EPA chief is said to have ignored staff

[Judi Lynn]

Source: L. A. Times

EPA chief is said to have ignored staff



STEPHEN JOHNSON: Johnson, in announcing his
decision, said, "The Bush administration is
moving forward with a clear national solution
-- not a confusing patchwork of state rules."
(EPA)
December 17, 2007

The head of the agency rejected written findings in ruling against a California emissions law, sources say.
By Janet Wilson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 21, 2007

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored his staff's written findings in denying California's request for a waiver to implement its landmark law to slash greenhouse gases from vehicles, sources inside and outside the agency told The Times on Thursday.

"California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers," said an EPA staffer. "We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts."

EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced Wednesday that because President Bush had signed an energy bill raising average fuel economy that there was no need or justification for separate state regulation. He also said that California's request did not meet the legal standard set out in the Clean Air Act.

But his staff, which had worked for months on the waiver decision, concluded just the opposite, the sources said Thursday. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media or because they feared reprisals.




Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-epa21dec21,0,6225035.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-pe-california

[MADem]

1. This is such a ... BASS ACKWARD outfit, these BushCo tools!!!

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to fight in court to overturn the decision.

Technical and legal staff also concluded that if the waiver were denied, EPA would very likely lose in court to the state, the sources said.

But if Johnson granted California the waiver and the auto industry sued, "EPA is almost certain to win," said two sources quoting the briefing document. They advised him to either grant the waiver outright or give California a temporary one for three years.

Instead, three sources said, Johnson cut off any consultation with his technical staff for the last month and made his decision before having them write the formal, legal justification for it.

"It's very highly unusual," said one source with close ties to the agency.

Normally the technical staff would be part of the final decision-making process, including briefing the administrator and writing the formal legal document before his decision. In this case, the briefings were done, but the formal finding has yet to be drafted.

[Lasher]

2. Hmmm, I thought Republicans were big on states' rights.

Guess that's just when you want to do something like overturning Roe v. Wade.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. Equal marriage rights, too.

"It should be dealt with on the state level," unless it seems that progress is being made, and then we'll ban them on the federal level.

[Lasher]

8. Election 2000

That's for the states to decide, unless Junior needs the SCOTUS to hand him the presidency.

Terri Schiavo? Federal government had to intervene, and with as much fanfare as possible. But if you pull the plug on an anonymous child of color in Texas whose parents can't pay, that's none of your business unless you're a Texan.

Could be a pattern here.

[izzie]

3. Bush seems to have found 100's of people to put in office with

the same mind set as he has. I think it is when a country is run by the so call elites like in the days of Dickens England. One of our great things was we educated so many people that with such a large gene pool you just have to have some good plans coming out of them. Once we are back to this small gene pool of rich, some type people, we get what they need and a third rate country. It seems what happens when you have been a country for many years. Look at history and you see it go on over and over. Next we will have Lords and Ladies. I think these people just feel they were born to rule. Course it means what ever they do is right.

[fed-up]

4. same EPA that has left tens of thousands of toxic former meth labs around the country nt

[no_hypocrisy]

5. When I took environmental law 15 yrs ago in law school, the federal EPA

statutes (air, water, chemicals) allowed states to make regulations that were MORE STRINGENT than the federal standards.

[Thor_MN]

7. Are rimless glasses a requirement to be a Neocon asshole?

[Zorra]

9. We live in a fascist dictatorship.

Dictators get to do whatever they want.

In our country, the dicttator was appointed to serve transnational corporate interests, and end democracy and liberty in the US.

The people and resources of the US are now the property of these transnational corporate interests. We have been "privatized".

Our primary function is to serve corporate interests as a world police agency. Our duty is to "fund and protect" as servants ensuring the safety of transnational corporate property and assets worldwide.

If you don't like it, you can always take your case to the Supreme Court. (sarcasm here)