August 5, 1976
Page 25872
Mr. JAVITS. I understand that the managers of the bill are reluctant to accept amendments to the bill at this point and possibly with appropriate assurances from the committee there would be no need to press my amendment at this time. Since there is a provision in the House bill I would hope that the conferees would give favorable consideration to resolving the issue in a way which will allow EPA to represent itself in most cases. I believe that this will lead to more effective administration of the Clean Air Act and will not do violence to the general administrative law scheme.
Mr. MUSKIE. This is an issue which has not received extensive consideration by the committee and we appreciate the Senator from New York's efforts to resolve the matter short of offering an amendment. The committee is aware of the problem and I myself believe that it would make for more effective administration of the law if EPA had the ability to represent itself in litigation on its regulations. I can say to the Senator from New York that we will look at the House provision and the Senator's amendment very closely.
Mr. JAVITS. I thank my colleague very much. And based on his assurances of objectivity I feel there is no need to proceed with the amendment, and I shall not call up the amendment. But I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the amendment was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
At the appropriate place In the bill add a new section as follows:
Sec. Section 305 of the Clean Air Act is amended to read as follows:
APPEARANCE
SEC. 305. (a) For any enforcement litigation which the Administrator desires to initiate under this Act, the Administrator shall request the Attorney General to appear and represent him. Unless the Attorney General notifies the Administrator that he will appear in such action, within a reasonable time, attorneys appointed by the Administrator shall appear and represent him.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (a) and (c), in any civil action under this Act, the Administrator shall have exclusive authority to commence or defend, and supervise the litigation of, such action and any appeal of such action in his own name by any attorney of the Environmental Protection Agency designated by him for such purpose, unless the Administrator authorizes the Attorney General to do so. The Administrator shall inform the Attorney General of the exercise of such authority and such exercise shall not preclude the Attorney General from intervening under any other authority of law on behalf of the United States in such action and any appeal of such action.
(c) Subsection (b) shall not apply with respect to representation of the Environmental Protection Agency before the Supreme Court.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to commend the members of the Committee on Public Works who have worked tirelessly for a year and a half on this bill, and I thank them individually:
Senators MONTOYA, GRAVEL, BENTSEN, BURDICK, CULVER, MORGAN, GARY HART, BUCKLEY, STAFFORD, MCCLURE, and DOMENICI, as well as Senator RANDOLPH, the chairman, and Senator BAKER who was ranking minority member during the committee deliberations.
I also thank each staff member of the committee, for without their efforts the development of this bill would not have been possible. The staff members are or were during most of our proceedings:
M. Barry Meyer, Bailey Guard, Leon G. Billings, Richard D. Grundy, John W. Yago, Jr., Philip T. Cummings, Harold H. Brayman, Karl R. Braithwaite, Paul Chimes, Trenton Crow, Paul F. Ebeltoft, Jr., Richard M. Harris, Richard E. Herod, James D. Range, W. Lee Rawls, Charlene A. Sturbitts, and Haven Whiteside.
Mr. GARY HART. Mr. President, I believe very strongly in the intent of this legislation, particularly section 6 of the bill which will protect air quality values of our national parks and wilderness areas and other Federal lands which at future times may be designated class I. The committee report elaborates on what is meant by air quality values, stating that such values must include the purposes for which such parks and wilderness areas were established and are maintained. Such purposes for national park lands include conserving "the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of some in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations."
I would like to elaborate on the definition of air quality values. For example, one of the prime assets of our national parks is the magnificent scenery. At certain parks, such as Rocky Mountain National Park in my own State of Colorado, a visitor can see more than 100 miles. These magnificent vistas are an integral part of many of our parks and wilderness areas. Haze from stationary sources can impair the views for visitors and alter an otherwise pristine sight. Such an experience lowers the quality of the experience of visiting a park and diminishes the recreational, aesthetic, and restorative value of experiencing these wild expanses. Such occurrences adversely affect air quality values as prominent sights are seen with less clarity and visitors cannot see as far.
The visitors' view may also be obscured by the intrusion of plumes which can result in large unattractive streaks or layers of pollution across an otherwise pristine sight.
Haze created by emissions can seriously interfere with visibility in areas where the air quality is quite clear. Odor from air pollution is another potential impact that ought to be avoided through the requirements of this provision.
Another desirable benefit of this policy is to ensure the protection of national parks and wilderness areas from any harmful side effects of low level long term concentrations of air pollutants of which we may be unable to accurately predict or quantify in a precise fashion.
I offer these comments to give those seeking to implement this legislation some guidance in enumerating the air quality values which the manager has an affirmative duty to protect.
Protecting these values seems to me to be a part of fulfilling the Federal land managers' duties as mandated by the establishment by Congress of these parks and wilderness areas.