Steve Johnson's EPA (Environmental Pollution Agency) regularly pressures scientists to alter facts and conclusions for political reasons: Details.
In August 2003, the Bush Administration denied a petition to regulate CO2 emissions from motor vehicles by deciding that CO2 was not a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled that determination in Massachusetts v. EPA, which ruled that "If EPA makes a finding of endangerment, the Clean Air Act requires the agency to regulate emissions of the deleterious pollutant from new motor vehicles." The EPA then conducted an extensive investigation involving 60-70 staff who concluded that "CO2 emissions endanger both human health and welfare." These findings were submitted to the White House, after which work on the findings and the required regulations was effectively halted or delayed for at least the remainder of Bush's presidency.
Johnson's EPA rejected California’s request for permission to implement its law limiting global warming pollution from vehicles. The decision overrode recommendations of the EPA’s own career experts and prevented the implementation of similar laws passed in more than a dozen states.
Johnson's EPA set ozone pollution limits at unhealthy levels after rejecting the recommendations of the EPA’s own scientists -- and then weakened those limits further after a late-night intervention by President Bush on the eve of announcing the new standards.
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) also cites Johnson's EPA for these offenses:
– Refusing to enforce the agency’s “Principles of Scientific Integrity” involving fluoride drinking water standards, organophosphate pesticide registration, and control of mercury emissions from power plants.
– The shuttering of EPA’s network of technical libraries without waiting for Congressional approval in 2006 — to be reopened only with documents that undergo a political review.
– The abandonment of proposed rules protecting children and workers from lead paint in 2004 — rectified this March after years of lawsuits.
– Violating the Endangered Species Act in failing to consider the harmful effects of pesticides on Chinook salmon.
In the March 13, 2008, Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin wrote:
"The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday limited the allowable amount of pollution-forming ozone in the air to 75 parts per billion, a level significantly higher than what the agency's scientific advisers had urged for this key component of unhealthy air pollution. Administrator Stephen L. Johnson also said he would push Congress to rewrite the nearly 37-year-old Clean Air Act to allow regulators to take into consideration the cost and feasibility of controlling pollution when making decisions about air quality, something that is currently prohibited by the law. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that the government needed to base the ozone standard strictly on protecting public health, with no regard to cost."
In the May 16, 2008, Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin wrote:
"Clean-Air Rules Protecting Parks Set to Be Eased
"The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan. The new regulations, which are likely to be finalized this summer, rewrite a provision of the Clean Air Act that applies to 'Class 1 areas,' federal lands that currently have the highest level of protection under the law. Opponents predict the changes will worsen visibility at many of the nation's most prized tourist destinations, including Virginia's Shenandoah, Colorado's Mesa Verde, and North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt national parks."
A new lawsuit charges that the EPA has ignored scientists on smog rules.
Sign the Friends of the Earth petition to remove Johnson.
