with any private or other public entity or entities: Provided, That no joint or cooperative basis is authorized if there is any likelihood that exploration, development, acquisition, or sale jointly or cooperatively with another entity or entities may adversely affect competition, restrain trade, further monopolization, or violate the spirit or content of any Federal statute respecting trade or commerce; "(13) shall produce from reserves which it has developed or acquired such amounts of natural gas and oil as are necessary or appropriate to meet the needs of the citizens and commerce of the United States for these energy sources: Provided, That the Corporation 23 shall not actually produce or supply any natural gas or 24 oil to meet such needs as can be met by nongovern 25 mental corporations and persons at reasonable prices 26 over the succeeding 5-year period; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 55 "(14) shall develop reserves of natural gas and oil which, to the extent that production from such re serves is not necessary or appropriate under the preced ing paragraph, shall be maintained by the Corporation, in a condition of readiness to produce, as the Nation's strategic reserves of these energy sources. The Corporation shall produce natural gas and oil from such reserves during periods of emergency need for such energy sources, as determined by the Board or, in the form of a directive, by the President or the Commission; "(15) shall have the power to engage in research 12 directed toward the development or utilization of abun dant and nonpolluting supplies of energy, from whatever source, and may build, own, and operate research, testing, or demonstration facilities, alone or on a joint or cooperative basis with private or other public entities; and "(16) shall have the power to build, lease, purchase, or otherwise obtain and operate facilities necessary for the authorized transportation or sale of natural gas or oil: Provided, That no facility may be constructed or operated unless it meets and complies with all of the requirements of any Federal statute relating to environ mental quality, or any regulation issued under such statute, and (2) no facility may be constructed or op |