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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 27, 1995                   TAG: 9506280012
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POLLUTION POLITICS

A POLL of Virginians indicates that, while most want environmental regulations to be flexible, they do not want environmental protection reduced. This reflects the general reasonableness of the state's electorate.

Should businesses be brought into the decision-making process so their needs are taken into account when regulations are formulated? Sure, 83 percent say. This is only reasonable. Regulations should never be unnecessarily burdensome. To ensure that they are not, regulators obviously need to understand the impact they will have.

Should regulations be reformed by letting businesses "reduce their pollution in their own way with minimum standards?" No, 63 percent respond. Let's be careful here. Most voters aren't comfortable giving industry free rein. This is only reasonable, given the history of fouled waterways and toxic-waste dumps that some businesses have deemed acceptable (as far as they were concerned).

Still, the purpose of rules - to achieve a particular result - ought to be kept in mind. If businesses can propose cheaper ways to achieve an environmental result, and they often can, then everyone should celebrate the outcome.

The anti-regulatory Allen administration has accepted the survey results with bland assurance that it's charting a course most Virginians want. Indeed, a sound 69 percent approve of the job the governor is doing, and 73 percent agree there is "too much government regulation in this country." When asked if government regulation of the environment should be reduced, however, 55 percent said no.

In fact, when asked about specific policies and initiatives favored by Gov. Allen, most people surveyed were opposed: privatizing state parks, relaxing standards for medical-waste incinerators, exempting businesses from fines and lawsuits if they report environmental problems and agree to try to solve them.

Virginians are a conservative lot. For most, this has meant holding to traditional ways and values - including conserving the beautiful, bountiful land in which we are rooted. While there is need for major reform of the regulatory process, and no way to reform it without deviating from the status quo, policymakers should keep in mind that it is the means, not the ends, that most people want to change.

Virginians want to have their environment and cut the bureaucracy, too.

by CNB