EPA's agenda

Patrick Crow
Washington, D.C.
[email protected]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner continues to talk cooperation with industry, although her agency often takes a tougher line.

Browner told a National Association of Manufacturers meeting last week that EPA has been "moving beyond the traditional (regulatory) role we may have played toward more flexibility. Many of the environmental challenges we face are going to require that kind of approach.

"Once we would say, 'Put this control technology on the end of this pipe.' We're beyond that. It's a much more complex world, and it's going to take flexibility, creative thinking, and partnership."

She praised companies for being more willing to cooperate on environmental problems, citing an EPA program that allows companies to make self-audits of environmental compliance.

"When we began the program, we thought maybe 100 companies would participate. Today, after 21/2 years, we have more than 1,600 facilities across the country that are part of the self-audit program."

Tailpipe standards

Browner said that a key issue for 1999 will be the next round of auto tailpipe emissions standards required by the 1990 Clean Air Amendments.

She noted that she met recently with officials of the American Petroleum Institute and their member companies, who argued that the question of tailpipe emissions should be taken up in conjunction with EPA's expected rule to reduce the sulfur level in gasoline.

Browner agreed with them. "This is the first time we've tried to do it this way, but if you think about it, they absolutely go together. If you want to get a certain level of pollution reduction, it will take a certain level of catalytic converter adjustments on autos and adjustments in gasoline.

"In January or early February, we will propose new automotive tailpipe standards and new sulfur-in-gasoline standards, and we will complete that process by the end of the year."

Browner praised API and the oil companies for taking a positive approach. "They came to the meeting with a proposal. They didn't come saying, 'No we'll never do it.' They put a proposal on the table and explained why they thought it made sense."

Global warming

Browner called global warming "the greatest environmental challenge that we all face."

She said that while EPA and the business community may disagree on the science and the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed, she said they should be able to agree on interim merasures.

Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.) recently said that the Senate environment committee, which he chairs, will give high priority next year to legislation that would credit companies for making emissions cuts in advance of any regulatory program.

Browner said the administration doesn't have a position on the bill yet, but noted that EPA thinks it is a step in the right direction.

"There are probably things that can be done absent legislation, through voluntary agreements, but in this particular instance, I would understand how the business community would want the certainty that a law could give you."