Bush Chokes on Clean Air Bill

T

HE BUSH ADMINISTRATION REALLY BLEW IT

by failing to back a broad bipartisan coalition of business leaders and environmentalists pushing a lowcost, high-impact solution to a serious air pollution problem.

The administration was presented this week with a readymade program to deal with diesel pollution — one that makes good sense and has the enthusiastic support of every interested advocacy group imaginable.

amendment to the energy bill.

And all this can be had at the cost of $1 billion, payable over 5 years — in other words, big progress on a tough problem for what amounts to “pizza money,” at least as measured against the proposed $2.57 trillion budget.

Still, the administration has balked. It has acted the part of the shortsighted bean counter, making an empty gesture of support for the “approach” but not for the funding.

Congress can have the last word — and it should. Sen. Voinovich’s program needn’t get bogged down with the energy bill. He is pushing the same proposal in stand-alone legislation that, with help from leadership, could pass the Senate with overwhelming, veto- proof support.

The question then is whether the House of Representatives will act. Large parts of the country have big air quality problems relating to diesel emissions. But no place requires more immediate relief than Ohio. The Dayton and Cincinnati metropolitan areas, for example, have among the worst concentrations of diesel particulates in the nation.

Ohio’s congressional delegation is rumored to have some influence over what happens in the House. Now’s the time to show it. They can be part of a major environmental accomplishment the president has so far passed up.

It all comes courtesy of Ohio Sen. George Voinovich, who brought everyone together.

A president is seldom handed such a sound policy initiative surrounded by so much consensus. Simply by going along, President George W. Bush would earn a big legislative win and a real environmental legacy.

The program is simple and national in scope. Federal monies would be made available to help retrofit dirty, old, poison-spewing diesel engines with effective, relatively inexpensive pollution control devices.

It’s a grant-giving program that requires no new bureaucracy. The impact would be immediate, producing significantly reduced risks to public health as large numbers of pollution-producing engines are systematically improved.

The whole thing is spelled out in legislation (S. 1265) that’s just 16 pages long and already has passed the Senate 92-1 as an