March 5
Another day, another verbal beating.
Thatīs the recent routine for EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson as Democrats on Capitol Hill continue to excoriate him for denying California a Clean Air Act waiver to curb heat-trapping emissions from motor vehicles.
Tuesday was Sen. Dianne Feinsteinīs turn.
"I am outraged by the administratorīs decision last December," said Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, during an oversight hearing on the waiver denial and the Environmental Protection Agencyīs budget cuts. "Whatīs even more unprecedented is that he denied this waiver without offering a shred of legal or technical advice."
"The decision rests with me and me alone," Johnson replied, adding that California is not unique in its need to address greenhouse gases because itīs a national problem requiring a solution not confined to a sole state. "Itīs not a popularity contest."
Johnson was the sole witness but he surrounded himself with heads of various agency offices. He repeatedly told Feinstein that his legal and technical staff presented a range of recommendations but would not answer her with a "yes" or "no" when asked numerous times if any of those employees suggested rejecting the waiver. He also didnīt answer directly when asked if he discussed the matter with White House officials.
"Weīve been told none of the staff recommended denial," a frustrated Feinstein told Johnson after he continued to duck and dodge her direct questions.
She has already asked the Government Accountability Office and the EPA Inspector General to investigate if the White House played an inappropriate role in influencing Johnsonīs decision.
In addition, she and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., have introduced legislation to overturn the waiver denial. Boxer, who has taken Johnson to task regularly, is chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Last Friday, EPA officials issued a 48-page document justifying the reasons for denying the waiver. That came more than two months after Dec. 19, when Johnson announced he was rejecting the waiver on the eve of President Bushīs signing of a new energy law raising fuel economy standards for the first time in 32 years. He emphasized that this request differed from Californiaīs others because it didnīt meet the "compelling and extraordinary conditions" requirement of the Clean Air Act.
California passed a law requiring that all its new cars, light trucks and sport utility vehicles reduce emissions, beginning with model year 2009. At least 17 states had vowed to follow its stricter emissions lead.
The new energy law calls for 35 mpg by 2020. In December, Johnson said Californiaīs law would have set fleet-wide fuel economy at 33.8 miles per gallon by 2016.
But California regulators showed his calculations were wrong. If new state and federal fuel economy standards are adopted at a steady rate, emissions produced annually between 2011 and 2016 would be higher under federal law than those released under the California law. Further, their arithmetic shows that California standards would cut 75 percent more emissions than federal regulations.
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