The House yesterday overwhelmingly passed a massive budget bill that the Clinton administration says is a good deal for the environment. Congress knocked off a number of anti-environmental riders that had concerned conservationists and boosted funding for Clinton’s Lands Legacy program to purchase environmentally sensitive land. But the bill still contains a few riders that enviros don’t like, including one that prohibits the government from making any moves to prepare for or implement the Kyoto treaty on climate change. In the Senate, lawmakers voted 56-33 to approve a rider from Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) that would block a court ruling limiting mountaintop mining in his state, but it was only a symbolic gesture because the House had already adjourned for the year without approving it. The Senate is expected to pass the budget package this weekend.
