Cox to Direct Auto Emission Study Center

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials and representatives of U.S. automotive manufacturing and engine companies this morning will anounce the appointment of Archibald Cox '34, Loeb University Professor, to direct a private non-profit organization to study the impact of auto emissions on public health.

The organization, called the Health Effects Institute, will oversee independent emissions research to aid the government in establishing emission standards.

Negotiations between the EPA and the automobile industry to establish the Institute have gone on for the past two years. Mike Walsh, deputy assistant administrator of the EPA's pollution control department, said yesterday Cox's appointment is based upon his legal orientation and ability to negotiate.

Cox, who heads the liberal lobbying group Common Cause, said the Institute's role will be to take necessary scientific research "out of the adversarial contexts" which have prevented cooperation between the EPA and automobile manufacturers and to establish a base for "independent scientific investigation."

Conflicts over emission standards have been a long-time barrier to relations between the EPA and the automotive industry. Powers said that both interests can now stop "shooting at each other."

The Institute is significant because it represents the first major cooperative effort between government and industry and because it will be completely in- dependent from outside interference or bias, Chuck Powers, Treasurer of the Institute, said yesterday.

"This could be a model for industrial and government cooperation much broader" than the Institute, Powers said, adding the Institute "might finally break the deadlock between the EPA and auto manufacturers in health studies."

The Institute's budget of $3.52 million dollars will be supported by a $1 million EPA allocation and by contributions from motor vehicle manufacturers and others. Cox estimated the budget could reach more than $10 million.

Powers said all 27 U.S. companies and all 18 foreign firms which manufacture cars will eventually participate in the Institute's research.

The board's other members include Dr. Donald Kennedy, president of Stanford University and William O. Baker, chairman of the board at Rockefeller University and former chairman of Bell Laboratories