THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, October 6, 1994              TAG: 9410060493
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   66 lines

SUPERFUND REFORM BILL DEAD FOR NOW THE MEASURE WOULD HAVE CUT THE TIME AND COST OF CLEANING UP TOXIC WASTE DUMPS.

An ambitious legislative blueprint to speed clean-up of the nation's toxic waste dumps, strongly backed by the Clinton administration and a broad coalition of environmental and industry groups, is dead for this year, congressional leaders announced Wednesday.

Supporters blamed Republican opposition for thwarting the bill.

Rep. Al Swift, D-Wash. - who rallied hard for congressional passage of the statute, which is an overhaul of the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act - told a coalition of supporters Wednesday that holding a vote before Congress adjourns this week would be senseless.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, also issued a statement saying that further action on the so-called Superfund reform bill would be postponed until next year.

The announcements came after Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Dole, R-Kan., and House Republican leaders signaled that they would oppose the bill if it came up for floor votes.

``Partisan politics have killed this bill,'' said Linda Greer, a toxic waste specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. ``When you have a vast coalition of diverse groups supporting it and only a few Republicans against it, it's clear that party politics reign supreme over constitutional politics.''

William Roberts, a Superfund expert at the Environmental Defense Fund, concurred. ``Some lawmakers had some legitimate problems with the bill,'' he said. ``But the fact is that some Republicans simply wanted to deny the Clinton administration the opportunity to pass a major environmental statute.''

The Superfund law, which outlines how toxic sites should be cleaned, is widely regarded as one of the nation's most costly and ineffective environmental laws. In 14 years, 1,177 waste sites have been designated for clean-up, but only 217 have been declared clean.

The overhaul of Superfund would have reduced the average length of time needed for site cleanup by 25 percent, supporters said. It also would have cut the amount of funding required for cleanups, which sometimes totals billions of dollars, by a quarter, they said. The bill also included provisions for involving community activists, who have long complained that they were locked out of decision-making about cleanups.

A coalition of more than 200 groups, ranging from the Sierra Club to Monsanto Chemical Co., agreed that the bill was a vast improvement over current legislation and lobbied heavily for it.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol M. Browner, who had made passage of the statute a top priority, called the congressional decision a big disappointment: ``Everyone who is involved in Superfund cleanup, from people living near sites to small businesses who have some responsibility for cleanup, loses.''

Through the year, the proposed statute received broad support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers. During the spring and summer, it easily passed five congressional committees.

Late this summer, however, Dole began sending signals that Senate Republicans would not agree to pass the bill this year.

KEYWORDS: SUPERFUND TOXIC WASTE by CNB