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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990                   TAG: 9003300898
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/10   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE PASSES CLEAN AIR BILL, BUT CUTS AID TO COAL MINERS

The Senate appears on track to approving a sweeping air pollution control bill next week after narrowly rejecting $500 million in aid to coal miners who could lose their jobs because of tougher environmental standards.

By a 50-49 vote Thursday, senators defeated a proposal that Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., called only a matter of "fairness . . . and justice" because thousands of miners will be thrown out of work.

The majority heeded warnings from Senate leaders that the amendment would prompt a presidential veto of the overall bill. Both Virginia senators, Republican John Warner and Democrat Charles Robb, voted against it.

The three-year, $500 million assistance program was considered to be the last major obstacle to Senate passage of the clean air bill. A vote on the legislation is scheduled for next Tuesday. A House version is in committee.

Working into the evening Thursday, the Senate agreed to a provision that would require the increased sale of a cleaner blend of gasoline by 1993 in cities facing the worst smog problems. The measure was approved by voice vote after attempts to reject it failed, 69-30.

Meanwhile, the House Energy and Commerce Committee late Thursday adopted a proposal in its clean air bill that also would require the use of a cleaner blend of gasoline by 1995 in the same cities, although rejecting a plan to broaden the requirement from nine to as many as 40 cities.

Thursday's vote on the Byrd amendment was as dramatic as the final tally would indicate.

Senators were subject to intense pressure from both sides.

Byrd, who wields considerable power and respect as a former Democratic leader and now chairman of the Appropriations Committee, had visited dozens of senators to plead for support.

But the pressure was just as intense from the other side. The White House unleashed a final round of telephone calls to key senators, including some calls as the vote already was under way.

by CNB