May 20
The head of the U.S. EPA will be on the hot seat this afternoon when he
appears before a House committee examining alleged White House interference
in EPA rule making.Stephen Johnson, Environmental Protection Agency
administrator, is to testify before the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee during an afternoon hearing on May 20. The hearing was
scheduled to consider the EPAīs new ozone standards, which some
environmentalists and Democrats consider too lax, even though the new
standards were more stringent than existing standards.
However, committee members likely will focus many of their questions on a
memo they released yesterday. The Democrat-controlled committee has accused
the White House of interfering in a separate EPA decision to reject
Californiaīs request to establish its own greenhouse gas emission standard
for new automobiles.
The memo released May 19 details the results of a five-month investigation
by the committee, which included depositions and interviews with EPA staff.
The Oversight Committee memo says internal EPA documents and transcribed
interviews show that agency career staff all supported granting the
California petition. Five staff members who attended a September 2007
meeting said none of the staff attending the meeting argued that the waiver
should be denied.
In addition, a briefing prepared by the lead staff lawyer for the EPAīs
general counsel stated "we donīt believe there are any good arguments
against granting the waiver," according to the committee.
Administrator Johnson initially favored granting the waiver in August and
September of 2007, and later expressed support for a "partial grant" of the
waiver, according to the House oversight committee, which cited a deposition
from EPA Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett.
"According to Mr. Burnettīs deposition testimony, Administrator Johnsonīs
preference for a full or partial grant of the waiver did not change until
after he communicated with the White House," according to the committee
memo.
Johnson ultimately decided to deny the waiver.
Burnett also stated during his deposition to the committee that he had been
directed not to answer any questions about the involvement of the White
House in the decision to reject Californiaīs petition, according to the
committee.
"The president has an obligation under the Constitution to take care that
the laws of the United States are faithfully executed," the committee wrote
in its May 19 memo. "In this case, the applicable law is the Clean Air Act
... It would be a serious breach if the president or other White House
officials directed Administrator Johnson to ignore the record before the
agency and deny Californiaīs petition for political or other inappropriate
reasons."
Contact Waste News reporter Bruce Geiselman at (330) 865-6172 or
bgeiselman@crain.com
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