Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 3, 1992 TAG: 9202030088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
AGENCIES SAY BILL A THREAT
Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Elizabeth Haskell and some of the state's highest-powered environmentalists are laying siege to legislation they say could wipe out a decade of environmental progress in Virginia.Under the bill, introduced by Sen. Frank Nolen, D-New Hope, each of the state's environmental regulations may not exceed comparable federal law unless cleared by standing committees of each house of the legislature.
That may sound reasonable, environmentalists say, but it would kill Chesapeake Bay protection and dozens of other Virginia-specific laws not covered by federal regulation and leave crucial regulations vulnerable to political attack.
Today the legislation comes before the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. Heads of Virginia's major environmental agencies on water, waste management and air pollution all are opposed to it.
Nolen's district includes some of Central Virginia's largest industries. The other 17 sponsors include Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle; Sen. Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield; Del. Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg; and Del. Ford Quillen, D-Gate City.
Bernard Caton, Virginia's deputy secretary for natural resources, said the state's environmental regulations could become some of the most lax in the country under the Nolen bill. He said Haskell would appear at today's hearing.
"It's really a bad bill, a bad concept," said Keith Buttleman, director of the Virginia Council on the Environment, one of the state bodies opposed to it. "There are some issues that a state needs to deal with for its own purposes."
Virginia agencies compiled a list of regulations that could be threatened. They include those that control kepone, the pesticide found to have polluted the James River south of Richmond in the 1970s, and a marine paint ingredient, nutrients and other pollutants that have killed marine life in the Chesapeake Bay.
Also on environmentalists' list of endangered laws are those empowering the state to evaluate air toxics to be emitted by industrial plants and recycling mandates for local governments. The list also includes regulations on chlorine, mercury, open burning, infectious and solid waste and water standards.
Virginia agencies said in a recent position paper that if the bill is made law, "The level of air toxic emissions in the state will not be reduced and may even increase. Public health will not be protected as a result." It said Virginia already is listed as the fifth highest emitter of air toxics from facilities that file federal information on their emissions.
Bill opponent Gerald McCarthy, director of the Virginia Environmental Endowment, said, "Instead of making it a leader, it clearly would make Virginia a follower" in national environmental policy.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.