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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990                   TAG: 9003061963
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

CLEAN AIR BILL DEBATED IN SENATE

The Senate opened debate Monday on compromise clean air legislation that would mean the first tightening of air pollution laws in 13 years.

Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, in an opening statement said, "rarely has there been legislation so thoroughly considered, so long debated, so much discussed."

After nearly a decade of deadlock, the way was cleared last week for floor debate when Senate leaders and the Bush administration agreed on curbs on toxic industrial chemicals released into the air, smog-causing pollutants from automobiles and the compounds that cause acid rain.

Sen. Steve Symms, R-Idaho, who was the only member of the Environment and Public Works Committee to vote against an earlier version of the legislation last November, said the compromise represented little improvement over the committee bill.

Acknowledging that the bill was not as strict as he wanted, Mitchell said its provisions were the best that could be obtained from the administration, and warned his colleagues, "We're going to stay with this bill until we complete it . . . ."

At a news conference, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said the legislation fails to require the auto emission controls needed to clean the air in seriously polluted areas such as the major metropolitan areas of the Northeast.

But the two floor managers of the bill - Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and John Chafee, R-R.I., - said the bill represented a significant step forward in achieving cleaner air.

by CNB