Boxer to EPA director: resign

03:10 PM PT, Jul 29 2008

Resign. They want EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson to resign.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and and three Democrats on her committee charged today that the Bush administration's head of the Environmental Protection Agency has given misleading testimony before Congress, refused to cooperate with congressional oversight committees and based agency decision-making on political considerations rather than scientific evidence or the rule of law.

The senators called on Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey to investigate Johnson for inconsistencies in his testimony with an eye toward perjury.

In testimony before their committee, Johnson was asked why the EPA denied California’s request for a waiver under the Clean Air Act. The state wanted to set higher standards than the federal government for combating global warming emissions from vehicles and needed a waiver.

But, said the senators, he lied. Worse, he was pushed by the White House.

Their case against him was outlined in a lengthy press release e-mailed to reporters tonight:

On Dec. 19, 2007, Administrator Johnson denied a request by California for a waiver of the Clean Air Act that would permit the states to set tough standards on global warming pollution from motor vehicles. This was the first time in over 50 instances that EPA has ever denied outright a California waiver request. In sworn testimony before the Committee, Administrator Johnson stated that he based his decision on California’s failure to meet criteria required under the Clean Air Act, and said that the decision was "mine and mine alone." Many other states, including Rhode Island, have adopted California’s standards, or are in the process of adopting them, but all are barred from implementing the standards unless California receives a waiver from EPA.

However, former Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett testified last week that Mr. Johnson had in fact determined that California had met Clean Air Act criteria necessary for approval of the waiver, and had communicated to the administration that he intended to grant the waiver in part. Mr. Burnett further testified that Administrator Johnson only reversed course and denied the waiver after White House officials informed him of President Bush’s "policy preference" for a single regulatory system -– even though the Clean Air Act clearly contemplates a dual system in cases where the statutory criteria for the waiver are met.

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