Boxer May Put EPA Head under Oath on CA Waiver Denial

Before an empty chair reserved for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen Johnson, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) lambasted the Bush Administration for failing to approve California’s request for a federal Clean Air Act waiver to enforce its greenhouse gas emissions standards for autos. The decision was “completely contrary to the law and science,” she said. “I invited EPA administrator Johnson to explain his decision to the people of the state of California today,” said Boxer opening a field briefing of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee in Los Angeles January 10. “He declined to face the people of California,” she said, pointing to the empty chair. Johnson also failed to produce documents sought by Boxer, who chairs the panel. She requested materials related to the decision, including EPA technical analyses and correspondence December 20, 2007, the day after Johnson announced the denial. Johnson said that a boost in the corporate average fuel economy standard for autos to 35 miles a gallon by 2020 under federal energy legislation, known as H.R. 6, enacted last month obviates the need for California’s standard and prevents a patchwork of state standards for the auto industry. However, his denial of the waiver was the first in history since the administration of President Lyndon Johnson issued the first and was justified by only a brief two-page letter that press reports indicated overruled the recommendation of his own staff based on thorough technical analysis. “This empty box symbolizes his dereliction of duty,” said Boxer at the briefing, holding up to the television cameras an empty carton labeled “EPA Documents.” Boxer, the only senator present, called the briefing to hear from top California officials on the waiver issue. It came just days after California joined with other states that adopted the California standard to ask a federal court to overturn Johnson’s decision. “This is nothing more than a backroom deal and Stephen Johnson is nothing more than a tool in Washington politics,” said Jerry Brown, California attorney general. He urged Boxer to put Johnson under oath before the committee to explain his decision. She said she would consider doing so when the EPA administrator appears before her panel in Washington, scheduled for January 24. She also raised the prospect of issuing a subpoena to obtain information related to the decision. In a January 4 letter to Boxer, EPA associate administrator Christopher Bliley said the agency was not planning to withhold documents from Congress, but simply could not meet Boxer’s January 7 deadline due to the volume of materials related to the decision. He estimated there may be “tens of thousands of emails and documents that are possibly responsive to your request.” Boxer noted that the Clean Air Act specifies that any pollutant can be regulated--even those not specifically listed in the law--if it presents a human hazard or can have climatic effects. California Air Resources Board chair Mary Nichols said the state’s greenhouse gas standard would cut automotive emissions further and faster than the new federal mileage standard by 2020, the year when the state must trim greenhouse gases to their 1990 level. She said it would be problematic to rely on the federal corporate average fuel standard. “It would get us half of what we need.” Boxer said that any delay in reducing greenhouse gas emissions is likely to exacerbate the impact of global warming and raise the cost of dealing with it. Editor’s note: For more on the waiver controversy, please see our sister publication, E=MC2, Energy Meets Climate Challenge: energymeetsclimate.com

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Boxer May Put EPA Head under Oath on CA Waiver Denial

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