OUR VIEWS

Not clean enough

The technology for controlling and preventing air pollution has made great strides since air quality became a major national concern. Even with no further improvement in the technology, the spread of its use will continue to reduce pollution for several years to come.

However, Birmingham's air is not as clean as the law currently requires. Specifically, we have not met federal limits on ground-level ozone since 1994.

Nor, we suspect, is our air as clean as it could have been with more vigorous efforts in both the public and private sectors. For years industry and government in this state have been reluctant to do any more than they absolutely have to do to comply with federal law.

That minimalist approach may be about to change. As so often happens in this state, it will be because of the federal courts, although this time neither of two cases directly involves state or local government.

In one case, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken several electrical power companies to court, claiming they failed to comply with "new source review" requirements when they have repaired and upgraded older power plants. The Bush administration appears to be a reluctant participant in this case. It has proposed some changes in the law that would ease the conditions under which new source review is required.

However, the case is too far along to abandon and could result in a court order to reduce emissions at some Alabama Power Co. generating plants on a faster timetable than the company's own plans call for.

The more significant court case may be the one in which EPA was ordered last week to act on Birmingham's air problem within 120 days. While there will undoubtedly be further delays caused by appeals, the judge has already indicated she will not tolerate continued foot-dragging.

Nor is she likely to look with favor on a strategy being considered by Alabama Department of Environmental Management and regional EPA officials to make a post facto declaration that Birmingham was in compliance with clear air standards in 1994 and therefore should not be subject today to escalating sanctions.

If anything, an ADEM-EPA attempt to implement such a strategy would likely backfire and further reduce the two agency's influence on the judge's final clean-up order.

While we can't predict with certainty the steps that EPA will be required to impose on this area, it is likely that vehicle emission inspections and tighter controls on Alabama Power emissions will be at the top of the list.

Our time limit for cleaning up the air with less intrusive measures is running out.

A loud shout

Such is not the case with the anti-fraud measure, passed 97-0 by the Senate on Monday, because American investors needed to hear a loud collective shout from Congress. They needed to hear that Congress is not about to put up with future corporate deviousness. They needed to hear that getting tough is not a partisan or narrowly ideological purpose, but that it is the purpose of every single U.S. senator.

If the bill itself needs some revising here or there, that can be done in conference committee as negotiators try to piece it together with a House measure. The House itself voted Tuesday to change some of what it did in an earlier bill, stiffening penalties for corporate executives caught in criminal deeds.

In broad terms, the Senate measure seems on track. It aims to enlarge oversight of accounting at publicly held firms. It aims to make accountants less beholden to company managers for their contracts and less likely to feel their companies will lose money if they find something amiss. And it aims to make CEOs more accountable for financial reports

The conference committee negotiators obviously need to get the details right as they work out their compromises, but they should not dawdle. President Bush has made it clear that he will sign a measure that contains nothing too far out of line, and neither the House bill nor Senate bill does contain any such thing.

The final shout is to have a new law on the books. Investors need to hear that, too.

OTHER VIEWS

The path looks familiar

By ARGUS HAMILTON
THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN

President Bush claimed innocence of corporate crimes Wednesday and expressed his belief in Dick Cheney's innocence as well. It's apparent where we're heading. Soon the word will be discreetly passed along to Palm Springs to unfreeze Jerry Ford.

Ted Williams' will was made public on Tuesday, and it supports his daughter's contention that he wanted to be cremated. Unfortunately, he's frozen right now at minus 360 degrees. He looks like he just heard from Dean Witter.

Democrats were unable to reach agreement in the debate over health care plans for seniors. How high are medical costs? It's a new rule that the emergency room at every hospital must be located right next to the cashier's office.

American Airlines lost $495 million in the second quarter of this year. Blame it on government meddling. When the Transportation Security Administration starting requiring same-sex patdowns, many people felt it took the fun out of flying.
— Scripps Howard News Service

Argus Hamilton can be reached
at argusjokes@aol.com

YOUR VIEWS

Court doesn't apply justice equally

In a recent case, the court ruled criminal defendants, even involving only a suspended sentence, must be provided a lawyer unless they "knowingly and intelligently" waive their constitutional right to a lawyer.

In direct contrast, the court has held that citizens are not required to "knowingly and intelligently" waive their Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury when binding arbitration clauses are used, even though they are frequently hidden in sales agreements.

Now comes a ruling involving a dispute between a Birmingham company and a labor union. The ruling offers strong support for the company's right to sue in civil court. Contrary to the earlier decision involving binding arbitration in consumer contracts, the court speaks glowingly of the right of this company to sue the labor union.

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court called the right to sue "one of the most precious liberties safeguarded by the bill of rights."

A question that begs for an answer is where is the court's concern for the "precious liberties" and the "knowing and intelligent" waiver of our citizens when it comes to their Seventh Amendment rights.

The answer is obvious. Like the Congress that determines its members, the court has aligned itself with the commercial interests of this nation.

So much for equal justice under the law

Rick McBride Sr.
2320 Wentworth Drive
Montgomery

In context

Lest some be fooled, the correct transcription reads, "Thank you all very much. This is an impressive crowd — the haves and the have-mores. (Laughter) Some people call you the elite. I call you my base. (Laughter)."

Also troubling to the writer was Bush's, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on. (Laughter)"

At the same function, Al Gore stated, "I know some people are going to keep accusing me of exaggeration, so let me be clear. Those people seek nothing less than the complete destruction of the American way of life. (Laughter) (Applause) It's absolutely clear. I never exaggerate. You can ask Tipper or any one of our 11 daughters. (Laughter)"

The occasion was the annual Al Smith dinner, a white-tie charity event honoring the former Democratic governor of New York, at which the presidential candidates were guest speakers. I gathered from the writer that "Democrats are easily fooled and tend to exaggerate." (Laughter?) (Applause?)

Armond "Si" Simmons
104 Wadsworth Lane
Pell City

Return to '50s

He did not mention that, according to the Christian pollster George Barna, the lowest rates of divorce are found among us Atheists. Furthermore, published studies by criminologists have found that Unitarians, Agnostics, Atheists and Free-Thinkers were absent from penitentiaries, or nearly so.

It is imperative that we remove "God" from the pledge and our money so that we can get back to the morality of the early 1950's. After all, the greatest generation won World War II with the original pledge and "E Pluribus Unum" as the national motto.

Larry Mundinger (formerly a 26-year Alabama resident)
741 Captains Drive
St. Augustine, Fla.

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