
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 16, 1990                   TAG: 9006160246
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. APPROVES OZONE FUND

The Bush administration, in a policy reversal, said Friday it would back creation of an international fund to help developing countries end use of ozone-depleting chemicals.

If other countries accept the administration's idea at an international conference in London next week, the proposed fund would be administered by the World Bank. An administration source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the United States would contribute $25 million of an expected total of $100 million.

U.S. opposition to the fund had threatened to disrupt the conference, at which participating nations will consider changes to strengthen the 1987 treaty to phase out chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, by the turn of the century, a position Bush endorsed in his 1988 campaign.

Scientists say the CFCs, used as refrigerants and aerosol propellants, are depleting the ozone layer, which protects the Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays.

Before Friday's announcement, the administration had maintained that any assistance to Third World nations for phasing out CFCs should come from existing World Bank resources and not new funds.

Earlier this week, Mustafa K. Tolba of Egypt, head of the U.N. Environment Program, said U.S. opposition to the fund could unravel the Montreal Protocol, the 1987 treaty that calls for reducing the reliance on ozone-destroying chemicals.

White House spokesman Steve Hart said the administration had continued to discuss the matter internally and "we've heard from other governments. We have found that we're at a point . . . where we feel such a fund is warranted."

U.S. officials recognized that failing to help the developing nations - particularly heavy CFC producers such as China and India - would alienate them and keep them from signing the pending update of the Montreal Protocol, one administration source said.

Administration officials are optimistic that the other Montreal Protocol nations will agree to the plan. Specifics, such as how the aid would be disseminated, were to be worked out in the London negotiations.

U.S. officials are expected to push for a system under which the largest contributors would have the most say in where the money goes.

The White House statement was put out under the name of Chief of Staff John Sununu, who has been criticized by environmentalists for blocking other environmental initiatives. Environmentalists have criticized the administration for what they call foot-dragging on eliminating CFCs.

by CNB