Victory for Clean Air

In a remarkable reflection of public anger against dirty air, the Senate last week passed the most draconian bill in the new history of environmental politics. Sponsored by Maine's Edmund S. Muskie, the National Air Quality Standards Act of 1970 swept through the Senate without a single nay vote. The key target was automotive exhaust, the nation's chief air pollutant. But even Michigan's Robert Griffin, a staunch supporter of the auto industry, voiced only nominal protest and then voted for the bill. "Congratulations," said one Senator. "You've just gotten motherhood through!"

The bill goes far beyond existing government and state laws on air-quality control. In its present form, it sets national standards for ten air contaminants like carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. Polluting industries would have to meet these standards in about five years. The bill also requires the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to prohibit hazardous emissions (asbestos, cadmium, mercury and beryllium) not covered by the air-quality standards. It orders new industrial plants to install antipollution devices, denies Government contracts to companies that violate air standards, and allows private citizens to sue polluting industries and individuals. To pay for research and administration, the bill allocates $1.19 billion spread over three years.

End of the Line. The National Air Quality Standards Act has the legal clout to back up its stiff requirements. It calls for civil penalties of up to $10,000 a day in fines, plus criminal penalties of up to $25,000 a day and two years' imprisonment. While the strictures apply to all polluters, the biggest bite will be taken out of heavy industry.

Detroit is aghast. The auto industry's nightmare is a requirement that all 1975 model cars show a 90% reduction over 1970 emission standards for hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide. Detroit would have to guarantee emission controls on each new car for 50,000 miles--or pay a $10,000 fine on each vehicle found polluting the air.

Automakers argue that Detroit cannot possibly meet the deadline because engineers do not yet know how to mass-produce the required emission controls--and 1975 car designs will be "locked up" by April 1972. If the Muskie bill becomes law in its present form, warns Ford Executive Vice President Lee Iacocca, U.S. auto production may halt after Jan. 1, 1975. Even if production were to continue, he says, the bill would force "huge" hikes in car prices and do "irreparable damage to the American economy." In return, Iacocca insists, the bill would produce "only small improvements in the quality of the air."

Death Watch. By contrast, Muskie and his supporters insist that Detroit has the ability to mass-produce efficient pollution controls in four years--though they fail to say just how. "Detroit has told the nation that Americans cannot live without the automobile," Muskie told the Senators. "This legislation would tell Detroit that if that is the case, they must make an automobile with which Americans can live."

At the moment, the main imponderable is how the Muskie bill will fare in the House-Senate Conference Committee. The House has already passed a bill generally weaker than Muskie's. His bill faces rough going in the Conference Committee because of its steep price tag and its potential impact on the auto industry. Insiders predict a compromise bill that will keep most of the stiff air-quality requirements for industry in general, while easing up on Detroit's deadline.

Muskie is convinced that his version is a national necessity. "This bill," he says, "presents possibly the last chance to head off the disaster that air pollution could bring. Smog alerts could turn into death watches. A wave of public reaction could bring crisis legislation with federal control over industry decisions--even nationalization--things nobody wants."

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