FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HOLDS STATE HOSTAGE TO BAD LAW

The clock is ticking on the final seven days of the Missouri legislative session. And that has state highway officials worried.

They are anxiously awaiting the General Assembly to bring Missouri in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act. Failure to act -- specifically in St. Louis -- could mean loss of $400 million in federal highway funds, and a host of other sanctions.

Many legislators are understandably torn by the matter. The Clean Air Act is a terrible piece of legislation -- a real disaster. Many of its mandates and timetables are unrealistic and expensive. Some have suggested it's time to call the federal government's bluff on tying regulations to funding.

But this is a high stakes game Missouri can ill-afford to lose. Whether we like it or not, the federal government has control of the purse strings. Changes to the Clean Air Act must be done at the federal level -- not in state legislatures.

Although St. Louis is the Missouri area tagged by the government as not meeting standards, this is not just St. Louis' problem.

Loss of the highway revenue as threatened would shut down new construction and improvement projects across the state. And Highway Commissioner John Oliver of Cape Girardeau said it could take a minimum of eight months after sanctions were imposed to get them lifted. If the legislature fails to act, he said cutoff of funding could come as early as October.

There's also some worry that while our highway dollars are held hostage by the federal government, they could dwindle.

Missouri is not the only state in this predicament.

After legislators failed to act in California, Illinois and Indiana, the EPA took steps toward imposing the sanctions. All three states quickly adopted legislation. They simply found no recourse.

Johnny Ray Conklin is the senior member of the state Air Conservation Commission, which is pushing the legislation. This former Cape resident said Missouri must comply -- even if some of the mandates and schedules are pretty unrealistic.

Missouri has an ozone problem in St. Louis, said Conklin. As such, the EPA has mandated that St. Louis city and four neighboring counties must institute tougher car emission inspections. The cost of inspections would rise to $24 for each motorist to help offset these new regulations.

Missouri must also address the type of gasoline sold in St. Louis -- requiring higher priced fuel that is either reformulated or has lowered vapor pressures. Ironically, we are classified as a "southern" state, which means Missouri faces more stringent guidelines than neighboring Illinois.

Conklin said even the current proposal in the legislature would not bring the state into full compliance. But he feels it would at least partially meet EPA requirements and ward off sanctions until a full plan could be put in place.

Even if the General Assembly called the EPA's bluff, the state may not be safe from retribution. The Clean Air Act allows citizens living in "non-attainment" areas to file suit in federal court to enforce the act. And that's just what has happened in a number of cities across the country.

This carrot and hammer maneuver is nothing new for the feds. The 55 m.p.h. speed limit was tied to highway funding. And this week the Transportation Department announced that $54 million in 1995 funding will be switched from highway construction to safety programs in states that failed to adopt both seat belt and helmet laws.

State highway department officials warned of this predicament when Congress considered the Clean Air Act in 1991. They're sounding the warning bell again -- as Congress is trying to reauthorize the Clean Water Act. Oliver suggested that proposed regulations and mandates could do for clean water what Congress did for clean air in 1991. And we could all pay the price for it -- two years from now when the legislature is trying to comply with new water regulations.

Missouri has little choice but to pass compliance legislation this session. That's not to say the state should stop fighting unreasonable regulations along the way. But we can't afford the loss of our highway funding. Unfortunately, the feds know it.