Taking The Hill
Chaffee Named “Environmental Champion”
U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., has been named the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) first-ever “environmental champion.” The announcement is part of the group's larger effort to recognize members of the House and Senate that have demonstrated a strong commitment to the environment, and to take a more active role in electing pro-environmental candidates to Congress. The recognition also comes with LCV's endorsement of Chafee's re-election bid in November. According to the group, LCV plans to spend $1 million to support Democratic and Republican candidate's efforts to win seats in the House and Senate as part of their Environmental Champions campaign.Fed Attempt to Design Tire Tests
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is in an effort to design a test to replicate the conditions that led to the Firestone tire failures in the hope it might help prevent future surprises. Government test standards have not been updated in 30 years and reporting requirements are so weak, experts said, that regulators were blindsided by the problems that led to the recall of 6.5 million tires recently.Harkin Bill Pushes Renewables
U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has introduced S. 2971, a bill designed to deal with the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Coming from a large corn-producing state, Harkin designed the bill to promote the use of renewable fuels such as ethanol. The bill would phase out MTBE within three years, maintain the Clean Air Act oxygenate requirement for reformulated gasoline, and tighten limitations on aromatic compounds and olefins in gasoline. The legislation also calls for the strengthening of air quality standards on toxic emissions, requiring oil refiners to produce a product that maintains current air quality gains, preventing oil companies from using dirty compounds in regular gasoline, and requiring refiners to use a minimum percentage of renewable fuels in gasoline and diesel fuel.Clinton Names Frampton CEQ Chairman
President Clinton named George Frampton chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) by recess appointment Aug. 4, 2000. Presidents have the authority to appoint officials in need of Senate confirmation without waiting for the Senate to act, but only when Congress is out of session. Frampton had been serving as CEQ's acting chairman since the resignation of Kathleen McGinty in November 1998.EPA, DOJ Issue Public Access Clean Air Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a rule requiring local governments to provide limited public access to documents about the potential consequences of chemical leaks from factories or other facilities. The rule mandates the establishment of 50 nationwide federal reading rooms where members of the public can review the potential consequences of an accidental release and take notes. However, no one will be allowed to photocopy the documents.McIntosh Presents New Research on Smog
U.S. Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., sent a letter to the EPA asking the agency to evaluate and respond to studies presented by Environmental Science and Technology and American Enterprise Institute - Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. The studies conclude that implementation of the EPA's eight-hour ozone standard is both economically and technologically infeasible. The EPA promulgated the eight-hour standard in its 1997 revisions of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The rule is now being challenged in the Supreme Court.
AutoInc. Magazine ® Vol.XLVIII, October 2000
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