EPA Leader Changes Mind on Greenhouse Gas Rules
Posted on: Monday, 19 May 2008, 21:00 CDT
WASHINGTON -- The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had favored giving California at least a partial go-ahead for tough greenhouse gas restrictions for vehicles before changing his mind and blocking the rules after talking to the White House, a House committee said today.
In a report, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said the Bush administration was refusing to hand over 32 documents involving communications between the White House and EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, and that one aide to Johnson had been ordered not to answer questions from committee staff about any communications.
"Before communicating with White House officials, Administrator Johnson supported the position of career EPA staff that the waiver should be granted," the committee said in its report. "He reversed himself only after these communications."
Johnson's decision to block California's law last December has drawn sharp criticism from environmental groups and several members of Congress, and a Senate committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that would overturn his decision. Johnson told a U.S. Senate committee in January that he had "made an independent judgment" on California's request.
California's rules would result in fuel economy standards on new vehicles of roughly 35 m.p.g. by 2016 and more than 40 m.p.g. by 2020, depending on the mix of vehicles sold. Sixteen other states have either adopted the California law or said they would do so; none can proceed unless California gets its waiver.
All major U.S. automakers and the three largest Japanese firms have sued to block the law, claiming it would create a tangle of rules rather than one national standard, and force some of them to make expensive changes to models. New federal rules would set a standard of 35 m.p.g. by 2020, with credits to ease the industry's burden for meeting the target.
The committee, run by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said its investigation found no opposition from EPA staffers to granting the waiver, and said several warned Johnson that a denial would not stand up in court. Waxman's committee found no EPA documents from December backing Johnson's decision, which wasn't made official until March.
Johnson is scheduled to testify in front of the Oversight Committee on Tuesday
Source: Detroit Free Press
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