Senate Group Backs New Clean Air Plan With Tougher Control of Auto Emissions

In a new sign of congressional discontent over President Bush’s clean air proposal, a bipartisan group of senators Friday endorsed a rival plan that would impose more stringent automobile pollution controls than envisioned by the Administration.

The measure, backed by Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), rejects a White House-backed approach that calls for a forced switch from gasoline to cleaner-burning fuels in the nation’s smoggiest cities as a fundamental solution to the air pollution problem.

Drafted by Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and John H. Chafee (R-R.I.), the proposal instead would significantly tighten pollution controls on all automobiles, no matter what kind of fuel they burn.

Under the plan, every new car sold in the nation would be required to meet the current California emissions standard by 1993 and achieve an additional 50% reduction in pollutants by the year 2003.

Proposal Faces Changes

In parting company with the White House, the senators provided another indication that powerful forces in Congress will attempt to reshape the President’s proposal, with some lawmakers favoring tougher provisions and others attempting to relax restrictions.

The looming battles seem certain to delay approval of a broad-based clean air plan beyond the Administration’s end-of-the-year target, advocates on both sides of the debate say.

In the House, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) agreed this week to use the White House proposal as a starting point but made clear that he plans to try to significantly tighten its motor vehicle provisions.

On the other side of the issue, House Energy Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), a principal sponsor of the White House bill, has signaled his intent to introduce an alternative plan with watered-down restrictions on coal-burning power plant emissions that cause acid rain.

The strong bipartisan support expressed Friday for the tougher anti-smog proposal appears to give the measure a strong chance to emerge intact from the Senate, congressional observers said. It was endorsed by 11 of the 16 members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and two senators who are not on the committee.

Prefers Baucus Plan

The support of Chafee, who is also a principal sponsor of the Administration plan, could encourage the White House to accept a more stringent approach, at least on the issue of smog control.

Stressing that he had lent support to the Bush proposal because it was the “first effort an Administration had made in eight years” to tackle the nation’s air pollution problem, Chafee said he favors the Baucus approach to reducing smog.

The Senate smog-control plan, endorsed by eight Democrats and five Republicans, would not significantly accelerate the rate at which air quality in the nation’s cities would be expected to reach healthful levels.

Under both plans, most cities would be expected to attain federal health standards by the year 2000. Houston, New York and Chicago would be given another five years, and Los Angeles--by far the nation’s smoggiest city--would not be required to meet the standards until 2010.

But Baucus and other sponsors of the rival proposal argued that its stringent requirements would be more likely to ensure that cities actually could meet the ambitious deadlines.

On-Time Finish Predicted

The Administration plan “doesn’t do what it purports to do,” Baucus said in an interview. “Our bill will get us across the finish line on time.”

In particular, the senators contended that the Administration unrealistically pinned its hopes of achieving cleaner air on shifting to alternative-fueled vehicles in the nation’s smoggiest cities.

“I personally don’t understand how you’re going to get X number of people in Los Angeles to buy alternative cars,” Chafee said.

At the same time, they criticized a White House-backed rule that would allow some automobiles to violate emission requirements as long as an auto maker’s fleet average satisfied the pollution standard.

Some state air quality directors have contended that such an “averaging” provision could permit an overall increase in emissions of air pollutants, despite the nationwide adoption of current California tailpipe standards.

Citing such conclusions, the senators advocated a system that would require every car to comply with the regulations and called for the eventual adoption of thresholds twice as stringent as those endorsed by the White House. Auto makers would be permitted to meet the standards by improving current gasoline engines or by introducing new vehicles capable of burning cleaner fuels.

Although the alternative smog control plan would also address stationary sources of pollution, such as factories, its primary emphasis is on automobiles, which produce about half of the hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides that are the major contributors to urban smog.

“It’s the old saying,” Chafee said. “You rob banks because that’s where the money is. You regulate cars because that’s where the problem is.”