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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990                   TAG: 9005230297
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BILL WOULD MAKE U.S. SUPPORT OZONE FUND

A group of Democratic senators, unhappy with the Bush administration's refusal to commit the United States to provide financial support to help poor countries stop using ozone-depleting chemicals, introduced a bill Tuesday to provide the funds.

U.S. delegates to negotiations in Geneva refused last week to agree to establishing an international fund from which developing countries could borrow to develop alternatives to using ozone-destroying substances.

The bill introduced by 11 Democratic senators would authorize $25 million a year for three years in U.S. contributions to the fund.

"The administration is blindfolded, siting on its hands with lead in its boots, apparently ready to expose the citizens of our country and of every country to the health risks that come from the destruction of the upper ozone layer," said Sen. Al Gore, D-Tenn., one of bill's sponsors.

Other sponsors were Sens. Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, George Mitchell of Maine, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Timothy Wirth of Colorado, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Max Baucus of Montana, Joseph Biden of Delaware, Brock Adams of Washington, Alan Cranston of California and Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. - Cox News Service

by CNB