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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 16, 1991                   TAG: 9104160486
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ROBERT BONNIE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RESTORE INTEGRITY TO BEAUTIFICATION ACT

IN ITS never-ending use of misinformation and hyperbole, the billboard industry claims that proposed legislation to reform the Highway Beautification Act is unconstitutional and will put them out of business ("Bills would destroy billboard industry," by Benjamin G. Anderson Jr., March 20). Who are they kidding?

A broad national coalition including environmental groups, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors support Sen. John Chafee's (R-R.I.) and Rep. John Lewis' (D-Ga.) Visual Pollution Control Act. The Bush administration has proposed similar reform. Ironically, only the billboard industry supports the current Highway Beautification Act.

One need only to look at the numbers to see why. The Congressional Research Service estimates that from 1986 to 1988, more than 47,500 new billboards were constructed along the nation's federal highways. During the same time, the Federal Highway Administration reports, only 2,657 billboards were removed. Last year, only 226 billboards were removed nationwide.

The problem is that billboard industry-sponsored amendments to the Highway Beautification Act actually prohibit local governments from removing billboards using constitutionally approved zoning laws. Instead, local governments must make huge cash outlays to remove unwanted billboards.

The Chafee/Lewis bill will restore to states and local governments the right to remove billboards pursuant to local law. The Chafee/Lewis bill will also place a moratorium on new billboards along federal highways. Finally, the bill will prohibit the billboard industry from chopping down trees on public rights-of-way for the sole purpose of improved billboard visibility. Still, this legislation will not require the removal of a single legally erected billboard.

In 1965, at Lady Bird Johnson's urging, Congress decided that the scenery along America's highways was worth protecting. Though it employs only about 12,000 people nationwide, the powerful billboard industry was able to turn the well-intentioned law into nothing short of a billboard-protection act. The Visual Pollution Control Act will simply restore integrity to one of the nation's oldest environmental laws.

Robert Bonnie is a policy associate at Scenic America in Washington, D.C., a national environmental group.

by CNB