Senate Panel Proposes to Extend Clean Air Deadlines

Leaders of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee proposed Wednesday to relax this year’s Clean Air Act attainment deadline, which many areas will fail to meet, but to require tougher action against pollution.

“This bill acknowledges the reality that clean air is still only a wish and a hope for millions of Americans,” Sen. Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.) told a news conference.

“No one gets a simple deadline extension under this bill,” said Sen. John H. Chafee (R-R.I.). “There are conditions.”

The bill would provide at least five years’ breathing room for as many as 70 non-complying urban areas. But it would force them, and the rest of the nation, to take tougher steps than mandated by current law to cut air pollution.

Affects 100 Million Persons

The federal Environmental Protection Agency estimates up to 70 areas containing about 100 million residents won’t meet the Dec. 31 deadline for reducing health-threatening, smog-producing ozone pollution.

There is broad sentiment in Congress for extending the deadline because missing it threatens non-attainment areas, including the nation’s largest cities, with sanctions such as construction bans and a cutoff of federal highway, water and sewer money.

Two Non-Attainment Categories

The Senate bill, authored principally by Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), divides non-attainment areas into two groups: those whose air misses the national air quality standard by 50% or less, and those like Los Angeles and Houston with even dirtier air.

Areas in the first group would have five years to clean up before again facing sanctions. Cities in the second group would get 10 years to reach the air quality standard.