Senate curbs Calif. smog-fighting strategy
WASHINGTON -- The Senate approved a measure yesterday that would block efforts by states to reduce the pollution spewed by small gasoline engines in machines such as lawn mowers, tractors, forklifts, and chainsaws.
The amendment, approved on a voice vote, represents a major setback for California's strategy for fighting the smog that continues to plague Southern California despite a half-century of pollution-control efforts, state officials said. It would mark only the second decision by Congress since 1974 to preempt California's special authority under the Clean Air Act to set tougher pollution regulations than federal standards.
The amendment, attached to a spending bill that funds a variety of government agencies, would give the Environmental Protection Agency sole authority to regulate gasoline engines smaller than 50 horsepower and direct the agency to propose new regulations for the engines by the end of next year.
The House, which has not addressed the issue, is likely to accept the Senate's provision, according to opponents and supporters of the amendment.
The measure was the latest in a series of actions by the Bush administration or the Republican-controlled Congress to challenge or curtail California's environmental protection laws on issues including offshore oil drilling and hybrid cars.
Senator Christopher S. Bond, the measure's sponsor, who is a Republican of Missouri, argued that California's regulation would drive 22,000 US manufacturing jobs abroad.
"Today's passage of my job protection amendment is a victory for the thousands of families in Missouri, and across the nation, whose jobs were threatened by California's attempt to force-feed the nation dangerous new regulations without concern for job loss or safety," Bond said.
Briggs & Stratton Corp., the world's largest producer of these engines, contended that revamping its production facilities in response to California's new regulations would be so expensive that it would close the facilities, two of which are in Missouri, and move production overseas. But in a submission to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Briggs & Stratton said California's regulations would not have a "material effect on its financial condition."
The company spent $520,000 over the 18 months ending last June to lobby Congress, according to reports filed with the secretary of the Senate.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, argued that the amendment would deprive California and other states of an essential tool to meet air-quality standards.
"Since the beginning . . . the Clean Air Act has recognized that states with extraordinary or extreme pollution need flexibility to reduce pollution and protect public health," Feinstein said.
California, which started controlling air pollution before the rest of the country, still has the nation's dirtiest air. The Clean Air Act specifically gives California the right to make regulations tougher than federal rules. It also gives other states the option to adopt California's tougher rules, and they often do.
At the California Air Resources Board, officials said the measure adopted by the Senate would nullify five state regulations.
