The Nation : House Votes to Extend Pollution Laws

Army bases, nuclear weapons plants and other federal facilities should be subject to the same environmental regulations as other polluters, the House said. On a 380-39 vote, the House approved and sent to the Senate legislation that would lift the federal government’s sovereign immunity and let the 50 states enforce their environmental laws at the federal facilities. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Dennis E. Eckart (D-Ohio), said the legislation was necessary “to end the hypocrisy that has taxpayers paying to create federal pollution.” Rep. Richard Ray (D-Ga.) and other critics warned that the measure threatened to move cleanup decisions out of the hands of the federal government and into the hands of state officials who aren’t responsible for looking at the needs of the nation as a whole and who are not bound by the “worst first” cleanup doctrine.