Congress wages "sneak attack" on environment-group
Date: 17-Sep-99
Country: USA
Author: Patrick Connole
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), an environmental
activist organisation, released a report identifying 40 "riders" to
spending bills it said would gut efforts to reduce dangerous emissions
that contribute to global warming, and harm other clean land, air and
water projects.
Green groups have complained the "riders" were hidden in spending bills
with the hope they would be passed as Congress hurries to get government
funding bills finished.
"This summer's extreme weather is a dramatic preview of what global
warming could do," said Lexi Shultz, a staff attorney for U.S. PIRG.
"But the auto industry and its congressional allies are ignoring this
wake-up call and are instead waging a sneak attack on measures that
could curb global warming," she said.
The group cited as evidence a provision backed by Republican
Representative Frank Wolf of Virginia that would block attempts to
increase the miles-per-gallon standards for sport utility vehicles
(SUVs) and light trucks.
U.S. PIRG said if popular SUVs were forced to get the same gas mileage
averages as cars, about 187 million tonnes of global warming pollution
could be prevented, saving consumers nearly $14 billion annually in
gasoline expenses.
A spokesman for Wolf's office said the legislative provision involved
more than miles-per-gallon standards, notably automobile safety and
other issues.
The Senate later on Wednesday was expected to vote on a measure to strip
language barring increased mileage standards.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, told Reuters there were
several anti-environmental measures tagged onto a variety of spending
bills that she was working to defeat.
"Today, I called on the president to veto the bills" with
anti-environmental riders attached, she said.
Boxer's main battle involved her effort to stop a Republican plan to
delay by one year new rules requiring that oil companies pay higher
royalties on oil drilled on federal land.
Overall, House and Senate lawmakers are working to pass 13 spending
bills to keep the government operating. The Oct. 1 start of the new
fiscal year is the deadline for approving the "must-pass" appropriations
bills.
To date, only two bills have been sent to President Bill Clinton, making
it likely stop-gap spending measures will be passed to avoid disrupting
government services.
