Bush Calls for 50% Acid Rain Cut by 2000

WASHINGTON — President Bush, declaring too many Americans “breathe dirty air,” unveiled an ambitious plan today to purge urban smog from most cities by the year 2000 and to sharply reduce acid-rain pollution. Environmentalists praised his effort but said he should go further.

To curb smog-producing ozone, Bush recommended that auto makers be required to build and sell methanol-powered cars in nine urban areas plagued by dirty air. And he recommended that limits on tailpipe emissions of ozone-producing hydrocarbons in existing cars be tightened by almost 40%.

Bush also proposed a 10-million-ton reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants, a major cause of acid rain. If achieved, that would be a 50% cut.

Moreover, he said industry should be required to use new technology to curb the release of cancer-causing toxic chemicals into the air.

Bush outlined his legislative package at the White House in a speech to members of Congress, governors, and industry and environmental groups.

Later, keeping the focus on the environment, he was heading to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming for a firsthand look at damage from the fires that blackened nearly half of the park’s 2.2 million acres last year. On Tuesday, he will make environmental speeches near Jackson Hole, Wyo., and in Lincoln, Neb.

William K. Reilly, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, said cleaning the air “will neither be free nor easy.” For example, electric bills are expected to increase by 2% in some states to clean up coal-fired electric plants.

At a briefing before Bush’s speech, Reilly estimated the overall program would cost between $14 billion and $19 billion a year after it is in full effect at the turn of the century.

Richard Ayres, chairman of the National Clean Air Coalition, said Bush’s plan had strong provisions for dealing with acid rain. However, in the area of urban smog, he said he was concerned that not enough was being proposed to deal with pollution from existing gasoline-powered cars.

“Our concern is that he places a lot of reliance on new kinds of fuel,” Ayres said. “I think he got an A for effort. He’s heading in the right direction.”

Brooks B. Yeager, an Audubon Society official, said, “We may quarrel with some of the details but it’s certainly a major step forward.” Yeager and other environmentalists said Bush was not going far enough to control toxic poisons and other pollutants that are severe public health threats.