Why was Mr. Johnson missing? (Sen. Boxer, re: EPA Administrator Johnson)

[pinto]

Dear friend,

It's time for the Bush EPA to come clean with the American people.

Last Thursday, I chaired a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee field briefing in Los Angeles to investigate why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rejected California's plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. California Attorney General Jerry Brown, California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols, the Sierra Club's Carl Pope, the NRDC's Fran Pavley, and Congresswoman Hilda Solis all appeared as witnesses. Unfortunately, one chair at the briefing was noticeably empty: the seat we reserved for EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

Clearly, EPA Administrator Johnson does not want California and 18 other states to implement California's higher emission standard for automobiles -- a key part of our fight against global warming -- but the public deserves to know why. We can't let Administrator Johnson hide the truth from the American people.

Two years ago, California filed a waiver request with the EPA, seeking permission to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles -- like similar waivers which have been issued to California 50 times in the past and never denied. The agency dragged its feet for two years and faced a lawsuit for the delay, only to deny the waiver request in December.

The Bush Administration argues that granting California's waiver request would establish a complicated "patchwork" of state regulation standards. But in reality, there are only two standards: the federal standard (which is the minimum standard) and the California standard, which is stronger. 14 other states have joined California and would use our higher standard, and 4 more states intend to do the same. The federal government should encourage -- not stymie -- the efforts of 19 states, representing more than half of all Americans, to fight global warming.

Last year, Administrator Johnson told our Committee that the EPA needed more time to make a decision on California's waiver request because it was "performing a rigorous analysis." However, according to an article in the Washington Post, the EPA Administrator ignored the advice of his technical and legal staff and denied our waiver request anyway.

It is outrageous that the Bush EPA has denied California's legitimate waiver request, overruling the advice of its own staffers. We deserve to know why.

The Committee has given the Bush EPA plenty of opportunities to explain its outrageous decision. We asked EPA Administrator Johnson to attend Thursday's briefing and explain why, over the unanimous recommendations of technical and legal staffers at the agency, he denied California's common-sense waiver request. He refused.

I asked him to send someone in his place to explain the EPA's ruling. He refused.

We requested that Mr. Johnson release all documents surrounding the agency's decision to deny California's common sense waiver. Once again, he has failed to respond.

Why did EPA Administrator Johnson overrule all of his legal and technical experts? What role did the White House, the automobile industry, and Vice President Cheney have in politicizing a decision that should have been based purely on science and legal precedent?

The EPA is accountable to Congress and to the people of the United States, and it's time for Administrator Johnson to tell us the truth.

Tell the EPA to come clean:

http://ga6.org/campaign/epa_hearing/

Thank you for your help.

In Friendship,

signed

Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R

[rucky]

2. Um...this is an issue.

We don't talk about issues on DU anymore. Didn't you get that memo?

[pinto]

4. Eh. I tend to take the primary wars with a grain of salt. It's part of the process.

We'll come out with a candidate once it's all said and done.

Yet, it's good to note, the business of government and, yeah, the issues go on. I'm a Californian, so this one stuck out for me.

(aside) I'd like the issues to be a much bigger part of the primary campaigns...seems the sound bites get more face time than the basic "Where are we gonna go from here?" questions. Maybe we need to 'encourage' the MSM to do more than make this a he said/she said format.

[me b zola]

3. k&r