[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 36 (Friday, March 25, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  SENATE RESOLUTION 197--RELATING TO THE IMPORTATION OF DIRTY GASOLINE

  Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. Ford, Mr. Warner, Mr. Breaux, and Mr. 
Wofford) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Finance:

                              S. Res. 197

       Whereas, the ``Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990'' (CAAA 
     1990) is legislation critical for preserving American health 
     and environment;
       Whereas, the reformulated gasoline program is a key 
     provision of the CAAA 1990;
       Whereas, the integrity of the clean fuels requirement of 
     the CAAA necessarily involves EPA verification of data 
     submitted;
       Whereas, the DPA must be able to verify with certainty the 
     foreign submitted data substantiating 1990 baseline standards 
     of foreign refiners of reformulated gasoline;
       Whereas, the final reformulated gasoline rule issued by EPA 
     on December 15, 1993 recognizes the difficulty EPA has 
     verifying the baseline of gasoline produced abroad and 
     attempts to protect the integrity of the clean fuels 
     requirement in the CAAA 1990;
       Whereas, foreign refiners might be entitled to a claim that 
     the December 15 EPA rule denies them national treatment 
     obligations owed them by the United States under the General 
     Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT);
       Whereas, the GATT provides a recognized exception to GATT 
     obligations of ``national treatment'' by virtue of a 
     measure's importance to protecting human, animal or plant 
     life or health;
       Whereas, the reformulated gasoline EPA rule can be 
     reasonably found to fall within this GATT article XX 
     exception: Therefore be it
       Resolved, That it is the Sense of the Senate that the 
     reformulated gasoline rule should stand as previously 
     promulgated;
       And that the United States Trade Representative should 
     vigorously defend the reformulated gasoline rule under the 
     GATT;
       And that if the United States re-opens the reformulated 
     gasoline rule, the new proposed rule to permit foreign 
     refineries to use their own 1990 baselines should be subject 
     to rigorous and extensive public notice and comment to ensure 
     that it does not consequently result in an increase in the 
     levels of ozone over the current reformulated gasoline rule, 
     and does not result in discrimination against domestic 
     refiners of reformulated gasoline.

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President: I submit a Sense-of-the-Senate resolution 
regarding recent, deplorable actions of our State Department to weaken 
our Federal Clean Air Act in order to appease the Venezuelan gasoline 
industry.
  In our dealings with foreign governments, Woodrow Wilson said, we 
must have open covenants, openly arrived at. A recent secret agreement 
by the State Department shows why he was right.
  The problem is as follows The Clean Air Act as we all remember, is 
designed among other things to reduce smog and clean up the air in our 
cities. Now, as it happens, Venezuelan gasoline is particularly rich in 
a class of contaminants called olefins. With three times the average 
American level of olefins, Venezuelan gasoline would contribute 
significantly to urban smog.
  Under Clean Air Act regulations, other countries that export gasoline 
to the United States must clean up their gasoline to conform with our 
domestic regulations. It seems only fair that foreign producers who 
want to sell their gasoline in this country comply with our domestic 
standards. But Venezuela refuses to do that. The gasoline industry of 
Venezuela does not want to spend the money to comply with our 
standards.
  So, they filed a GATT challenge against the United States claiming 
the Clean Air Act is a discriminatory trade barrier. And, on top of 
this, the Venezuelan Government hired high-priced Washington lobbyists 
to lobby our own Government for help.


                            a back-door deal

  The State Department obliged. But surprisingly enough, it went well 
beyond the usual practice of pleading the Venezuelan case. Instead, our 
own State Department went behind the back of Congress and negotiated a 
special deal for Venezuela. Under this agreement, Venezuela will drop 
its GATT challenge, we will allow Venezuela to use its own standard for 
reduction of ozone, and we will cap total sales of Venezuelan gasoline 
in the United States at approximately the current level. This deal is 
billed as a compromise, but it does not look like one to me. Venezuela 
got everything it wanted. They get to continue to export large 
quantities of dirty gasoline to the United States.
  Mr. President, think what kind of signal this sends to domestic 
industry and to the rest of the world. U.S. refiners are struggling to 
meet the tough standards set by the Clean Air Act. But we are going to 
give foreign refiners an easy way out. Moreover, manufacturers all over 
the world will think they can get the same special treatment that 
Venezuela did if they challenge other U.S. environmental laws as trade 
barriers. Changing this regulations sets a dangerous precedent.
  No public comment, no public criticism, no input from industry or 
environmental groups went into this deal. There was no consultation 
with Congress before this deal was cut--at least not with the 
Environment Committee members or the committee staff. And the result of 
this deal is a momentous and frightening change in the law. This is 
simply not the sort of thing we should permit.


                    united states has a strong case

  On a substantive level, we have a strong case to make in the GATT 
challenge and we should not back down. The Clean Air Act is not an 
environmental law designed to block imports. It is legislation to 
ensure that every American can breath clean, healthy air. All we ask is 
to enforce the Clean Air Act as strictly with foreign manufacturers as 
we do with domestic manufacturers.
  I think this law is fair, and the regulation EPA published last 
December is fair. And even if the GATT panel disagrees on that point, I 
think we still will win.
  Article XX of the GATT provides that ``nothing in this Agreement 
shall be construed to prevent the adoption or enforcement by any 
contracting party of measures * * * necessary to protect human, animal 
or plant life or health * * *'' This exception clearly covers the EPA's 
reformulated gas regulation, which is based on sound science and 
intended to be used to reduce life and health-threatening smog in urban 
areas. If Venezuela wants to contest this at the GATT, we should not 
get spooked. We should mount a strong defense.


                      need for a senate resolution

  What we should not have done at this point--in fact, what we should 
never do--is to try and resolve the issue in secret. We should not make 
domestic environmental policy through secret negotiations by the State 
Department. That is what has apparently happened in this case. And that 
is why this short, simple resolution is so important.
  It restates our goal in the Clean Air Act of 1990--to make our air 
cleaner and healthier.
  It reminds us of the substantive case--that if we let foreign 
refineries use weak or contrived data to avoid making our air cleaner, 
we discriminate against the domestic refiners we have asked to meet 
high standards, and we put our own citizens at risk of lung disease.
  And perhaps most important, it gives some in the executive branch a 
strong reminder that attempts to ease foreign policy while keeping 
Congress and the American public in the dark are not the American way 
of Government.

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