ENVIRONMENT / SAVING THE OZONE : U.S. Has Key Role at Global Talks

When environmental ministers arrive here next week to wrap up a major conference on protecting the ozone layer, none will have more work cut out for them than William K. Reilly.

Reilly, chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, may well become the focus of attention--and the court of last resort--for many countries here who are urging the United States to change its position on a number of problems that have threatened the harmony of the conference.

At stake are major amendments to a three-year-old international accord to protect the Earth’s ozone layer from being stripped away by man-made chemicals. The existing accord, known as the Montreal Protocol, calls for a 50% phase-out of those chemicals in industrialized countries by the year 2000.

There is wide agreement that these steps are half-hearted and that there must be a 100% phase-out by the year 2000--perhaps as soon as 1997--of chemicals already covered by the protocol. Further, new chemicals not now controlled must be covered.

The Background

Of particular concern are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons. CFCs are used as cooling agents in air conditioners and refrigerators, as blowing agents in the manufacturer of foam, and as cleaning agents for electronic components. Halons are used in fire extinguishers.

Over a period of time, they percolate into the stratosphere and are broken down by ultraviolet radiation from the sun. This releases a chlorine atom, which in turn devours up to 100,000 ozone atoms. That is the chemical reaction that is drilling a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica and is thinning the layer over the North Pole and over North America and Europe.

On these issues there is little disagreement.

The rub comes in establishing a new executive committee of 15 to dispense about $240 million in funds to help Third World countries afford the more expensive chemical substitutes for CFCs and halons that do less harm to the ozone layer.

Meeting on the banks of the Thames across from Parliament, lower-ranking delegates from 75 nations have been laboring since Wednesday to lay the groundwork for these changes and to reach a consensus to present to the environmental ministers next week.

But in the first three days of the working sessions, the United States has found itself largely isolated by its insistence that it be awarded a permanent seat on the new executive committee and that nations contributing the most money to the fund be given more votes on the committee.

The issue has stirred indignation from Third World countries--the so-called Group of 77--because it is the executive committee that will decide which developing nations receive funds and how they will be used. The U.S. proposal was a “bombshell,” in the words of India’s delegate, Mahesh Prasad, secretary of the Ministry of Environment.

On Friday, China urged the United States to “radically” alter course, strongly hinting that if the American position won out, China--with 20% of the world’s population and a tremendous potential to help or hinder the cause of ozone protection--would refuse to sign the protocol.

Third World countries are holding out for equal representation on the committee along the lines called for by Mostafa K. Tolba, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, which is sponsoring the conference.

Tolba has called for a 15-member committee made up of seven representatives from Third World countries and seven from industrialized nations. They, in turn, would elect a chairman, who would become the 15th member.

What the Americans Want

American delegates have been instructed by Washington to hold fast to that position on grounds that the United States would be contributing 25% of the fund--more than any other country. Japan would be second, contributing 11 1/2%. “That does not seem unreasonable,” an EPA aide said.

The United States also wants to be given credit against its 25% share if it sends foreign aid directly to another country to help it switch to more desirable chemical substitutes.

But, in an interview, Prasad of India said a committee controlled by the industrialized West may make mistakes in allocating the funds and specifying ways they are to be used.

Reilly will also hear arguments, dealing with issues not of procedure but of trust and national sovereignty, delegates from the Third World say. Reilly is scheduled to meet with President Bush on Monday before arriving here Tuesday.

While nothing has been said in London about the Third World countries voting as a bloc to deny the two-thirds vote required for approving amendments to strengthen the protocol, a number of delegates, including one from Britain, said that the veto is in the back of everyone’s mind.

At this point, it is unclear whether Reilly will bring with him additional authority to negotiate. But Washington is getting daily diplomatic reports on the sentiment here.

What Washington is being told is that it may once again be alone on an environmental issue of global significance, just as it was until last week, when it changed its position and belatedly agreed to contribute money to the proposed $240-million ozone depletion fund to assist Third World nations in joining the fight to close the ozone hole.