WASHINGTON -- — The Environmental Protection Agency's staff concluded last month that greenhouse gases pose a threat to the nation's welfare, which would require federal regulations to rein in emissions from vehicles, factories, power plants and other industrial polluters under the Clean Air Act, sources in the agency told The Times.
The conclusion, known as an "endangerment" finding, has been sent to the White House for review, and comes as the agency is under a Supreme Court order to examine risks from greenhouse gases. The agency also faces a lawsuit from at least 16 state governments over their attempts to regulate vehicle gas emissions.
EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, who had promised to propose regulations of vehicle emissions by the end of last year, has been summoned to testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today to answer questions about why he refused to allow California to enact its own law, despite clear signals from his staff that the state's request was justified.
California had "compelling and extraordinary conditions" to justify its own tailpipe law, according to excerpts of EPA staff documents released Wednesday. That statement contradicts what Johnson said in December, when he concluded that California's request did not meet the "compelling and extraordinary" criteria laid out in the Clean Air Act. California is allowed to implement its own air regulations under the act so long as the EPA grants a waiver, as it has in more than 40 previous cases. Other states then can follow the California standards.
Senate committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) released excerpts from documents she said her staffers were allowed to see but not copy. Boxer said Wednesday that Johnson had done a "terrible job," and accused him of stonewalling the committee's investigation.
An EPA spokesman said the agency did not dispute Boxer's version of the documents. "What it shows is quality staff work," Jonathan Shradar, acting EPA press secretary, said of the excerpts. He said the administrator also considered many other documents, but added that they would not be made public because of litigation over the issue.
Boxer on Wednesday posted in the committee room enlargements of heavily redacted documents, essentially blank placards, that the agency provided to the committee in response to its demand for copies of records.
