Ho hum. Another threatened investigation. Another dissapointing dead end
for
congressional Dems.
"Sid9" <sid9@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:qhQhk.6011$P8.5500@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 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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