Katherine
Boyle, E&ENews PM
reporter
Three
Senate Democrats today asked the U.S.
attorney general to investigate whether the head of U.S. EPA lied to or misled
members of Congress during testimony about EPA's denial of California's request for a waiver to
regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.
Senate
Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), along with
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), said there
appears to be "significant evidence" that EPA Administrator Stephen
Johnson gave false, misleading or intentionally incomplete statements to the
committee and called on him to resign.
Johnson
has repeatedly stated that he alone decided to deny California's waiver because the state failed
to meet the "compelling and extraordinary" circumstances criteria
required by the Clean Air Act.
However,
his testimony is inconsistent with that of Jason Burnett, a former senior aide
to Johnson, who told the committee Johnson initially planned to at least partly
grant the waiver, the senators noted in a letter to Attorney General Michael
Mukasey. Johnson later decided to reject California's
petition after consulting with the White House and learning that President Bush
preferred he deny it, Burnett said.
The
senators also questioned Johnson's assertion that the energy bill passed into
law late last year did not substantively affect his decision to deny California a waiver.
Burnett
said Johnson required his staff to conduct an extensive analysis of the energy
bill's impact when deciding whether to grant the waiver, which would create a
second vehicle fuel efficiency standard. The energy legislation established a
single standard for vehicle fuel efficiency, the policy option preferred by the
White House, he noted.
"It
appears that Mr. Johnson's account of the California waiver decision is factually
inaccurate or misleading," the senators wrote. "False testimony by
any witness is serious and undermines our ability to fulfill our constitutional
duties on behalf of the American people. Our concern is heightened because this
decision by the EPA administrator affects the health and wellbeing of the
American people."
The
senators said they were left with no choice but to refer the matter to Mukasey
for "appropriate investigation and prosecutorial action." Klobuchar
said Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has indicated he also will sign the letter.
Calls
for resignation
Meanwhile,
the senators repeatedly called on Johnson to resign from the agency.
Johnson
"has become a secretive and dangerous ally of polluters," Boxer said.
"We have lost all confidence in Stephen Johnson's ability to carry out
EPA's mission in accordance with the law."
Boxer
slammed Johnson's failure to appear before congressional committees to discuss
controversial EPA climate change decisions and to turn over documents related
to those decisions. She noted he did not testify before the Environment and
Public Works Committee to discuss EPA's ozone decision, children's health, the
agency's environmental record or changes to EPA's toxic risk assessment program.
He also refused to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week to
discuss White House interference in EPA decisions.
"Mr.
Johnson is AWOL," Boxer said. "I don't know whether we will ever see
him again. I don't know whether he's walking around the streets of Washington in disguise.
I haven't seen that man in so long, it's extraordinary."
She
offered a litany of complaints related to Johnson's tenure at EPA, citing the
decisions related to mercury, lead, ozone and perchlorate, as well as "weakening"
of toxic chemical release reporting requirements.
Johnson
also has repeatedly refused to turn over a draft copy of EPA's endangerment
finding for greenhouse gases, Boxer noted. "Is this America or is this the former Soviet
Union?" she asked.
The senators
said Johnson's testimony was only part of the agency's efforts to stymie
outside investigations. Yesterday environmental groups released an internal EPA
e-mail, dated June 16, from the chief of staff in EPA's Enforcement and
Compliance Office, telling 11 compliance managers to remind their employees not
to speak with investigators from the Government Accountability Office, the
agency's Office of the Inspector General or reporters.
The
procedural integrity of EPA as an agency has been quietly subverted, Whitehouse
said. The senators drew comparisons between Johnson and former Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales, who resigned his post amid allegations of political
interference in hiring and firing decisions at the Justice Department and
perjury before Congress.
Senate
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has asked EPA's Inspector General
Office to investigate EPA's policy in regard to staffer interaction with GAO
and OIG.
'Self-hatred'
EPA
spokesman Jonathan Shradar dismissed the senators' allegations. "This is
nothing new from these senators," he said. "Administrator Johnson has
been honest with Congress, and he will continue to lead the agency."
Shradar
described Johnson's record as "one of aggressive health-protective
environmental standards" and Boxer's as "one of press conferences and
political tirades."
"Really,
I think this is self-hatred," he said. "Senator Boxer and her
colleagues have been incapable of passing any responsible environmental
regulations in Congress, and so they're just acting out, if you will, against
the administrator, who actually has been successful in putting into place
health-protective standards."
Shradar
predicted the attorney general would choose not to waste taxpayers' dollars on
an investigation he described as politically motivated.
