THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070345
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Despite warnings from the federal government, the Virginia House and Senate passed a bill Monday that would allow businesses to confess past environmental sins without fear of serious punishment.
The approval of what environmentalists have labeled the ``Polluters Relief Act'' came after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency threatened last week to increase federal enforcement in Virginia if the bill was approved.
``In my view, it will do more harm than good,'' Steven A. Herman, assistant administrator of EPA, wrote in an unusually blunt letter to the director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Peter W. Schmidt.
Schmidt replied the next day that he believed the EPA was looking at the wrong bill and that he and Gov. George F. Allen stood behind the measure.
He described it as ``an incentive for companies to undertake voluntary assessment activities that will lead to environmental improvements.''
The measure is being spearheaded by the Virginia Manufacturers Association and is championed largely by Republican lawmakers, although Democrats also voted heavily for the measure Monday.
It would let companies conduct private inspections of their facilities and report any environmental violations they find to proper local authorities. If they agree to clean up any major problems in a timely fashion, the bill says, their exposure to legal action would be minimal.
Businesses also could shield their inspection reports from citizens, journalists and even judges. And a company could not be prosecuted unless it was found to be acting ``in bad faith,'' the bill says.
Environmentalists have called the bill their biggest worry of the 1995 General Assembly. They say that while the concept of voluntary audits is sound, the powers given to businesses in this bill are too strong.
``It opens the door for folks who aren't well-intentioned to use these audits to protect themselves'' from government regulators and environmental lawsuits, Patricia Jackson, executive director of the James River Association, said after the Assembly votes.
The House attached two amendments Monday that reduce the range of the bill, including one that would not grant immunity from criminal prosecution to confessing companies. The Senate version, however, grants this immunity.
The two versions are expected to be reconciled by a conference committee.
One reason the EPA opposes the bill is that it wants to enact a national volunteer-inspection policy for businesses - one that would be stricter than Virginia's proposal.
In his letter to Schmidt, Herman said passage of Virginia's bill would create conflicts with a national policy, lead to more lawsuits from a frustrated public and perhaps spur more environmental harm.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS by CNB