The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 23, 1983, Image 9

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national
Battalion/Page 9
February 23, 1983
EPA reform bill put forth
Ousted official to testify
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United Press International
WASHINGTON — Ousted
Environmental Protection
Agency official Rita Lavelle,
who dodged congressional sub
poenas last week, met with Rep.
Elliott Levitas, D-Ga., and his
staff to prepare her testimony to
be given before his subcommit
tee later in the week, sources
said.
The meeting Monday
marked the f irst time Lavelle has
met with a congressman since
she was fired two weeks ago as
EPA’s toxic waste chief. The
sources said the 214 hour meet
ing focused on the testimony she
was expected to give to Levitas’
Public Works subcommittee.
Lavelle twice last week re
fused to appear as scheduled at
House subcommittee hearings.
Another House subcommit
tee chaired by Rep. John Ding-
ell, D-Mich., planned Wednes
day to start questioning the first
of 36 past and present EPA offi
cials, including Lavelle, who
were subpoenaed to testify in ex
ecutive session about allegations
of agency abuses. Aides to Ding-
ell’s subcommittee declined to
disclose which of those sub
poenaed would be interviewed
first.
It was Levitas’ panel that initi
ated a contempt of Congress
citation against EPA chief Anne
Gorsuch Burford last year, that
triggered the administration’s
mounting confrontation with
Congress over secret agency
documents. Levitas reached an
agreement last week with the
White House that will give con
gressmen access to the files.
The controversy over the
EPA and its handling of money
marked for toxic waste cleanup
has prompted a group of con
gressmen to endorse legislation
that would make the agency in
dependent and free from pres
idential control.
The reform legislation was to
be introduced Tuesday in the
House by Rep. James Scheuer,
D-N.Y., and in the Senate by
both Sens. Daniel Moynihan, D-
N.Y., and George Mitchell, D-
Maine.
The drive to create an En
vironmental Protection Com
mission is prompted by charges
the administration mishandled
the agency’s toxic waste cleanup
program for political purposes.
The bill, similar to a measure
Scheuer introduced last year,
would create an independent
five-member body, appointed
by the president to staggered
seven-year terms of office. The
president’s nominees would
have to be confirmed by the Sen
ate, and all could not come from
the same political party.
Mitchell said the commis
sion’s main responsibilities
would be policy formation, with
day-to-day management by an
executive director.
Cosponsoring the bill are
powerful House Inteior Com
mittee Chairman Morris Udall,
D-Ariz., and Reps. Claudine
Schneider, R-R.L, and Joe
Moakly, D-Mass.
Levitas was to meet Tuesday
with House leaders, including
Speaker Thomas O’Neill, to
brief them on the historic agree
ment he reached with the White
House over access to EPA files.
The pact between Levitas’
subcommittee and the adminis
tration ran into important oppo
sition Monday from Dingell,
who warned it sanctifies a presi
dent’s ability to hold back infor
mation on government miscon
duct.
Republican Gramm
sworn in on Tuesday
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Rep.
Phil Gramm of Bryan, College
Station, who switched to the
Republican party after Demo
crats removed him from the
House Budget Committee,
was sworn in Tuesday by
House Speaker Thomas
O’Neill amid good-natured
banter that gave little hint of
past bitterness.
Gramm became the 166th
GOP member of the House,
which is dominated by 267
Democrats. There still are two
vacancies.
With O’Neill presiding, Re
publican leader Robert
Michel of Illinois asked that
Gramm be allowed to take his
seat although his certificate of
election had not arrived from
Texas.
“Is the gentleman here?”
asked O’Neill, drawing the
first of several rounds of
laughter.
As O’Neill began to give
the oath, he interrupted him
self to say, “I think Mr. Michel
ought to be in there close.”
Michel then joined the small
group around Gramm as he
took the standard oath of
office.
“Congratulations,” O’Neill
said. “You’re a member of the
Congress of the United
States.”
The 20 or so Republicans
on the House floor broke into
cheers and began shaking
hands with Gramm. The
three Democrats sat silently.
Gramm resigned from
Congress late in the last ses
sion after he had been elected
to the new Congress as a
Democrat, then won the elec
tion as a Republican in a spe
cial election.
Democrats blocked his re
appointment to the influential
budget panel because he had
been a strong backer of Presi
dent Reagan’s policies and
had consorted with the White
House on budget strategy.
Gramm said he merely was
working effectively for the
views of his constituents.
The only sour note of the
day’s proceedings came when
Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif.,
charged in a brief speech that
Gramm was returning as a Re
publican because democracy
had broken down among
Democrats.
“Unfortunately, democra
cy is sometimes hard to find in
the House of Representa
tives,” he said. “The people of
the 6th district of Texas have
shown that democracy
works.”
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Court agrees
to review tax
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Sup
reme Gourt Tuesday revived the
government’s chances of raking
in another $40 billion in oil
windfall profits taxes by
agreeing to review a ruling strik
ing down the tax.
Last month the court, ignor
ing two justices’ objections, re
fused to give speedy treatment
to the government’s appeal of a
Wyoming judge’s ruling over
turning thie tax. Tuesday, the
court agreed to hear the case
under usual procedures, with
arguments next term and a rul
ing likely in 1984.
Although it continues to col
lect the tax, the government
urged the high court to settle the
dispute because returning bil
lions in taxes could disrupt the
federal budget.
The court’s action closely fol
lows President Reagan’s intro
duction of his 1984 budget,
which projects a deficit near
$189 billion. The Justice De
partment warned that unless the
high court acted to block repay
ment of the taxes, the govern
ment stands to lose “sums of
enormous magnitude.”
The tax, passed to stop oil
producers from reaping profits
from decontrol of oil prices, was
held unconstitutional by a feder
al judge in Cheyenne because it
exempts oil produced in Alaska.
The Crude Oil Windfall Pro
fit Tax Act, which President
Carter signed into law in April
1980, exempted from taxation
crude oil produced in Alaska,
Right of trial
denied in court
United Press International
W ASHINGTON — The Sup
reme Court, spurning pleas
from both liberal and conserva
tive interest groups, refused
Tuesday to examine what has
been described as a dangerous
setback for citizens wanting
their day in federal court.
The justices left in place an
Alabama ruling that observers’
fear sets a precedent permitting
state judges to restrict a citizen’s
constitutional right of access to
the federal courts.
The case involves a Texas
man’s attempts to sue Alabama
officials and his home state for
$106 million for allegedly con
spiring to steal his insurance
company and punish him finan
cially for his political activities.
Alabama insurance officials
in 1972 declared Empire Life
Insurance Co. of America insol
vent, placed it in receivership
and eventually liquidated its
assets and turned them over to a
competing insurer.
The Alabamajudge presiding
over the receivership at the same
time issued an injunction bar
ring Shearn Moody Jr.,
Empire’s president and chief
stockholder, from filing any fed
eral lawsuits that could interfere
with the insurance case.
Moody sought permission
several times to file his suit for
damages but was refused. At
one point, he was fined
$250,000 for breaking the in
junction.
By late 1981, most of the legal
work over the insurance re
ceivership case was complete
north of the Arctic Circle.
The Independent Petroleum
Assocation of America and
other oil producers sought to
have the law overturned and re
coup substantial refunds.
Texas and Louisiana joined
the oil producers in urging the
high court to strike down the tax
because it does not operate with
the same force in every place.
On Nov. 4, U.S. District
Judge Ewing Kerr held the tax
violated a clause of the Constitu
tion which requires that taxes be
uniform throughout the United
States.
Kerr interpreted the “unifor
mity clause” as meaning that
“distinctions based on geogra
phy are simply not allowed.”
He stayecl his ruling, allowing
the Treasury to collect the tax
until the Supreme Court re
solves the issue.
Net revenues from the tax in
1981 and 1982 were about $26
billion. The government esti
mates the tax will generate about
$40 billion for the government
over the next five years.
The government, urging the
high court to hear the case, said
Congress gave Alaskan oil the
tax break because it recognized
“unique climatological difficul
ties in oil extraction in the North
Slope areas.”
Even if the justices find that
Alaskan oil should be taxed, the
government argued, the law is
still valid because Congress in
tended the tax to apply to all
states.
and Moody again sought per
mission to file his federal court
action.
But again the request was re
jected in a ruling upheld by the
Alabama Supreme Court.
On appeal to the U.S. Sup
reme Court, Moody claimed he
is being illegally denied his right
of access to the federal courts. At
least four interest groups, in
cluding the American Civil
Liberties Union and the Conser
vative Caucus, backed him.
If the Alabama ruling is
allowed to stand, Moody’s
lawyers warned, it will set off a
“silent, growing encroachment
on federal court’s jurisdiction
and citizens’ liberty.”
The worry is particularly
great, they said, since at least 32
states now have insurance re
ceivership statutes like Alaba
ma’s permitting state court in
junctions against any related
federal court suits. At least one
state — Texas — is routinely
issuing such injunctions, they
argued.
Moody and the legal interest
groups all complained that state
courts should not be allowed to
restrict citizens from federal
court, except in very narrow in
stances. Certainly, private law
suits seeking damages from gov
ernment officials for illegal ac
tions should not be blocked, they
argued.
The only parties advising the
high court not to hear Moody’s
appeal were the Alabama insur
ance officials who foreclosed on
Moody and the company that
took over its assets.