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February 3, 2000
Volume 5, Issue 5

Court Rejects Sierra Club Attempt to Stop Highway Funding

  On January 28, 2000 the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Sierra Club cannot use the Clean Air Act to cut off all federal funding for highway construction in the state of Missouri (Sierra Club v. Browner, No. 98-2733). The Court ruled that the Sierra Club had provided inadequate notice to the federal government. In November 1998, the Sierra Cub filed a lawsuit claiming EPA Administrator Carol Browner did not have the authority to allow Missouri to go forward with significant road projects since St. Louis was not in attainment with the ozone standard. The Sierra Club asked the court to instruct the federal government to withhold Missouri's federal highway funding until the city reaches conformity - compliance with the ozone standard. The AGC of Missouri, the Heavy Constructors Association of the Greater Kansas City Area, and AGC of St. Louis sought to intervene in the case with additional support of the Kansas City Chapter. AGC of America also provided support for this important litigation. Only two of the original issues of the lawsuit remain. The court will consider moving the St. Louis Air Quality Control Region from "moderate" nonattainment of ozone to "serious." The court will also consider whether or not the area has met the requirements of the Clean Air Act's conformity regulations. Should the court change St. Louis' air quality designation, the region would be required to present a new plan to meet air quality standards.

Business Community Expresses Widespread Support for Death Tax Elimination at Tax "Listening Session": House leaders respond that repeal of the death tax remains a top priority. As Republicans begin their annual retreat this weekend, Rep. Jennifer Dunn, chief sponsor of a death tax repeal bill with 231 cosponsors, has presented House Speaker Dennis Hastert with a letter signed by 60 Members asking that death tax be at the top of the GOP's legislative agenda. Legislative strategy for tax cuts, however, has yet to gel. One strategy of passing individual tax bills on specific topics (death tax, marriage tax, etc..) hit a roadblock this week when Senate Democrats announced their opposition to all stand-alone tax bills. Another blow for tax cuts came from the defeat of George Bush in the New Hampshire primary. Bush has called for a tax cut that would be more than twice as much as the tax cut advocated by McCain. Yet, McCain won -- by a landslide -- the support of New Hampshire's traditionally anti-tax Republicans.

Overfiling Ruling Confirmed by Appeals Court: The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to rehear Harmon Industries v. Browner. This case rejected the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) practice of overfiling. Overfiling is an EPA practice of penalizing a company that has already settled with the state environmental agency with higher fines or other legal charges. The court found that EPA actions were essentially an attempt at double jeopardy, a concept not allowed in the American law. EPA's only remaining recourse is an appeal to the Supreme Court. 

Clinton Budget Expected to Redirect Additional Gas Tax Revenue: Next Monday, February 7, President Clinton will send his FY 2001 budget proposal to Congress. It is expected that Clinton will propose redirecting a significant portion of the approximately $3 billion in additional gas tax revenues to non-highway programs, such as transit, rail, and environmental programs, instead of distributing the money under the TEA-21 formulas. The nearly $3 billion in additional revenue is above what was estimated in TEA-21. The President's budget proposal will be the first of several attempts in this year's budget battle to use the additional gas tax revenue for non-highway purposes. We will fax out a summary of the President's budget next week

Ergonomics Comment Period Extended: Comments now Due March 2nd! Last Thursday (January 27, 2000), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that they would accede to AGC's request and extend the comment period for the proposed rule for preventing ergonomics injuries in the workplace. OSHA added an additional 30 days, which makes comments on the proposed rule due on Thursday, March 2nd. All AGC Members, Chapters and Safety and Health professionals are urged to use the model comments (available by clicking here) to comment on the proposed rule. If you have questions about the model comments or the proposed standard, please do not hesitate to contact Carolyn Guglielmo in AGC's Safety and Health Department at 703-837-5331 or by email at guglielc@agc.org.


Utilize Congress at Your Fingertips Located in the Member’s Only Section at http://www.agc.org/ to contact your Congressional Representatives.

The Associated
General Contractors
of America
333 John Carlyle Street
Suite 200
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 548-3118
(703) 837-5404 fax


Jeffrey D. Shoaf
Executive Director
Congressional Relations
shoafj@agc.org
202/383-2762

vacant
Director
AGC PAC
email
phone

Peter Loughlin
Director
Construction Markets
loughlip@agc.org
202/383-2766

Loren E. Sweatt
Director
Procurement and
Environment
sweattl@agc.org
202/383-2760

Phil Thoden
Director
Tax & Fiscal Affairs
thodenp@agc.org
202/383-2764

Patrick Wilson
Director
Human Resources & Labor
wilsonp@agc.org
202/383-2763



© Copyright 2001 The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America. All Rights Reserved. AGC can be contacted at info@agc.org - 333 John Carlyle Street, Suite 200, Alexandria, Va. 22314 - 703.548.3118 (phone) - 703.548.3119 (fax) - Site designed and maintained by e-Builder, Inc.