NPR: Boxer: Evidence Proves EPA Chief Overruled Staff

Boxer: Evidence Proves EPA Chief Overruled Staff

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson is gonna have more 'splaining to do.

At least that the opinion of Sen. Barbara Boxer, the chair of the Senate's Committee on the Environment and Public Works. She released more evidence today that Johnson overruled the almost unanimous opinion of his staff not to block the efforts of California and 15 other states to combat greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.

As Talking Points Memo notes, the Johnson decision made the White House and the automobile industry happy.

Boxer says the evidence - which includes talking points prepared for a senior official in the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality for a meeting with Johnson - illustrates how opposed the senior staff was to his decision.

One of the talking points reads: "From what I have read and the people I have talked to, it is obvious to me that there is no legal or technical justification for denying this. The law is very specific about what you are allowed to consider, and even if you adopt the alternative interpretations that have been suggested by the automakers, you still wind up in the same place."

Another reads: "You have to find a way to get this done. If you cannot, you will face a pretty big personal decision about whether you are able to stay in the job under those circumstances. This is a choice only you can make, but I ask you to think about the history and the future of the agency in making it. If you are asked to deny this waiver, I fear the credibility of the agency that we both love will be irreparably damaged."

"These documents paint a picture of an Environmental Protection Agency in crisis," Boxer told a news conference. "They show the dedicated professional staff of the EPA working hard to do what they are paid to do by the American people - protect our health and our environment. At the same time, we see more and more evidence of Administrator Johnson ignoring the science and the facts, and discarding the advice of his professional staff."

Boxer said the decision would be overturned by the next administration, or the courts, but that Johnson "can save the taxpayers time and money, and can get us started cleaning up our air if he would simply follow the law, the facts, and the advice of his agency professionals."

4:54 PM ET | 02-26-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

please do a program on border patrol officers Ignacio Ramos and Jose Campean who are serving ten-plus years in solitary confinement for trying to do their job in attempting to apprehend a drug smuggler crossing the border from Mexico.

The White House has shamefully stonewalled the Congress, and refuses to cooperate with congressional invetigations into the matter.

This was a terrible miscarraige of justice.

rosemary hubbard

Sent by rosemary hubbard | 8:42 PM ET | 02-26-2008

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