EPA chief under fire for emission decision

WASHINGTON – EPA officials told the agency’s administrator that California had “compelling and extraordinary conditions” to justify a federal waiver allowing the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, according to excerpts of documents released Wednesday.

Yet when Administrator Stephen Johnson denied the state’s request for a waiver in December, he said the California standards were not needed to meet “compelling and extraordinary conditions,” one of the criteria in federal law.

The excerpts from Environmental Protection Agency documents were released by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., whose environmental committee is investigating Johnson’s decision and has called him to testify at a hearing today.

California needs the federal waiver under the Clean Air Act to implement its first-in-the-nation tailpipe rules, which would force automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and light trucks by 2016.

At least 16 other states, including Maine, also want to implement the regulations, but they too were blocked when EPA denied California a waiver. Earlier this month, California and other states sued EPA over the decision.