California Attorney General Jerry Brown on Thursday urged Congress to investigate whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was influenced by the Bush administration when it rejected California's request to limit vehicle emissions to slow global warming.
"The public has a right to know what were the influences that shaped the EPA's bizarre decision to deny California the right to set vehicle standard which for 40 years has always been upheld," Brown said.
California, with Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's blessing, filed a lawsuit against the EPA last week, challenging its decision to deny California's request for a waiver that would allow it to implement a law requiring a 30-percent reduction in vehicle emissions by 2016.
California needs a waiver from the EPA to enact the proposed law to place stronger restrictions on auto makers than the federal government.
Brown said that while the agency has "done nothing about global warming", it "sabotaged California's landmark law."
The denial was the first for California since the federal Clean Air Act was established in 1967.
In a letter to Schwarzenegger, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson wrote that "California does not have a need to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions."
Brown said the state needed to cut auto emissions to slow global warming, which was causing snow to melt faster, which in turn could cause flooding and water shortages in California.
"Charged with protecting the environmental trust, the EPA has instead betrayed its sacred mission," Brown said at a hearing at Los Angeles City Hall.
"The agency's top staff should explain, under oath, why they undermined the groundbreaking effort by California and 14 other states to reduce the amount of dangerous greenhouse gases emitted by motor vehicles," he said.
EPA head Johnson also should be subpoenaed to testify before Congress on the reasoning behind the decision, Brown said.
"This notion that in every waiver application we have to show a separate, compelling need is just wrong," he said.
"The administrator clearly has broken the law," Brown said. "(Johnson) is playing politics, and quite frankly my hunch is that(President) Bush, when he signed the energy bill, made a commitment to the auto industry, `don't worry, I will prevent California from imposing its stricter standards.' This is nothing more than a backroom deal ... (Johnson) is nothing more than a tool in Washington politics."
Earlier, the EPA asserted that a federal energy bill that raises gas mileage to 35 mpg by 2020 made California's greenhouse gas emissions standards unnecessary.
However, an analysis by the California Air Resources Board found that California's emissions rules cut twice the level of greenhouse gases than the federal program and yield a better fuel efficiency.
Critics of California's proposed emission law say letting states set their own standards would result in a patchwork of regulations that would increase the cost of cars.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article