Ex-EPA Official Says White House Pulled Rank
Administration Ordered Calif. Emissions Plan Quashed, Former Deputy
Testifies
By Juliet Eilperin
Wa****ngton Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 2008; A04
http://www.wa****ngtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072202683_pf.html
A former Environmental Protection Agency official yesterday contradicted
EPA
administrator Stephen L. Johnson's congressional testimony on one of the
administration's key global warming decisions, saying the White House
ordered Johnson to block California's bid to regulate vehicles' tailpipe
emissions.
On Jan. 24, Johnson told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
under oath that he had made the decision on his own after determining
there
was no compelling evidence to justify California's plans. "The
responsibility for making the decision for California rests with me and
solely with me," Johnson said at the time. "I made the decision. It was my
decision. It was the right decision."
Yesterday, however, former EPA deputy associate administrator Jason K.
Burnett -- who resigned last month and has since divulged key details
about
how President Bush and his deputies have influenced the agency's decisions
on climate policy -- testified before the committee that Johnson had
concluded that California's request was legally justified -- until White
House officials ordered him to reverse the decision.
California had sought a waiver under the Clean Air Act to implement rules
aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles by 30 percent
between 2009 and 2016. Johnson announced in late December that he would
not
grant the waiver, effectively blocking 17 other states that had either
adopted or pledged to implement California's proposed rules.
Burnett told the panel that Johnson had concluded that California had met
the legal requirement for a waiver by showing it faced "compelling and
extraordinary cir***stances" in light of the threat that climate change
poses to the state.
"There was no reasonable defense of a denial," Burnett said, adding that
Johnson had initially agreed to grant California a "partial waiver"
lasting
several years.
Johnson reversed course after consulting with the White House, Burnett
recalled. After several conversations with White House officials about the
possibility that the waiver could lead states to impose varying fuel
economy
standards, "the administrator knew the president's preference for a single
standard," Burnett said.
In his January appearance before the committee, Johnson said he based his
decision to refuse the waiver on the fact that "California does not meet
the
compelling and extraordinary conditions" to seek the exemption.
Johnson also testified about the waiver decision before the House
Oversight
and Government Reform Committee on May 20, making similar statements and
refusing to discuss conversations he had on the matter with either Bush or
his top aides on the grounds that it would violate executive privilege.
EPA
spokesman Jonathan Shradar said Johnson had undergone "a long process" of
thinking through how to treat California's request before ultimately
deciding that it was unwarranted.
"The administrator has said it was his decision and his alone," Shradar
said, adding that it was not surprising that he engaged in a
back-and-forth
discussion with his staff. "You don't just wake up and say, 'This is the
decision.' "
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate committee, said
Burnett's testimony "raises serious concerns about the account of events
provided to the committee, including statements by Administrator Johnson."
Saying she believed Bush took "unlawful" action in refusing to regulate
greenhouse gases linked to global warming, Boxer said she would continue
pressing to get a full accounting of how the White House has shaped
national
climate policy. "We're going to get to the truth," Boxer said.
Burnett, a 31-year old heir to a Silicon Valley fortune who showed up for
his Senate appearance with a personal public relations representative by
his
side, has infuriated many Bush administration officials with his
revelations
about White House actions on climate policy. More than half a dozen EPA
career officials interviewed this month, all of whom spoke on the
condition
of anonymity, remembered Burnett as an administration loyalist who
repeatedly sided with the White House while at the agency and gave no hint
he was dissatisfied with Bush's approach to global warming.
"Jason, all of a sudden, has found his voice," one career official said
wryly. "Jason Burnett was part of making these policies. When he was at
EPA
he did not have the conscience he's expressing now, this green
conscience."
Bush officials emphasize that Burnett -- who has donated more than
$120,000
to Democratic candidates in recent years -- no longer represents the
administration.
"I think everyone concedes that if Jason Burnett was the administrator, he
would have taken a different route," said White House spokesman Tony
Fratto.
"But he's not the administrator."
Boxer's staff is reviewing the discrepancies between Johnson's and
Burnett's
testimony to determine if false statements were made, an aide said. The
EPA's decision to deny California's waiver is being challenged in federal
court, but air policy experts said the case would be decided on the law,
not
the process that led to the policy.
"I wish I could say [Burnett's testimony is] im****tant in the development
of
policy," said Jeffrey R. Holmstead, who directed the EPA's Office of Air
and
Radiation from 2001 to 2005 and now heads the environmental strategies
group
at the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani. "I don't think it is."
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