October 14, 1966
Page 26808
CLEAN AIR ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1966 – CONFERENCE REPORT
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I submit a report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the House to the bill (S. 3112) to amend the Clean Air Act so as to authorize grants to air pollution control programs in addition to present authority for grants to develop, establish, or improve such programs; make the use of appropriations under the act more flexible by consolidating the appropriation authorizations under the act and deleting the provision limiting the total of grants for support of air pollution control programs to 20 percent of the total appropriation for any year; extend the duration of the programs authorized by the act; and for other purposes. I ask unanimous consent for the present consideration of the report.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The report will be read for the information of the Senate.
The assistant legislative clerk read the report.
(For conference report, see House proceedings of Oct. 13, 1966, p. 26596, CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.)
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the present consideration of the report?
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the report.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, today we bring to the Senate additional amendments to the Clean Air Act. These amendments have the vigorous backing of the Members of both Houses. There has been no opposition to this bill at any point in the legislative process. This is significant. It is evidence of the continued concern of the Congress with the problems of air pollution and of the determination of our chairman, Mr. RANDOLPH, and the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee chairman, Mr. STAGGERS, to maintain our search for improved ways of reducing the hazards of air pollution.
Today's legislation is a step forward, but it is not the end of our efforts. We cannot rest until we have removed the threats to man's health, well-being, and economic advancement which man himself creates in a modern, technological society.
S. 3112 amends the Clean Air Act in order to provide for a stronger, more effective air pollution control effort at the Federal, State, and local level.
S. 3112 is based on legislation proposed by the Administration. The primary purposes of the bill are to consolidate appropriation authorizations in the Clean Air Act and to authorize funds to continue the program through 1969.
S. 3112 institutes a new grant program to allow air pollution control agencies up to one-half of the cost of maintaining programs for the prevention and control of air pollution, and authorizes the Secretary to make grants to intermunicipal or interstate air pollution control agencies in an amount up to three-fifths of the cost of maintaining regional air pollution control programs.
S. 3112 removes the limitation in existing law that no more than 20 percent of the sums appropriated annually under the act may be used for support of air pollution control programs, and provides that in determining the eligibility for a program grant nonrecurrent expenditures of the participating agencies in the preceding year shall not be considered.
Finally, S. 3112 provides that grants for interstate programs, subject to the 12½-percent limitation, shall be allocated by the Secretary according to the portion of such grant that is chargeable to any one State.
The conferees have, therefore, agreed to authorize the requested $46 million for 1967 and provided $66 million for 1968, and $74 million for 1969. These authorizations will provide adequate funds to carry out the new maintenance grant program authorized by this act and give the division of air pollution sufficient funds to support essential research programs of research on sulfur and automobile emission control. The $46 million authorized for 1967 represents a $10-million increase over existing authorizations. This increase is, in part, required by the expanded program of research into the control of sulfur emissions and automobile emissions and includes $7 million as the added cost of maintenance grant program.
The authorizations for 1968 and 1969 represent similar increases in the activities of the division and $10 and $13 million, respectively, to carry out the maintenance grant program.
On the latter point, the desirability of providing Federal aid to continuation of air pollution control programs is without question. Existing program grants have stimulated State and local activity by providing Federal matching funds for new or improved programs. They were not designed for sustained State and local control efforts necessary to cope with a continuing air pollution problem. This has discriminated against States and localities who initiated their own excellent programs prior to the Clean Air Act, and it has worked a hardship on other States and localities.
Therefore, the provisions of S. 3112 authorizing the Secretary to make grants for maintaining air pollution control programs are essential. The 50-percent matching grant program to State and local agencies and the three-fifths matching grant program to regional agencies should provide adequate incentive for maintenance of this effort.
Non-recurrent expenditures of pollution control agencies will not be considered in determining the eligibility for a grant. Many factors may justifiably cause the level of expenditures of a pollution control agency to fluctuate, including, for example, non-recurrent costs of equipment, of facilities, acquisition of property, or the initiation of studies concerning air quality or other matters. Where the overall workability of the air pollution control program is not impaired, fluctuations in expenditures should not make local agencies ineligible for the Federal matching grants support.
S. 3112 deletes the provision in the Clean Air Act which limits the total for grants in support of air pollution control programs to 20 percent of the total appropriation for any fiscal year.
The existing act imposes a fixed relationship between grant funds to the total appropriations for all Federal air pollution activities. Air pollution and the possibilities for control action are subject to rapid change. Over a period of time, the pattern of needs and desirable program balance with respect to research, technical assistance, training, Federal abatement activities, grants to State and local control agencies, and other activities may vary considerably. The committee believes it would be wise to leave the determination of the relative emphasis to be given to each of these activities to the annual budgetary and appropriation process so that judgments may be based upon the overall requirements existing at the time.
Mr. President, these are the major provisions of the legislation as agreed upon by the Senate-House conference committee. I am sure the Senate will join the other body in unanimously approving this step forward.
Mr. BOGGS. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the RECORD at this point a statement prepared by the senior Senator from Kentucky (Mr. COOPER].
There being no objection, the statement was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
STATEMENT BY SENATOR COOPER
I support the Conference Report on S. 3112 and urge its adoption by the Senate.
The bill would broaden the present authority of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare by authorizing grants to air pollution control agencies for program maintenance. It would make the use of appropriations more flexible by consolidating the appropriation authorities of the Clean Air Act. In addition, the bill would amend the Clean Air Act to delete the provision limiting grants for air pollution control programs.
Finally, and most important, the bill would extend the duration of programs authorized by the Clean Air Act of 1965.
I believe that this bill is another demonstration of the determined effort of the Congress to advance solutions to the most challenging problem facing our country today – pollution in the air and in the water.
Extensive hearings were conducted by the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution in June of this year which resulted in a thorough and well documented hearing record. I should like to say as a member of the Committee on Public Works that the Subcommittee, headed by the distinguished Senator from Maine [Mr. MUSKIE], with the able assistance of the Ranking Republican Member on the Committee, the Senator from Delaware [Mr. BOGGS], and the entire Committee has worked hard and conscientiously in developing the bill before us.
I would like to make two observations in connection with this bill. This bill makes no provision for grants to industry for research into the problem of air pollution. The bill amending the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which has just been recommended by the Conferees, includes a provision authorizing for the first time the Secretary of the Interior to make grants to industry for research in the prevention and treatment of water pollution.
I believe it is important that we enlist the initiative and energy of industry in this effort. In this connection, I shall urge the Public Works Committee at a future date when further amendments are being considered to the Clean Air Act to recommend an amendment making industry eligible to receive research grants for experimentation in the field of air pollution controls in the manner that Congress has provided in the field of water pollution.
I also note by the statement of the Chairman of the Subcommittee [Mr. MUSKIE] that the $46 million authorized for 1967 includes a $10 million increase beyond the existing authorization and that this increase will be used for an expanded program of research into sulphur emissions and automobile emissions. The testimony taken by the Subcommittee establishes the need for this additional research.
I support and urge the adoption of the Conference Report.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I move that the conference report be adopted.
THE ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on agreeing to the conference report.
The report was agreed to.