D'Amato Vows to Fight for E.P.A.'s Tightened Air Standards (original) (raw)
U.S.|D'Amato Vows to Fight for E.P.A.'s Tightened Air Standards
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/25/us/d-amato-vows-to-fight-for-epa-s-tightened-air-standards.html
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- June 25, 1997
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June 25, 1997
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Section A, Page
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Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato of New York threw his support today behind the embattled Environmental Protection Agency and its proposals to toughen air quality standards, promising that he would lead a fight in Congress against any lawmakers who opposed them.
In a letter to President Clinton, Mr. D'Amato joined other Republican figures from the Northeast, including Gov. George E. Pataki of New York, who, as leaders of states downwind of pollution that drifts from big Midwestern plants, have spoken out in defense of the environmental agency's efforts to tighten the standards, dealing with smog and soot.
''I want to make sure you are aware,'' Mr. D'Amato wrote the President, ''that I will take a leadership role in fighting any legislative effort to delay, weaken or block these important new public health safeguards.''
Mr. D'Amato's position could be especially important, both because he is an influential Republican fund-raiser and because he expressly promised to fight for the proposals rather than merely voicing some measure of support for them. To the dismay of environmental groups, the White House has left the environmental agency's Administrator, Carol M. Browner, to defend the proposals nearly single-handedly.
The proposals, which are still under final review at the White House, are the top priority of leading environmental and public health advocacy groups but are opposed by a powerful coalition of industries, which contend that they would cost far more than they are worth.
White House economic advisers have also sought to weaken the proposals, and the agency's opponents in Congress have suggested that they might work to overturn any such rules adopted, using new powers of regulatory review enacted by the 104th Congress.
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