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opinion states that during the late 1970's and early 1980's, the
Federal Government adopted specific programs to aid research and
development of EOR technology. Id. at 135-136. In holding that
the taxpayers in Krause v. Commissioner, supra, were not liable
for the negligence additions to tax, this Court noted that one of
the Government's expert witnesses acknowledged that "investors
may have been significantly and reasonably influenced by the
energy price hysteria that existed in the late 1970's and early
1980's to invest in EOR technology." Id. at 177. In the present
cases, however, as explained by respondent's expert Steven
Grossman, the price of plastics materials was not directly
proportional to the price of oil, and there is no persuasive
evidence that the so-called oil crisis had a substantial bearing
on petitioners' decisions to invest. While EOR was, according to
our Krause opinion, in the forefront of national policy and the
media during the late 1970's and 1980's, there is no showing in
these records that the so-called energy crisis would provide a
reasonable basis for petitioners' investing in recycling of
polyethylene, particularly in the machinery here in question.
In addition, the taxpayers in the Krause case were
experienced in or investigated the oil industry and EOR
technology specifically. One of the taxpayers in Krause v.
Commissioner, supra, undertook significant investigation of the
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