"You're the EPA, not the Environmental Pollution Agency,"...Boxer

[IChing]

WASHINGTON - In a tense, rancorous confrontation with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Sen. Barbara Boxer accused the Bush administration Thursday of already having decided to deny California's landmark request to enforce its own vehicle emissions standards.

Stephen Johnson, EPA administrator, told Boxer that he will stick by his plan to decide the California case by the end of the year, despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's vow to sue the EPA if there is no decision by Oct. 13.
That wasn't good enough for Boxer. The California Democrat used her position as chair of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works to hold the hearing to highlight the California case, grill Johnson and push an unusual bill that would require the EPA to make a decision by Sept. 30.

"You're the EPA, not the Environmental Pollution Agency," Boxer snapped when Johnson said he needed more time to reach a decision, which would come two years after California filed its request.
`Hostile' to health

Boxer said the hearing showed the EPA "was hostile to the public health and interest," and pledged to hold a committee vote Tuesday on the bill to speed up the EPA's decision.

http://www.mercurynews.com/healthandscience/ci_6476922?nclick_check=1


I wanted to post this in LBN but it was past the deadline