House Dems launch probe into EPA denial of Calif. emission waiver

House Dems launch probe into EPA denial of Calif. emission waiver Congressional Democrats on Thursday announced an investigation into last month's Environmental Protection Agency denial of a California request that would let the state implement tough tailpipe emission standards on greenhouse gases.
   California Democrat Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson this week demanding 'all documents relating to the California waiver request, other than those that are available on the public record.'
   Waxman told Johnson in the letter that the agency appears to have disregarded evidence presented by California in its application for the waiver, and the requirements of the Clean Air Act under which California can enact its own emission standards. A 2005 court ruling upheld the state's right to do so, but only after obtaining a waiver from the EPA. Waxman also cited a Washington Post article claiming Johnson overruled his staff's recommendations in making the decision to deny the state's waiver request.
   The EPA decision, issued Dec. 19, was the first denial in more than 40 such waiver requests made by the state over the past 40 years.
   In issuing the denial the Bush administration said a new federal energy bill — signed the same day — pre-empts the California law by setting tougher national standards than sought in the state law. The EPA denial argued that because greenhouse gas emissions “harm the environment in California and elsewhere regardless of where the emissions occur,” California does not face an “exclusive or unique” challenge requiring special emission regulations.
   Johnson claims the new energy bill would mandate automakers to achieve an average 35-mile-per-gallon fuel efficiency for automobiles, SUVs and small trucks by 2020. He said this is more stringent than the California law that would only achieve a 33.8 mpg standard.
   California Air Resources Board chair Mary Nichols disputed Johnson's claims, saying California's law would take effect much sooner than the federal standards and raise the average fuel efficiency of vehicles in the state to nearly 37 mpg.
   Waxman in his letter also ordered Johnson to make the documents available to the Oversight Committee by Jan. 23 and warned him to order his staff to preserve all records.
   On Wednesday, Johnson repeated his earlier statements that his decision to deny California's waiver was not politically motivated and was instead based on legal analysis of the Clean Air Act. In response to the claim that he ignored his staff recommendation in the case, Johnson said EPA staff presented him with a range of option before he made the decision. ' Keith Higginbotham