Congress is considering a bill in the Contract With America that would dismantle the system for carrying out environmental laws - the legal underpinnings for the past quarter-century of progress in stemming the flood of sewage and chemicals into our rivers, reducing lead in the air and in our children's blood, dispelling the smog that choked many cities, saving the bald eagle, and much else.
Sponsors call the measure "regulatory reform." It is anything but. The bill, H.R. 9, calls for vast new bureaucracy and red tape before the government can take any action to protect health or the environment . . .The Environmental Protection Agency, for one, estimates that it would have to hire 980 employees to meet labyrinthine new mandates, and that it would take two years longer to carry out actions to protect health, safety and the environment.
And it says it would have to undertake 22 new analytical exercises - each providing a new basis for litigation - before it could take any action.
This is a recipe for gridlock. If the Republican proposals are passed by both houses and if President Clinton does not veto them, efforts to interpret, apply and enforce the nation's 19 leading environmental laws will be brought to a halt by a mind-boggling maze of new bureaucratic delays and legal challenges.
Gregory S. Wetstone
The New York Times