Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 10, 1995 TAG: 9510100078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``I'm a very conservative Christian,'' she said. ``But to me - there's so much beauty around. I see the outdoors as a reflection of the beauty of God.''
She said that's the main reason she was out in front of the Roanoke office of Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., Monday afternoon. She wanted to urge him to vote against ``regulatory reform'' legislation she fears could endanger the environment.
Brugh worries these new rules would harm not only trees and animals, but also people's health. ``Everybody is going to be affected by this - everybody,'' she said.
On Monday, two caravans of voters and activists stumped across Virginia to put pressure on Robb, who is seeking a compromise with Senate Republicans on the regulatory bill.
One van went from Washington, D.C., to Richmond to Norfolk. Brugh rode on the second van, from Lynchburg to Roanoke.
With rumbling cars and trucks almost drowning out the sidewalk news conference in downtown Roanoke, speakers urged Robb to avoid pressure from ``wealthy special interests'' who want ``regulatory rollback.''
Julie Holt of Virginia Citizen Action, a statewide consumer and environmental group, said the bill ``would give polluters the right to strangle the rules that protect us all.''
In a telephone interview, Robb staked out the middle ground on this issue. He described himself as buffeted on one side by conservative editorial writers and on the other by activists representing labor, consumers and the environment.
The Democrat said both sides seem to be playing politics of polarization - ``suggesting the world is about to end if their position isn't observed'' - rather than looking at the facts.
It's a complicated issue, he said - one where most people don't know or understand the details. ``They just know whether their side says to be for it or against it.''
Robb said he wants to find ways to make regulation less costly to taxpayers and to consumers who eventually must pay the added costs that are put on businesses. He said he's made changes in his compromise proposal that ``have dealt with virtually all of the substantive arguments on both sides.''
Senate Democrats have succeeded three times in preventing the bill's sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., from forcing a vote on the legislation. Robb voted with the Democrats all three times, but since then he has stepped forward to seek ``common ground'' with Republicans. Opponents speculate Republicans may try to force another vote in the next few weeks.
Bob Peckman, an engineer who lives in Hollins, said after the news conference that the proposal ``has lots of trappings of being smart and simple. Regulatory reform sounds real good. But instead of reform, it's elimination.''
Sylvia Brugh said she was not too aware of the legislation until she got some information from a national environmental group a few months ago. Since then she's called Robb's office and written Virginia's other senator, Republican John Warner.
Brugh is a member of the Upper James Scenic River Board, but joined the caravan as a private citizen. She didn't speak during the news conference, but talked afterward of her concerns about the GOP bill.
``I don't understand about the Republicans,'' she said. ``Why they're conservative about so many issues, but not about the environment.''
She believes the legislation actually would increase the federal bureaucracy instead of reducing it.
The bill requires that regulations undergo ``cost-benefit'' tests to calculate whether the estimated dollar value of a rule outweighs its costs. It also gives companies increased powers to go to court to challenge regulations.
Brugh believes all that would create more bureaucracy and red tape.
She said she would keep working on this battle, but that it's a shame ``you have to spend your time fighting these issues instead of being out enjoying the outdoors.''
by CNB