[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 4, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E8]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      CLEANING UP THE CLEAN AIR ACT

                                 ______


                              HON. JAY KIM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 4, 1995
  Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a very important 
piece of legislation which will help rectify a severely unfair 
application of the Clean Air Act. This bill, which was blocked by the 
then-majority Democrats in the 103d Congress, will provide my home 
State of California with the flexibility every other State in our Union 
currently enjoys. Specifically, this bill will direct the Environmental 
Protection Agency [EPA] to withhold the enactment of its Federal 
implementation plan [FIP], as ordered by the courts, until such time as 
it has an opportunity to review California's State implementation plan 
[SIP].
  We all want clean air--especially in California. Thus, my intentions 
are not to weaken clean air standards--and this legislation does not do 
so. Rather, it helps attain those standards within the context of full 
support for the principles of States rights. I do not believe the EPA, 
a Federal bureaucracy, has any right to completely dismantle those 
principles, even if the courts appear to be the real culprits in this 
game of high stakes chess. No longer can the Federal Government blindly 
push States into complying with laws which are not suited for their 
particular situations or problems.
  It is with that in mind that I call on my fellow colleagues to join 
in protecting the principles upon which this Nation was built. For 
those of my colleagues who do not represent the State of California, I 
remind them that this type of precedent could have equally devastating 
consequences in States such as Texas, Ohio, Virginia, and any others 
that do not meet the stringently set path that the big brother EPA 
dictates. Let us make it clear to all Americans that we, the Republican 
majority, will not stand idly by while the rights of our States are so 
easily swept aside.
  Mr. Speaker, I am hopeful that committee and floor action can be 
taken expeditiously as this is a very time sensitive issue.


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