WATCHING GOVERNMENT U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES TAKE THE STAGE

With Patrick Crow from Washington, D.C. The Clinton administration has served notice it will not stand by and watch the Republican controlled Congress roll back environmental protection laws. In an Earth Day speech, President Clinton complained Congress is ,allowing lobbyists to rewrite our environmental laws" and pledged to oppose any backsliding. Clinton said Congress must fix three House-passed bills, which are part of the Republican "Contract with America."

May 1, 1995

3 min read

The Clinton administration has served notice it will not stand by and watch the Republican controlled Congress roll back environmental protection laws.

In an Earth Day speech, President Clinton complained Congress is ,allowing lobbyists to rewrite our environmental laws" and pledged to oppose any backsliding.

Clinton said Congress must fix three House-passed bills, which are part of the Republican "Contract with America."

One is a measure that would require agencies to perform better assessments of the risks they are controlling through regulations. Another would require the government to pay property owners when federal actions lower property values. The third is a ban on new federal rules this year.

'REASONABLE' BILL

Clinton said the administration will support a reasonable risk assessment bill, but the bill approved by the House would require federal agencies to go through an expensive, time consuming process "every time they want to move a muscle."

He said current law prevents the government from taking property without compensation, but the House bill would "make the government pay out billions of dollars every time it acts to protect the public." He said the proposal has been on the ballot in 20 states and was defeated each time. He pledged to veto it.

The administration also faces tough fights on several major environmental laws up for reauthorization, such as the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act (CWA), and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Cleanup Act (Superfund).

The CWA is furthest along. This month the House should consider a bill that would shift many federal regulatory powers to state and local governments.

Of interest to the oil industry, the bill would make it easier to develop wetlands, setting new criteria for defining a wetland and dropping protection for the least important wetlands.

The Senate environment committee is expected to consider a substantially different bill-if it acts at all. Chairman John Chafee (R-R.I.) has said, "The Clean Water Act does not belong on the list of laws that are failing and in need of major reform."

HOUSE ACTION

The key environmental issue in the House could be reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act.

Landowners, especially in the West, have complained the law prevents them from using their property as they wish.

The House resource committee has been holding hearings around the country, gathering public comments about the law's shortcomings. Meanwhile, 160 environmental and other groups have formed a coalition to defend the law.

The U.S. Supreme Court could even get into the act. It is expected to issue a ruling next month in a case that questions whether the law meant to protect habitats as well as wildlife.

The case, Babbitt vs. Sweet Home Chapter, involves the harvesting of timber in Oregon. Timber company lawyers argued the government should buy habitats if it wants to protect them.