Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson initially supported giving a full or partial waiver to the State of California to limit tailpipe emissions, but changed his position after consulting with the White House, according to a deposition revealed yesterday.
EPA Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee under oath that Johnson was "very interested in a full grant of the waiver" in August and September of 2007 and later supported a partial waiver.
He said Johnson’s position changed after communicating with the White House.
This testimony is the most substantial proof uncovered by an investigation into the Bush Administration’s influence over the decision-making of the EPA, which denied a waiver that would have allowed California and other states to set tougher tailpipe emissions standards.
The investigating committee has issued three subpoenas, received over 27,000 pages of documents and deposed eight EPA officials.
Burnett also said there was White House input into the letter sent to California Goernor Arnold Schwarzenegger in December, outlining the rational for the denial of the waiver, as well as into the formal decision document released in February.
Climate Rule Will Appear Under New Administration
The EPA said yesterday a decision on whether the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide endangers public health will probably be made under the next presidential administration.
Johnson said the complex regulation process would take at least a year.
The Supreme Court more than a year ago concluded carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels was a pollutant because it is a major source of global warming and directed the EPA to decide if it endangered public health and welfare. If so, the court said, it must be regulated.
Johnson said a preliminary notice for a preliminary set of options would be announced by June 21.
Last month, 18 states and various environmental groups asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to require the EPA to make a decision on carbon dioxide within 60 days. Martha Coakley, Attorney General of Massachusetts, said the EPA’s slow pace on this issue is "a shameful dereliction of duty."
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