Former Senior EPA Staffer Directly Contradicts Johnson's Sworn Testimony On California Air Decision

[hatrack]

A former Environmental Protection Agency official yesterday contradicted EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson's congressional testimony on one of the administration's key global warming decisions, saying the White House ordered Johnson to block California's bid to regulate vehicles' tailpipe emissions.

On Jan. 24, Johnson told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee under oath that he had made the decision on his own after determining there was no compelling evidence to justify California's plans. "The responsibility for making the decision for California rests with me and solely with me," Johnson said at the time. "I made the decision. It was my decision. It was the right decision."

Yesterday, however, former EPA deputy associate administrator Jason K. Burnett -- who resigned last month and has since divulged key details about how President Bush and his deputies have influenced the agency's decisions on climate policy -- testified before the committee that Johnson had concluded that California's request was legally justified -- until White House officials ordered him to reverse the decision.

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Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate committee, said Burnett's testimony "raises serious concerns about the account of events provided to the committee, including statements by Administrator Johnson." Saying she believed Bush took "unlawful" action in refusing to regulate greenhouse gases linked to global warming, Boxer said she would continue pressing to get a full accounting of how the White House has shaped national climate policy. "We're going to get to the truth," Boxer said.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072202683.html?hpid=moreheadlines