Bush Prods Congress to Act Quickly on Clean Air Plan

President Bush, declaring that “sound ecology and a strong economy can coexist,” prodded Congress today to pass his legislation to clean up the nation’s fouled air.

In a speech at a riverfront celebration of Washington’s 100th anniversary of statehood, Bush called upon “all Americans to join in a renewed spirit of conservation,” including recycling their trash and generating less waste.

On the morning that the President had originally planned to visit Prince William Sound, the site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, he spoke to a crowd on the banks of the once-polluted but now reclaimed Spokane River.

With House Speaker Thomas S. Foley, the hometown Democratic congressman, at his side, Bush said, “When it comes to clear air, we need action on the legislation we’ve proposed--now.”

Bush, who sent the clean air bill to Capitol Hill on July 21, said, “Every day that passes is another day we’re postponing progress on clean air. . . . Now it is up to the Congress to pass this clean air legislation this year.”

Bush has been sparring with the Democrat-controlled Congress over drugs and other issues, but Foley told reporters Monday he expects Congress to send Bush a clean air bill to his liking either late this year or early in 1990.

“It will be an achievement for both the Congress and the Administration,” Foley said. The plan now is in House and Senate subcommittees.

Bush proposed a 10-billion-ton reduction in acid rain-producing sulfur dioxide emissions by the year 2000, a 2-million-ton reduction in nitrous oxide and a 40% cut in other emissions that cause urban smog. His plan also calls for use of alternative fuels in 1 million vehicles by 1997.

Environmentalists and their allies in Congress have criticized the goals as too modest and say the plan would leave too much to the discretion of the Environmental Protection Agency, and in some cases to the affected industries.

Bush, winding up a two-day swing that also took him to centennial celebrations in South Dakota and Montana, said the “majestic” Spokane River “has been reborn” from its once-polluted state, a symbol of the nation’s environmental progress.

“I took this trip out West because I’m concerned . . . about the future of the planet we share,” the President said.

“Today I’m asking all Americans to join in a renewed spirit of conservation, a new commitment to a more careful stewardship of the natural world.”

Bush called for applying “the creativity of the marketplace in the service of the environment. Sound ecology and a strong economy can coexist.”