Waxman: White House trying to derail Calif. emissions standards

Waxman: White House trying to derail Calif. emissions standards A senior California lawmaker on Monday accused the Bush administration of conducting a behind the scenes lobbying campaign to defeat California's efforts to impose tough vehicle emission standards.
   Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said the White House is attempting to derail the state's efforts to obtain approval from the Environmental Protection Agency that would allow the state to enact its new rules aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions that surpass federal standards.
   In a letter to James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Waxman said the White House campaign “sends an unmistakable message: the administration is trying to stack the deck against California’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.”
   To enforce the new standards, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles by almost 30 percent by 2016, California must obtain a Clean Air Act waiver from the EPA. The California rules have also been adopted by 11 other states, but the states are unable to enforce the standards without the EPA approval.
   Waxman said in the letter that evidence shows the White House approved the recent lobbying campaign by officials and staffers of the U.S. Department of Transportation, including DOT Secretary Mary Peters. Citing numerous e-mails and other communications among officials of the DOT, the Council on Environmental Quality and the EPA, Waxman said the administration's clear intent was to lobby against the EPA approval sought by California.
   He said former Transportation Department deputy chief of staff Simon Gros, in an interview with Oversight and Government Reform staff, related that five DOT staffers lobbied upwards of 25 members of Congress, and that Peters personally called two to four governors regarding the issue. While Waxman conceded that Peters and Connaughton were free to make public comments to the EPA regarding the California standards, “it is not an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars to organize a lobbying campaign to politicize this vital regulatory decision,” he said.
   The DOT pointed out that it was merely disseminating information to elected officials, which is permissible under the law.