ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612310077
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
THE FEDERAL Environmental Protection Agency sues Virginia's Smithfield Foods Inc. for one of the biggest penalties in history - $125 million - after the Allen administration had given the company a $2 million wrist-slap.
The governor's explanation? A Democratic administration in Washington, aside from wanting to punish business, is out to get state governments in general and George Allen in particular.
Virginia's own Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission issues a harsh assessment of the commonwealth's water-quality enforcement efforts.
Allen's explanation? It's a partisan thing. JLARC is sponsored by the General Assembly, which remains in Democrats' hands.
Thus does the governor continue to politicize practically every activity of government, ascribing ideological motives to his critics, while failing to counter credibly the impression that his own administration would coddle environmental law-breakers.
In the case of the Smithfield suit, as with other high-profile conflicts between the governor and the EPA, it's worth noting that EPA Administrator Carol Browner is not your typical old-style command-and-control bureaucrat. In a number of areas, she has tried to practice the kind of science-based, problem-solving environmentalism that seeks to work with the private sector to find smarter, cheaper ways to achieve standards.
A good example: a recent EPA deal with Intel Corp., the computer chip maker. The agency has spared Intel from a host of permitting and reporting requirements at the company's Arizona plant. In return, Intel has agreed to exceed legal requirements for pollution control - a good deal for everyone involved, notwithstanding griping by some environmental groups. More such deals are said to be in the works.
In light of which, it's hard to buy Allen's charge of federal tyranny in the EPA's pointed message to Virginia and the suit accusing Smithfield of dumping illegal levels of hog waste into a Virginia river that runs into Chesapeake Bay. Browner has yet to be seen stomping around in jackboots.
As for JLARC: Let's say a Democrat wins the governorship next year and Republicans, soon thereafter, take control of the General Assembly. Will the next governor be able, after Allen's insinuations, to dismiss all the legislative watchdog's reports as merely partisan attacks?
The merits of these particular issues aside, Allen's flamboyant rebellions are doing Virginians no favor. The promise of devolution of federal authority rests on a working relationship, even a partnership, between the states and Washington. The promise of effectiveness in Virginia's divided government rests increasingly on the capacity for bipartisan consensus. Neither promise is served by the fights this governor is picking.
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