Clouds Gather Over Future of Clear Skies

[Nambe]

WASHINGTON, DC, July 9, 2003 (ENS)

There is no chance the President's Clear Skies initiative will simply blow through Congress, members of both parties said at a House subcommittee hearing Tuesday on the administration's air pollution plan. Critics of the plan slammed the administration for not being forthcoming with analysis of rival legislation and said the plan rolls back existing law, while supporters raised concern that some of the bill's provisions might be too costly for industry to adopt.

"None of the necessary consensus is in place to achieve a major change in the law," said Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat. ---

"The administration's bill would repeal, delay or gut many existing Clean Air Act requirements allowing more pollution for years longer than current law requires," said Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat. "The administration calls this bill the "Clear Skies Act" - that is good marketing, but this bill is terrible for air quality and should be opposed by every member of this committee."

Waxman noted that air pollution is a still serious problem for many Americans - the EPA estimates that 82 million live in areas with dangerous levels of fine particles and 133 million live in areas with high levels of ozone. ---

[damnraddem]

1. The less action by this Congress, the better off we'll be --

hope for 2004.