Nation : Tough Smog Amendment Killed

Despite warnings it was weakening existing law, the Senate refused today to require the Environmental Protection Agency to impose smog cleanup plans on cities that do not adopt tough enough anti-pollution measures.

In another important victory for Senate leaders determined to protect their compromise clean air bill with the Bush Administration, senators voted 53-46 against a plan by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to preserve the mandatory EPA enforcement provisions in the current Clean Air Act.

Kerry’s amendment also would have wiped out controversial sections of the compromise bill that would allow states to obtain emission reduction waivers from the EPA if necessary pollution control measures cost more than $5,000 per ton of pollutants eliminated.

Environmental groups and more than a dozen governors lobbied senators to support Kerry’s amendment, saying the compromise bill was too weak to ensure speedy cleanup of urban smog.