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Internal documents show some in the agency thought denying a Calif. gas emission waiver a threat to his career. (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080227/AUTO01/802270363/1148)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Steve_Johnson_-_head_of_the_EPA.jpgErica Werner - AP - Feb. 26, 2008

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson - Why did he deny the waiver than? Our Govt. at work :rolleyes: -- Ed.

WASHINGTON -- Some high-ranking career staffers concerned about the reputation of the Environmental Protection Agency believed that Administrator Stephen Johnson would have to consider resigning if he turned down California's request to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, new documents show.

Johnson denied the waiver request in December, blocking California and at least 16 other states from implementing the reductions.

The internal discussions were a part of transcripts released Tuesday by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who is investigating that decision.

Among them is a staff memo prepared in October for the head of EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Margo Oge, at the request of William K. Reilly, who served as EPA administrator under President George H.W. Bush.

Reilly, who later publicly questioned Johnson's decision to deny the waiver, wanted the memo for a discussion with the administrator, according to Boxer aides. They said that after they'd released the memo Tuesday, Reilly contacted them to explain his role in requesting it.

The memo urged Johnson to grant the waiver or find a compromise… http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080227/AUTO01/802270363/1148

"Internal documents show some in the agency thought denying a Calif. gas emission waiver a threat to his career."

What career? Career as head of the EPA for one more year? What about his lobbying on behalf of the industry after 2008, or his speaking fees for deep water drilling for the next 20 years?

Don't forget. The administration is not in the pocket of the industry. The administration IS the industry. Philip Morris is the surgeon general.

Gristmill has some of the amazing internal memos to Johnson which they quote:

I know you are under extraordinary pressure to make the California waiver decision, and I don't mean to add to it

But this likely to be among the two biggest decisions you get to make in the job (along with the greenhouse gas rule you are working on)

From what I have read and the people I have talked to, it is obvious to me that there is no legal or technical justification for denying this. The law is very specific about what you are allowed to consider, and even if you adopt the alternative interpretations that have been suggested by the automakers, you still wind up in the same place

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/2/26/103823/293

Also, just as a side note, the auto industry is right now doing everything it can to keep Minnesota from signing up to California's tailpipe standards.

Scott Lambert, of the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association, argued that adoption of the California standards would impact the availability of vehicles to Minnesota consumers. “For us it is a simple matter of inventory,” said Lambert. Lambert styled the California standards are “dramatic overreach.”

The Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association recently opened a Web site, www.donttakemytruck.com, California is a nice way to visit, reads the site. “But, there is a way to require auto manufacturers to build cleaner vehicles without going to the extremes required by California activists.,” it opined.

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