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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1995                   TAG: 9502150063
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GROUPS SEEK TO BACK EPA AGAINST ALLEN

Thirteen health, environmental and civil rights groups want to enlist as foot soldiers for the federal Environmental Protection Agency in its legal battle with the Allen administration over who can challenge air-pollution permits.

The groups - as diverse as the Mountain Heritage Alliance in far Southwest Virginia and the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. - are asking a federal judge to let them be heard in the state's pending lawsuit against the EPA.

``It's an important case for us,'' said Kay Slaughter, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville. ``We hope to protect the right of individuals [to have] a voice in decisions affecting their health and well-being.''

At issue is Virginia's "standing" law, which allows only citizens with an immediate, substantial, financial injury to fight air-pollution permits in state court. Environmentalists say that's too strict, and violates federal law. The EPA agrees, and partly on those grounds, rejected the state's plan for complying with the Clean Air Act.

Last month, Gov. George Allen and state Attorney General Jim Gilmore shot back with a long lawsuit that accused the EPA of infringing on the principle of states' rights. The administration claims the federal government can't withhold highway funds - $1billion over three years - if the state does not bring its air-pollution program into compliance with EPA regulations.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing 11 other groups, filed a petition last week with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond to intervene in that case. In a separate petition, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law also asked to intervene.

Granting the environmental groups intervener status - which allows them to participate fully in the case, presenting arguments and petitions - is up to the federal judge. The judge has no deadline to make a decision.

Slaughter and others have been trying for years to change the state's standing laws for air- and water-pollution permits. On water-pollution permits, only the companies applying can challenge the state's decisions in court.

"I want to make it clear that [the issue] predates this administration," said EPA spokeswoman Marsha Spink, adding that her agency started seeking changes in Virginia's standing laws before Allen became governor. "This is not a political issue with EPA," she said.

Two bills that would have broadened citizen standing were dropped during this General Assembly session. The assembly appears to be leaning toward loosening several environmental policies.

The other groups asking to intervene are: Valley Concerned Citizens, based in Botetourt County; Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited; the American Lung associations of Northern Virginia and of Virginia; Clean Water Action; Friends of the Rivers of Virginia; James River Association; Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club; Virginia Citizen Action; and Virginia Consortium for Clean Air.

by CNB