CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

January 17, 1967

Page 612

NEW DIRECTIONS IN REDUCING AUTOMOTIVE AIR POLLUTION

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, last year near the end of the session, I introduced legislation amending the Clean Air Act to provide for an investigation and study by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to determine practicable means of propelling vehicles so as not to contribute to air pollution. I am reintroducing that legislation for consideration by the 90th Congress and ask unanimous consent that the bill be allowed to remain at the desk for 1 week for additional cosponsorship.

Mr. President, I am happy to join the, senior Senator from the State of Washington [Mr. MAGNUSON], in sponsoring his legislation which proposes development of electric motor vehicles from a point of view other than the necessity of meeting metropolitan area air pollution demands. Senator MAGNUSON is to be congratulated for his forthright leadership in constantly striving to better the Nation's transportation system, while at the same time, in cosponsoring the legislation which I. introduced today, recognizing the need for improved control of our air environment.

Mr. President, the Division of Air Pollution of the Public Health Service has estimated that any place inhabited by 50,000 or more persons will have enough motor vehicles to create the potential for an air pollution problem. Nowhere has this been more evident than in southern California where the fight against automotive air pollution finally resulted in a California State law requiring all 1966 model automobiles to be equipped with pollution control devices. As a result of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1965, all 1968 model automobiles sold in the United States must be equipped with similar devices.

By the automobile industry's own admissions, this measure will not effectively reduce air pollution for a number of years. According to their figures, it takes approximately 9 or 10 years for the automobile market to completely turn over, which indicates that it will be 1978 before all automobiles are equipped with a pollution control device.

This is obviously not sufficient. It is highly unlikely that the emission control specifications presently set will actually reduce automotive air pollution. The expanding volume of new car sales indicates that automotive air pollution will not be reduced, that we will be fortunate to hold our own.

The serious air pollution situation in New York City last November dramatically illustrated what our cities may be facing in the future if an alternative to the combustion engine is not developed.

A "first alert" was sounded by officials of the State of New York, which meant that residents should use automobiles only when necessary, primarily because of an increase in carbon monoxide levels

A report presented by the Public Health Service also indicated that the New York-New Jersey area is at or near the top in carbon monoxide pollution, and that an investigation last summer found levels of emissions from motor vehicles bordered on those that cause impairment of mental processes. The report also said that exposures suffered by bus and taxi drivers and workers in shops within 50 to 100 feet from the source of emission probably exceed 30 parts of carbon monoxide per million, and that there is evidence of threshold effects on mental processes from an 8-hour exposure of only 5 to 10 parts.

Therefore, we must today begin to search for alternatives to the internal combustion engine, for alternatives in the methods of urban transportation and for improvements in the existing automobile engine and its pollution control device.

Since introduction of legislation last year by Senator MAGNUSON and myself, there has been a great deal of publicity devoted to the development of alternatives to internal combustion, especially the electric automobile. The major automobile manufacturers suddenly revealed that they had for some time been carrying on research into practicable means of propelling automobiles by a power source other than the internal combustion engine. The Journal of the American Medical Association in a recent editorial endorsed the concept of the electric automobile. Scientific journals, the daily press, virtually every type of publication, and the mass media have devoted increasing attention to this concept.

A poll which was published by George Gallup, on January 7, 1967, indicated that an electric automobile would be purchased by millions of Americans. When asked whether they were interested in buying a car that would have a top speed of about 40 miles per hour, would go about 150 miles before the batteries would have to be recharged, and would sell for about $2,000, 32 percent of the people answered "Yes." That figure, according to Gallup, represents approximately 36 million adults.

This poll is indeed a recognition of a national need and a public willingness to purchase what this legislation might help to develop. I am convinced that we must act now; that we must be prepared to accept the eventual elimination of the presently designed automobile engine in our major metropolitan areas; that we must, in fact, be fully prepared to change our entire concept of moving from place to place.

At the same time, Mr. President, we cannot expect through legislation, or through lack of legislation, to inhibit the freedom of the American people to move freely and selectively. It is, therefore, obvious that consistent with the health of the public, consistent with their freedom of movement, and consistent with the absolute necessity for developing means whereby our urban areas can continue to function, we must begin to look into the future and develop sound, economic solutions to our urban transportation problems.

Mr. President, I would like to conclude these remarks by noting that while we have spent billions of dollars to allow man the privilege of walking on the Moon, we have spent little, absolutely or comparatively, to insure his right to move freely on the Earth. We have spent millions to develop a means whereby man can move across the ocean or from coast to coast in little more than an hour, and yet we have ignored the fact that it will take him 2 hours to get to his office. While we cannot afford to ignore programs which would advance our ability to move in inner space and outer space, it is equally important that we not ignore the ability to move on the ground to and from jobs and to and from places of recreation.

The task set forth in this legislation and that introduced by Senator MAGNUSON will not be accomplished by expenditure of a few million dollars, but the job must begin; and the sooner we begin, the more likely it will be that we will have a solution to this most pressing of urban problems.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD at this point.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The bill will be received and appropriately referred; and, without objection, the bill will be printed in the RECORD, and held at the desk as requested.

The bill (S. 451) to amend the Clean Air Act in order to authorize an investigation and study to determine means of propelling vehicles so as not to contribute to air pollution, introduced by Mr. MUSKIE (for himself and Mr. MAGNUSON), was received, read twice by its title, referred to the Committee on Public Works, and ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S.451

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives. of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 106 of the Clean Air Act is amended by inserting at the end thereof a new subsection as follows:

"(c) (1) The Secretary shall make an investigation and study for the purpose of

determining practicable means of propelling vehicles commonly used for commercial and personal transportation that will not contribute to air pollution. In making such investigation and study the Secretary

"(A) shall give particular consideration to the use of electric power;

"(B) may design, construct, and test such means of propulsion as he determines to be necessary;

"(C) shall consult with other Federal departments and agencies which use a substantial number of such vehicles (including the Department of Defense, the Post Office Department, and the General Services Administration) and such Departments and agencies shall cooperate with the Secretary and provide necessary information for the purposes of this subsection but nothing in this clause shall require the disclosure of any information detrimental to the national defense; and

"(D) may contract with public or private agencies, institutions and organizations, and with individuals, without regard to sections 3648 and 3709 of the Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 529; 41 U.S.C. 5).

"(2) The Secretary shall report the results of such investigation and study to the President and Congress in interim reports submitted on or before June 30, 1967, and prior to the beginning of each regular session of the Congress after the first session of the Ninetieth Congress, and in a final report. Such reports shall contain any recommendations for additional legislation.

"(3) There are authorized to be appropriated such amounts not in excess of a total of $5,000,000, as may be necessary for the purposes of this subsection."