CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

November 25, 1969

Page 35805

CLEAN AIR ACT -- 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 amendment of the House to the bill (S. 2276) to extend for 1 year the authorization for research relating to fuels and vehicles under the provisions of the Clean Air Act. I ask unanimous consent for the present consideration of the report.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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 November 24, 1969, p. 35526, CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.)

The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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, on July 8 the Senate unanimously agreed to a 1-year extension of the broadened research and demonstration section of the Clean Air Act. Without this legislation the Appropriations Committee would be unable to fund the fuels combustion research efforts which are so vitally needed to achieve control of fossil-fuel-fired powerplants and automobile engines. The House of Representatives passed the National Air Pollution Control Administration budget without funds for this section due to the lack of an authorization.

The conference committee agreed on an amount 50 percent less than that which was passed by the Senate and which represents a $26.3 million increase over the House figure. The House committee argued that there was no need to authorize an amount in excess of the administration's budget request. The Senate conferees disagreed and indicated a strong belief that the purpose of an authorizing committee was to indicate program need, not program expenditure. Also, the Senate conferees did not think that the administration's budget request would provide an adequate research investment this year.

Mr. President, across the Nation people have spoken out for air pollution control. The manifestations of public opinion which have occurred in public hearing after public hearing in numerous air quality regions have indicated a growing demand for clean air.

I will speak on this subject in the near future when I discuss implementation of the Air Quality Act. However, suffice it to say that air quality standards are being set. In many regions, plans for implementation will soon have to be developed. Those plans for implementation will depend on the availability of technology, alternative fuels, and other methods of reducing air pollution.

Control technology for oxides of sulfur, one of the two pollutants for which standards are being set, other than alternative fuels and low sulfur fuels, is not available. It was primarily for this purpose that this section was enacted in 1967.

There is a limited supply of low sulfur coal which will be available in most communities to meet standards now. But a major technological breakthrough will be required to assure compliance with the standards which have been proposed and which meet the Nation's energy demands at the same time.

Mr. President, I understand that those who sell and those who use high sulfur coal are arguing against early implementation of proposed standards for sulfur oxides and are opposing use of low sulfur coal because of costs. They are content to wait until control technology is developed pursuant to this section of the Clean Air Act.

I find this unconscionable and unacceptable. If air pollution control officials in any part of the Nation are in fact not going to require alternative fuels as a means of control and wait for technology to be developed, I would personally urge elimination of this section of the law.

Section 104 must not be used as an excuse to delay effective control. Low sulfur coal and alternative fuels must be used during the entire period of technology development.

Another area where more research is needed is in developing alternatives to the internal combustion engine and a more effective means of controlling the existing engine. Too little has been done in this area. The administration has been weak in its response to the need to develop this technology. The automobile industry has been guilty of delay.

I would hope that, with this compromise amount of $45 million, the President, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare would take cognizance of the congressional concern for his program and recognize that $45 million is not merely a compromise figure, but is a rejection of an inadequate budget request and an insistence on the part of he Congress that additional funds be provided for this program.

Mr. President, today I have sent a letter cosigned by Senator RANDOLPH and other members of the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution requesting the Appropriations Committee to increase the funds for this program this year in order that oxides of sulfur research and motor vehicle pollution control research can proceed at an accelerated pace.

I hope that my colleagues will support me in this request.

I ask unanimous consent that the letter to the Senator from Washington (Mr. MAGNUSON) be printed in the RECORD at this point.

There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS,

Washington, D.C.,

November 25, 1969.

Hon. WARREN G. MAGNUSON,

Chairman, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Education, and Welfare, and Related Agencies,

U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.

DEAR WARREN: As you know, the Air Quality Act of 1967 is a far-reaching and critically important measure authorizing major Federal support for a national program of air quality enhancement. Substantial progress is being made toward the implementation of this program.

However, our capacity to pollute exceeds our capacity to control pollution. For example, in the absence of control, sulfur oxide air pollution levels will continue to increase for the next ten years.

This situation need not continue. The Air Quality Act of 1967 provided adequate authority to develop necessary technology. However, appropriation and budget requests for that program have been inadequate. In 1969 the Administration requested $31.3 million for Section 104. Only $18.7 million were appropriated. For FY 1970 the Administration only requested $18.7 million for Section 104.

The effect of these reduced appropriations will be continued delay in the development of sulfur oxide and motor vehicle emissions control technology. Standards are now being set by the States under the Air Quality Act for particulates and sulfur oxides, but effective long-term implementation of the sulfur oxide standards may be delayed in the absence of technically feasible control systems.

Senate and House conferees have agreed to authorize $45 million to carry out Section 104 in FY 1970 but, as mentioned above, the Administration requested only $18.7 million. The House did not appropriate any funds for this section in the absence of an authorization.

As you know, research and demonstration efforts to control emissions from motor vehicles and to develop alternatives to the internal combustion engine are carried out with Section 104 funds. This effort only received approximately $4 million in 1969 for new propulsion systems as well as control methods applicable to existing systems. This is obviously inadequate.

During recent hearings before your Subcommittee, Mr. C. C. Johnson agreed with Senator Case on the current status of sulfur oxide control technology: "In other words, we are at a very primitive state of the art here." Air pollution control technologies must keep pace with the standards setting procedure by the states and the Federal program must be strengthened in this area.

Yet, at this crucial time, the Administration reduced the fiscal 1970 budget of the Consumer Protection and Environmental Health Service by 13 percent, or $30 million. Environmental quality must become a more important priority. If the Administration does not recognize this need, then the Congress must make up the slack.

Your efforts to strengthen this program by providing adequate funding for research relating to the development of new and improved methods to control fuel combustion by-products will assist in indicating Congressional concern.

We urge you to consider an increase in the Section 104 appropriation to the authorized level of $45 million, with a directive to emphasize development of sulfur oxide and motor vehicle emission controls technology.

If we can be of further assistance in this matter, please let me know.

Sincerely,

EDMUND S. MUSKIE.

HOWARD H. BAKER, Jr.

BIRCH BAYH.

THOMAS F. EAGLETON.

JOSEPH M. MONTOYA.

JENNINGS RANDOLPH.

WILLIAM B. SPONG, Jr.

FUELS RESEARCH IS VITALLY ESSENTIAL IN POLLUTION PROGRAMS

Mr. RANDOLPH. Mr. President, on Thursday, November 20, following the agreement of the House and Senate conferees on S. 2276, I reported the results of that conference to the Senate.

The $45 million which this bill authorizes for research on controlling air pollution from fuels combustion and automobile emissions is needed to fund this fiscal year's appropriation. I reiterate that the amount of the authorization falls short of the actual needs for research funds in this field.

The authorization in this bill should not be considered as a precedent for future action. Next year the Committee on Public Works, through its Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, will review fuels combustion research needs and attempt to establish authorizations which realistically reflect them.

I hope that when the subcommittee conducts its hearings in this area next year that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare will be able to provide a clear statement of its program and schedule for fuels combustion research and for the development of alternatives to the gasoline internal combustion engine as propulsion for the automobile.

All of the projections for the energy needs of the United States in the next two to three decades, and all the projections for automobile production in the near future indicate that the quality of air of the urban centers of the United States will continue to be degraded unless these critical problems of eliminating the pollutants from the combustion of fossil fuels and from automobile emissions are solved. There is no higher priority for research and development in the field of air pollution abatement than this challenge. It is my hope that the executive branch will assume greater initiative in this area. The congress must act affirmatively.

Mr. MUSKIE. I urge the adoption of the conference report.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the conference report.

The report was agreed to.

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the conference report was agreed to.

Mr. BYRD of West Virginia. Mr. President, I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.