Stacking the decks to pass Clear Skies bill

Stacking the decks
to pass Clear Skies bill

Many Americans have expressed skepticism that President Bush's Clear Skies initiative is the best way to reduce harmful emissions over the next 20 years.

As it turns out, the Environmental Protection Agency is skeptical as well. Instead of sharing its information on the subject with Congress, however, EPA kept secret data showing that a Senate bill to clean up the air was actually better than President Bush's plan. The cost to industry was about equal, too.

Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., has put together a bipartisan bill that by EPA's own calculations: reduces carbon-dioxide levels at a "negligible" cost to industry, saves 17,800 premature deaths from power plant pollution than Clear Skies and saves $30 million in health costs, $50 million more than the president's proposal. Republican Sens. Judd Gregg and Lincoln Chafee are co-sponsors. Independent Sen. Jim Jeffords has an even tougher bill.

While the president has insisted that limits on carbon dioxide emissions would be too expensive, the EPA's analysis of the Carper plan shows that it would cost only a couple of dollars more on a utility bill than

An alternative bill on environment offers much more benefit for health

the Bush plan — $2 in compliance costs for $47 worth of benefit.

The fact that the administration refuses to acknowledge global warming is one thing, but this is the second time in as many weeks that the Bush administration has been caught hiding information from EPA experts. The first was the White House insistence that EPA remove mention of the seriousness of global warming from its report on the state of the environment.

Now, it's trying to mislead Congress in an attempt to hurry the Clear Skies initiative through the Senate. Fortunately, as Carper's bill has shown, the Senate has enough moderate Republicans who don't blindly follow the president's environmental policies. Why should the Senate believe the Bush administration can produce clear skies when it can't provide clear information? It should go with a bill that will.

The agency will accept public comments on the document through March 14. Folks can find the assessment, and an address to send in comments, on TVA's Web site.

The proposed 161,000-volt line will connect Aspen Grove to a proposed Bingham community substation and will string across west Franklin residential areas, including the new Westhaven development.

Environmentalists, developers and historic preservationists alike have raised concerns about the route. But TVA officials have said the route is the only option that can meet the date that power will be needed in that area.

"You have a clear case for a need," said TVA spokesman Gil Francis. "If the community were not growing ... you would not need a line."

Earlier this week, a unique group that includes both developers and environmentalists shared its concerns with city leaders who also opposed the proposed route.

"We firmly believe that there are (other) options," said Stephen Smith, executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "We think they're not being serious to try to work with us."

TVA officials, on the other hand, stress that they have not made a final decision yet. Francis says the line is a preferred route but that TVA is currently still in the process of gathering public input.