Down in the Dumps at EPA

(2 of 2)

Hernandez was also blasted for blocking a voluntary plan by three smelting companies to clean up serious lead contamination in a poor, mostly black area of Dallas. An EPA study had revealed dangerously high lead levels in the blood of neighborhood children. Instead, the EPA simply ordered that residents be given blood tests and be instructed to "plant grass" to control the lead dust and to "keep [their] homes clean." That advice did not satisfy many subcommittee members. Said Hernandez in explanation: "If we went out and started running bulldozers around, we'd end up with even greater hysteria."

Congressional committees continued to stumble over one another last week in their sometimes overzealous efforts to keep "Sewergate" sizzling. Democrats culled EPA documents, looking for a trail of evidence that would lead to the White House. On Thursday the White House, which had long insisted that its files contained no internal reports on the notorious Stringfellow toxic dump in California, admitted that it did have two EPA reports confirming that Burford prepared to announce a grant to clean up Stringfellow last year but changed her mind at the last minute. There have been charges that the Administration delayed the cleanup in an effort to hurt the Senate campaign of Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.

Both Congress and the EPA tried to take advantage of the rising public concern over hazardous wastes. Lawmakers introduced three bills designed to tighten federal control of the poisons and close the loopholes detailed in an alarming new congressional report. The EPA weighed in with its own announcement tightening controls on dioxin and other toxic substances. Compiled during three years by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the new study warns that 255 million to 275 million tons of chemical poisons are being dumped in the U.S. every year, a ton for every person. It estimates that it will cost from $10 billion to $40 billion to clean up the waste.

The charges against Hernandez forced the White House to accelerate its search for a blue-ribbon successor for the top job, a tricky matter since the nominee must be enough of an environmental advocate to withstand congressional scrutiny and yet fit in with the President's more minimalist approach to regulation. The leading contender was William Ruckelshaus, the first EPA administrator under President Nixon and now a senior vice president of Weyerhaeuser, a wood and paper company. But his industry connections may make him suspect to environmentalists. Said Democratic Congressman Edward Markey: "What we clearly need now is a Mr. Clean, with no ties to industry and no conflicts of interest."

—By Maureen Dowd.

Reported by Jay Branegan/Washington