Washington (Platts)--24Jan2008

Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat-California, introduced legislation
Thursday that would overturn an Environmental Protection Agency decision
stopping California and over a dozen states from setting greenhouse gas
emissions standards for automobiles.

Boxer, who is the chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works
Committee, held a hearing earlier in the day scrutinizing EPA Administrator
Stephen Johnson for his December 19 decision. The legislation would repeal the
Clean Air Act waiver denial to the California program designed to reduce GHGs
from new automobiles 30% by 2016.

The oversight hearing with Johnson featured bitter exchanges between the
EPA head and the eight Democrats who attended.

"You're fulfilling the mission of some special interests," Boxer said.
Johnson later countered, "I was not directed by anyone to make the decision."
Johnson added that a formal denial would appear in the Federal Register in
late February.

Ranking member James Inhofe of Oklahoma was the only Republican present.

Johnson maintained that California did not meet the "compelling and
extraordinary conditions" required for the waiver because climate change is a
global phenomenon. "It is not unique. It is not an exclusive issue to
California," he said.

The hearing came one day after Boxer released excerpts of redacted
documents from EPA which showed Johnson's staff recommended he grant the
waiver. Boxer's committee is undertaking an investigation that has also
included several missed due dates.

"I have never seen such disregard or disrespect from an agency head,"
Boxer said Thursday.

Johnson said that he was disappointed Boxer made the documents public
because EPA is in a lawsuit with the states. Boxer offered no sympathy and
cited the EPA documents that said EPA would lose the lawsuit.

"You're walking the American taxpayer into a lawsuit that you are going
to lose," Boxer said, pointing at Johnson.

Johnson reiterated that national fuel economy standards, which became law
the same day the waiver was denied, would eliminate a "patchwork" of states
with the California standard and states with the national fuel economy
standard. He did, however, acknowledge that the California standards would not
just include the national fuel economy standards but mandate more efficient
air conditioners and the ability to burn lower-emissions biofuels.

Democrats sought to shatter Johnson's "patchwork" argument by pointing
out that the states that want to adopt the standards have a population of 152
million, nearly half the United States. "Its like one checkerboard with one
red and one black," said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat-Minnesota.

--Alexander Duncan, alexander_duncan@platts.com