Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990 TAG: 9004040423
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The vote was 89-11.
Both Virginia senators, Democrat Charles Robb and Republican John Warner, voted for it.
The bill, crafted in nearly a month of closed negotiations between White House aides and Senate leaders, met President Bush's demand for a less costly solution to the nation's clean air problems than the initial Senate plan and came after the Senate narrowly beat back a number of recent challenges that would have toughened the measure and raised the price tag on pollution control.
The legislation, the first attempt to toughen air pollution legislation since the 1970 Clean Air Act was amended in 1977, would require auto makers, chemical manufacturers, and coal-fired power plants to make substantial investments in equipment and processes to lower their pollution.
The bill is likely to add more than $20 billion a year to the estimated $33 billion cost of meeting current pollution laws, according to administration estimates.
In arriving at the compromise, the Senate leadership acquiesced to Bush on several points, including less stringent requirements for reducing tailpipe emissions and for controlling toxic chemicals in the air.
The full House of Representatives has yet to take up a clean-air bill.
The one being drafted in committee would impose stricter controls than the Senate measure.
Both industry and environmentalists remain dissatisfied with crucial elements of the compromise.
Industry contends the costs are still too high and will result in lost business and jobs. Electric utilities say scientists have not confirmed that heavy damage is caused by acid rain and say their customers' rates will soar as a result of the new requirements.
Chemical companies have said huge costs will be borne to reduce pollution risks to levels that are meaningful. And car makers insist the law will require technology that has not yet been developed.
But by lowering the cost of the new clean-air requirements, the bill met some of the demands of industry, which had contended the original Senate version would impose excessive costs.
The Bush administration estimated the initial Senate bill would cost $42 billion, a figure Democratic and some Republican lawmakers disputed.
Environmentalists complain that the changes in the law will be inadequate to protect public health and the environment.
But the compromise also retained many of the elements sought by environmentalists, including substantial reductions in the pollution that leads to acid rain.
In the House, the Energy and Commerce Committee is writing a somewhat different - and tougher - bill to amend the current law.
House leaders say action could be taken on the floor later this month or in May.
by CNB