Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 7, 1993 TAG: 9304070195
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY NOTE:
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
WILDER TO PROPOSE LAWS ON AIR QUALITY
Gov. Douglas Wilder says he will introduce legislation today requiring an emissions-inspection program in Richmond to protect hundreds of millions of dollars in highway funds.Previous bills introduced in the General Assembly that would have established such a program have failed, Wilder said Tuesday at an environmental symposium at Virginia Military Institute.
If the state misses the deadline on this program, the Environmental Protection Agency could block $800 million in transportation funds statewide - $300 million in the Richmond area alone. According to federal standards, the program would have to be submitted by Nov. 15.
"I cannot allow this to happen," Wilder said. "We cannot afford to lose a penny of any money as a result of a failure to react."
Richmond officials think air quality has improved significantly since the EPA gave it the bureaucratic designation of "moderate ozone non-attainment area."
The city has instituted controls at gas pumps and on industry, Wilder said. But the federal government is demanding more.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., told the governor the EPA was serious about withholding the funds and Virginia was running a risk if it didn't put the machinery for an emissions-inspection program in place, Wilder said. "If we don't need it, we won't use it."
This is not the first time the federal government has held transportation funds over the heads of state governments.
When the federal government wanted the drinking age raised, for instance, there was a threat to take money for highways from states that failed to comply.
"That's the carrot and the stick, and they use it rather effectively," Wilder said.
Coordinators of the VMI symposium are referring to the event as an environmental summit, a place where industry leaders and government leaders can talk about ways to protect the environment.
"We cannot wait for disasters to enact remedies, nor can we commit ourselves to environmental protection only for elections," Wilder said.
"It is time to put up or shut up when it comes to our legislators and their commitment to clean air."
Elizabeth Haskell, secretary of natural resources, said preventing pollution, the theme for the symposium, "is perhaps the most important management topic of the '90s."
Even during the invocation, VMI's chaplain, Col. Charles Caudill, spoke of the environment. "We have taken your Garden of Eden and destroyed its forests . . . poisoned its waters," he said.
Pollution protection will be a priority for the newly formed Department of Environmental Quality.
"The intention is to head off environmental conflicts and damage before it occurs," said Richard Burton, director of the department. "We are responsible for making sure Virginia makes some of the most important decisions of our time."
Burton is respected by industry, in part because he has done work to improve the permitting process, said Hiawatha Nicely, vice president of operations and administration for Magnox Inc. in Pulaski.
"That's been the cry from industry groups for years," Nicely said. "There has been no support from permitting agencies. Now we're addressing that."
Nicely said his own company has worked for the past few years to prevent pollution by changing processes and by recycling.
A few years ago, the company was dumping 6,000 cubic yards of sludge into New River Valley landfills. As a result of the changes, Nicely said, Magnox now is contributing no sludge to the landfills.
Pollution prevention needs a leader in Virginia, said state Sen. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania. "It is vitally important that members of the business and industrial community - as the regulated community - step forward. It seems you are the ones that could be and should be the lead dog."