EPA Tells Staffers Not To Talk To Congress [View All]

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By Daniel W. Reilly

CBS News
Jul 28, 2008

(The Politico) The Environmental Protection Agency is advising certain staff members not to talk to congressional investigators, reporters or even the agency's inspector general, according to an internal email obtained by the Associated Press.

The email, dated June 16, tells 11 officials in the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance to remind its staff to not respond to questions or make any statements, according to an AP story Monday afternoon.

The agency has been locked in a battle for months with congressional Democrats over the Bush administration's policy regulating greenhouse gasses.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer insists that EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson had informed President Bush that high levels of man-made pollutants were causing global warming, which by law would have required that the government regulate the gases.