But Veto of $9-Billion Plan Is Threatened : Senate Votes Superfund Package

The Senate Friday overwhelmingly passed a $9-billion package to finance the nation’s toxic waste cleanup program amid White House threats of a veto.

It voted 88 to 8 to endorse the Superfund plan, which calls for a new business tax and higher levies on oil and petroleum products and warned that a veto could result in a financing approach that would be even less popular.

The House is expected to pass the compromise financing package for Superfund next week. At the earliest, the plan could be sent to the White House at the end of the week, when Congress is expected to adjourn.

Warning of Veto

White House advisers told Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Thomas in a meeting that Reagan would veto the plan. Reagan opposes provisions of the bill that include a variation of an oil import fee and a special income tax to be paid by many businesses.

“We’d be satisifed if they continued the present method of funding of Superfund but a tax won’t do at all,” presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said. Presently, 86% of the Superfund is derived from fees imposed on the oil and chemical industries and 14% is appropriated from general revenues.

In Senate debate Friday, Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) complained that the package would be a “big hit on a crippled industry--the oil industry,” but he urged Reagan to sign it anyway to ensure that the program has a steady source of funding.

With toxic waste dumps situated in almost every corner of the nation, the program has wide congressional support. Citizens who live near sites that are poisioning drinking water supplies and contributing to illnesses or even deaths came to Washington earlier in the week to lobby for the five-year extension and a sound financing plan.

Tax on Corporations

The Administration wanted a $5.3-billion program, substantially higher than the $1.6 billion that Superfund spent during its first five years but far less than the package approved by congressional negotiators. The new plan calls for a new broad-based tax on corporations to raise $2.5 billion and higher levies on oil and petroleum products to raise an additional $2.75 billion.

The package calls also for $1.4 billion in taxes on chemical derivatives and a $1.25 billion appropriation from general revenues. In addition, a 1-cent tax on gasoline would be levied to raise $500,000 to pay to clean up leaking underground gasoline storage tanks.

The oil and manufacturing industries have objected to the levies that the legislation would impose. The package includes a differential between domestic oil and imports, with a higher tax on imported oil and petroleum products. Critics warn that the plan will force consumers to pay higher prices for such necessities as heating and food as well as higher charges at the gasoline pump.

Prospect of Layoffs

If Congress adjourns within the next few days, as planned, Reagan could kill the bill with a pocket veto, sparing the Administration an override vote by Congress.

An Administration source familiar with the situation said that some White House advisers have agreed to urge the President to veto the legislation before Congress goes home, rather than risk the prospect of 1,500 government layoffs resulting from a pocket veto that would kill the program.

“What I’ve heard is that the White House has promised it would act on it immediately and not play with a pocket veto,” the Administration source said. “They plan to make their decision quickly. Apparently, they have agreed to that.”

The program’s architects contend that they are confident they have enough votes to override a veto. Since Reagan came to office in 1981, Congress has managed to override his vetoes only six times, the last occurring Thursday, when the Senate overcame his opposition to a bill requiring sweeping sanctions against South Africa.

Sanctions Veto Overridden

However, other officials called it unlikely that the Administration would invite a second override vote on the heels of its defeat this week on the sanctions legislation.

Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) warned that a veto would be “a great misreading of this body” and the mood of the American people. “It would be a very bad mistake if the President of the United States were to veto this,” he said.

Members of Congress Friday continued to insist that a pocket veto remains a threat and pledged to try to extend the session to avoid one. They called on citizens to lobby the White House to support the package.

A pocket veto occurs at the end of a congressional session when the President does not sign a bill and Congress has no opportunity to pass the measure into law over his objections. Keeping Congress in Washington beyond next week--and giving it a chance to override a Reagan veto--would be difficult because many members are eager to go home to campaign for the Nov. 4 election.

The EPA already has sent letters to 13 contractors responsible for cleaning up 104 dumps around the country, informing them that their services may be terminated on Oct. 31 because of the political situation.

Nine California sites are among the 104 listed by the EPA, including the Stringfellow Acid Pits in Riverside County, the closed Operating Industries Inc. landfill in Monterey Park and the Montrose Chemical Co. in Torrance, where DDT once was manufactured. Other sites include Alviso, on the south end of San Francisco Bay near San Jose, the Iron Mountain Mine in Redding, two asbestos mines near Coalinga in Fresno County and sites in Selma and Malaga, also in Fresno County.

Staff writer Larry Stammer in Los Angeles contributed to this article.