WASHINGTON INSIGHT

LET’S MAKE A DEAL: Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency report that they are making some progress in the standoff over revamping California’s controversial vehicle-inspection program--partly because they have won key backing from some of the nation’s largest petroleum companies. To do that, officials say, EPA Administrator Carol Browner has played a powerful card: She has made it clear that if there is no overhaul of the Smog Check program, the state will have to require dramatic reductions in the pollution emissions from stationary sources, such as oil and gas refineries. . . . The oil and gas industries have provided a significant counterweight to service station owners in the statewide lobbying battle aimed at Gov. Pete Wilson and state legislators in Sacramento. . . . But they may carry a more direct brand of clout too: As business partners of many of the service station operators opposing a revamped Smog Check program, they may be influential in getting many such business owners to soften their opposition to EPA’s demands.

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CALIFORNIA, HERE THEY COME? President Clinton’s special relationship with California seemed to suffer a mild setback last spring when, amid critical comments about the President’s fascination with Hollywood, the Clintons quietly discarded tentative plans to spend their summer vacation in the state. Not to worry, though: California has emerged as a real possibility as a vacation destination for the summer of 1994. . . . No details yet, and the busy Clintons habitually make their vacation plans at the very, very last moment. But as was demonstrated over the weekend, when Clinton appeared at a political fund-raiser at the Creative Artists Agency, the White House believes that the President is no longer much at much risk from accusations that he is star-struck.

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UNDER THE DOME: Not every issue awaiting returning members of Congress is as weighty as health care. Tobacco-state senators are rallying to fight a House-passed bill that would ban smoking in all federal office buildings, except in separately ventilated areas. The Senate stuck a similar measure into an appropriations bill last summer, but it was dropped by a House-Senate conference committee. The House has a loosely enforced policy against smoking in its facilities, but the Senate doesn’t. . . . Fifty-two senators are petitioning against the planned removal of a crystal chandelier in the Capitol that was deemed historically “inappropriate” by Congress’ building manager, George White. “A beloved piece . . . such a fascinating history!” the lawmakers gushed over the light fixture, originally commissioned for a Baltimore burlesque house and previously hung in a church on Capitol Hill.

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OOPS: The Clinton White House, with Vice President Al Gore in the lead, has made much of its attraction to technology, with its young computer-wiz corps scurrying through the halls of the executive office buildings. Thus, events in Mexico last week produced some embarrassment. . . . As Gore and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari finished up several hours of meetings in the Mexican presidential palace, the two sent several aides into a nearby room to draft a short joint communique on a computer. . . . Some time later, however, when the aides tried to print out the communique, disaster struck. “It just disappeared,” a senior official explained later, “they just couldn’t find it.” Stymied by technology, the two governments decided simply not to issue a communique at all. Next time, perhaps, they’ll pack a pencil.