Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100006
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"The United States agrees that financial assistance should be made available to help developing countries phase out production of CFCs [chlorofluorocarbons]," White House deputy press secretary Roman Popadiuk said in a prepared statement.
"However, we believe it is more sensible to use existing institutions and existing financial mechanisms already established by the World Bank," Popadiuk said.
But a World Bank spokesman said Wednesday that the institution has insufficient resources to handle the millions of dollars needed for such a project.
Popadiuk said the administration opposes setting up a $100 million fund to provide the help.
That position was harshly criticized by lawmakers.
"The spirit of [former Interior Secretary] James Watt has been reincarnated in the bodies of [White House chief of staff] John Sununu and [budget director] Richard Darman, the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of environmentalism in the 1990s," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.
Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., said, "It is incredible to me that the Bush administration would be unwilling to come up with the very modest sums involved in the transition fund."
"This decision directly contradicts [Secretary of State James] Baker's policy commitments to assist developing countries in meeting their international environmental obligations," said Pell.
The establishment of such a fund was to be proposed at an ongoing CFC conference in Geneva, which U.S. representatives are attending, The Washington Post reported. The European-initiated proposal wants money to help Third World countries convert to alternative chemicals and identify ways to replace CFCs, the Post said.
Such a fund would be administered by an international lending authority, such as the World Bank, according to the newspaper.
There is growing sentiment among World Bank member nations and World Bank President Barber Conable to establish a new international body devoted solely to funding environmental programs for developing countries.
Conable has estimated such a body might need up to $400 million a year for the first few years, but the organization would be hard pressed to divert that much money from its existing budget, said a Bank spokesman.
Such a body could be administered by both the World Bank and the United Nations, under one scenario, the official said.
CFCs are used widely for refrigeration and aerosol products, as well as some production. Scientists say CFC emissions are depleting the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays.
Environmentalists have criticized the administration for what they call foot-dragging on eliminating CFCs.
by CNB