
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 22, 1990                   TAG: 9003221724
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

SENATE REJECTS THIRD TRY TO TOUGHEN AIR BILL

The Senate turned back a third attempt to strengthen the compromise clean air bill on Wednesday, defeating a proposal supporters said would close "loopholes" in the battle against urban smog.

Opponents argued the amendment, which lost a 53-46 vote, would burden too many small businesses with expensive pollution controls and require unnecessary federal involvement in urban air pollution plans.

The proposal by John Kerry, D-Mass., would have preserved the federal government's authority to impose air pollution reduction plans if states and local officials failed to act. It also sought to eliminate waivers - based on expense - for some industrial polluters and broaden the smog-controlling curbs to include smaller polluters.

On Tuesday night, the Senate by 52-46 had rejected a plan to tighten automobile emissions controls and require broader use of alternative fuels, including production of 1 million clean-fuel vehicles by the end of the decade.

by CNB