House approves sweeping clean air bill, 401-21

WASHINGTON — The House by a wide margin approved sweeping clean air legislation late Wednesday, requiring tougher pollution controls for factories, automobiles and electric power plants.

The bill, the first revamping of federal air pollution controls in 13 years, now must be reconciled with a similar Senate version approved in April before going to President Bush for his signature.

The final vote was 401-21.

The way was cleared for House passage after daylong closed-door negotiations led to a compromise easing a requirement for alternate-fuel cars. The agreement erased the last obstacle to the bill, which had been approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee six weeks ago.

While clean air legislation over the years has been one of the most contentious issues before Congress, the broad-reaching bill moved through floor action in less than two days. Most of the thorniest issues had been resolved in committee or closed-door negotiations.

Like the Senate version, the bill imposes tougher air pollution controls on automobiles and industry, including curbs on acid rain precursors from electric power plants and toxic industrial chemicals. The costs of the legislation to the economy has been put at more than $21.5 billion by the Bush administration when all provisions go into effect.

The vote approving the compromise on alternate-fuel cars was 405-15.

Under the agreement, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chief backer of the bill, agreed to abandon a proposal requiring automakers to build 1 million cars annually that burn fuels other than gasoline.

Instead, the production of such cars would be limited to a “pilot program” of up to 300,000 for the Los Angeles area, which has the nation’s worst smog, by 1997. Emission controls on fleet vehicles and urban buses also would be toughened for many cities with major smog problems.

“The last remaining issue has now been resolved,” declared Rep. Norman Lent, R-N.Y., senior Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, on the House floor.

The Senate passed a bill similar to the one before the House last April. Differences between the two bills have to be worked out in a conference committee of members from the House and Senate before anything is laid before the president for signing into law. Among other differences is the absence of any “clean car” provision in the Senate bill.

Dingell, calling the Waxman proposal “the most contentious issue” faced by the House, announced the compromise on the House floor.