Taking The Hill
GOP Superfund Agenda for 2000
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has told the public that he will make small business' exemption from Superfund liability a priority for Republicans during the second half of the 106th congressional session. Hastert told a group of about 40 small business owners involved with a Superfund cleanup in Quincy, Ill., that getting small businesses out of the Superfund liability net would be a priority for the GOP in the new session. However, he also acknowledged the difficulty of passing any Superfund-related legislation in the current political climate.
Also speaking to the group was Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who pledged to push his bill (H.R. 2247) in the House this year. His bill offers a blanket exemption for any small business - defined as an entity with 100 employees or less - that did not contribute any hazardous waste to a Superfund site.
Democrats' Superfund Agenda for 2000
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be focusing on brownfields reform without reauthorizing the Superfund taxes for the 2000 session of Congress. Since U.S. House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, has refused to reinstate the taxes to fund Rep. Sherwood Boelert's, R-N.Y., bipartisan Superfund reform bill, H.R. 1300, Democrats will focus their efforts on narrow brownfields legislation.
According to some sources, the best hope for any brownfields or Superfund legislation may rest in a solution that lies somewhere between reinstating Superfund taxes and funding the program through existing revenues.
DC Court Rules Against EPA
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court has ruled in favor of the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petrochemical Refiners Association. The court found that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not possess the authority to open the reformulated gasoline (RFG) program to regions without specific nonattainment designations. According to the Clean Air Act, only areas designated as marginal, moderate, serious or severe nonattainment areas could opt into the RFG program. The decision will prevent about 80 regions that would otherwise have been eligible from opting into the RFG program.
EPA 2001 Priorities
EPA's Office of Air and Radiation will focus its resources on the indoor and
outdoor air pollution sources most likely to contribute to asthma and other health disorders in fiscal year 2001, with particular emphasis on air pollution transport and air toxins. According to internal EPA budget planning documents, the agency's air program will concentrate its resources and regulatory tools on limiting the transport of ozone precursors from power plants and other facilities across state lines, reducing toxic emissions from known sources such as diesel engines, and better monitoring of urban air toxins as the agency readies efforts to reduce those toxic levels.
Administration officials warn that the budget planning documents only reflect draft priorities for fiscal year 2001 and do not necessarily foreshadow the agency's final budget request to Congress for next fiscal year. EPA will likely emphasize air toxins as one major priority in fiscal year 2001 as the agency moves away from regulating known sources of pollution such as automobile tailpipe emissions and focuses resources toward investigating and regulating the remaining sources of pollution, particularly air toxins.
All news releases from the Automotive Service Association Washington, D.C. office are available on the ASA Web site (http://www.asashop.org).
Ant-Steering Law Challenged in Montana || Bondo & Bucks: Reducing Your Shop's Material Expenses || Y2K and Beyond: Trends for the New Millennium || High on the Job: Shop Policies on Illegal Drugs || Guest Editorial || Tech to Tech || Tech Tips || News Briefs || Taking the Hill || Around ASA || Net Worth || Stat Corner || Shop Profile || Chairman's Message
AutoInc. Magazine ® Vol.XLVIII, March 2000
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