Congress Meets, Spurs Iran Probe : Vetoed Bill on Clean Water Offered Again

In a strong challenge to President Reagan, bipartisan coalitions in the Senate and House on Tuesday introduced an $18-billion bill to clean up the nation’s rivers and lakes. Last November, Reagan vetoed identical legislation as too expensive.

Sponsors of the Clean Water Act, which was passed unanimously by both houses last year, vowed to have the bill on Reagan’s desk by the end of this week and predicted that they had more than enough votes to override another veto.

“We want to show that we mean business,” Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said at a news conference attended by Democrats and Republicans. “This bill is not a budget-buster. It’s a well-considered down payment on a major national problem.”

‘A Real Embarrassment’

Sen. Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.), who chaired the Senate committee that approved the legislation last year, said that if Reagan vetoes the bill again, “he will have to brace himself for an overwhelming veto override, a real embarrassment.”

White House spokesman Rusty Brashear had no comment on the new bill. However, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) conceded that “the votes are there” for a veto override.

Congress passed the Clean Water Act in October after two years of complex negotiations. The bill, which enjoyed support from industry, environmental groups and state and local governments, earmarked funds over nine years for construction of waste-water treatment plants. It also created new pollution control programs, including funds to curb toxic runoff from farm land and from city streets.

For California, the bill would have provided about $174 million annually over the next eight years toward sewage plant construction. Another provision would have established San Francisco Bay as a “priority estuary” that would receive $65 million to improve water quality. The act, which extended clean water legislation originally enacted in 1972, also provided funding for an experimental sludge pipeline in Orange County.

Reagan killed the measure with a pocket veto, which occurs when the President neither signs nor directly vetoes legislation within 10 days of receiving it after Congress adjourns. Because Congress was no longer in session, it could not override.

Reagan Bill Introduced

At the time, Reagan said he supported the overall goals of the legislation and offered to support a $6-billion version. On Tuesday, Dole introduced at Reagan’s request a $12-billion clean water proposal. However, sponsors of the original clean water bill said that amount is inadequate.

“This bill we are reintroducing today itself is barely adequate to meet the need,” said Sen. Quentin Burdick (D-N.D.), the new chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

“It’s the minimum this country needs,” Burdick said, adding that a 1984 study by the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that the nation would have to spend $108 billion on sewage plants by the year 2000.

May Encounter Hurdles

Burdick conceded that he and 70 other Senate sponsors may encounter some parliamentary hurdles in getting the new bill to Reagan without another round of lengthy hearings. But he said he is confident that the measure will move out of the Senate by the end of the week.

An identical version of the bill was introduced in the House by 160 members, and a vote there is expected by Thursday, according to Rep. James J. Howard (D-N.J.), who chairs the House Public Works and Transportation Committee.

Cities are especially anxious to see the measure passed, because they face a 1988 federal deadline to upgrade their sewage treatment facilities. Without additional funds, many of them have said, they would be unable to remain in compliance with the law.