[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 631 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 631

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Senate has lost confidence 
in the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen L. 
Johnson, that the Administrator should resign his position immediately, 
 and that the Department of Justice should open an investigation into 
 the veracity of his congressional testimony regarding the California 
  waiver decision and pursue any prosecutorial action the Department 
                      determines to be warranted.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                July 29 (legislative day, July 28), 2008

Mrs. Boxer (for herself, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Lautenberg, Ms. Klobuchar, 
and Mr. Sanders) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
            to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Senate has lost confidence 
in the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen L. 
Johnson, that the Administrator should resign his position immediately, 
 and that the Department of Justice should open an investigation into 
 the veracity of his congressional testimony regarding the California 
  waiver decision and pursue any prosecutorial action the Department 
                      determines to be warranted.

Whereas, for most of its nearly 4-decade history, people of the United States 
        could look to the Environmental Protection Agency for independent 
        leadership, grounded in science and the rule of law, with a sole mission 
        to protect our health and our environment;
Whereas, since Stephen L. Johnson was sworn in as Administrator, the 
        Environmental Protection Agency has failed to carry out its mission, and 
        has issued decision after decision that fails to adequately protect 
        public health and the environment;
Whereas, on the issue of pollution from ozone, the Environmental Protection 
        Agency under Administrator Johnson rejected the recommendations of 
        agency scientists, public health officials, and the agency's own 
        scientific advisory committees, and instead established an ozone 
        standard that fails to protect the public, especially children and the 
        elderly, from the harmful effects of ozone pollution, such as lung 
        disease and asthma;
Whereas, on the issue of pollution from soot, known as ``particulate matter'', 
        Administrator Johnson bowed to pressure from industry and failed to 
        strengthen an outdated standard limiting the annual average levels of 
        soot pollution, despite calls from the agency's own scientific advisory 
        committees and health and medical experts to strengthen that standard to 
        protect public health;
Whereas, on the issue of pollution from lead, Administrator Johnson failed to 
        heed the Environmental Protection Agency's own scientists and proposed a 
        standard that would leave children in harm's way;
Whereas, on the issue of the Toxic Release Inventory, the Agency's decision to 
        weaken the community right-to-know rules for toxic chemicals used and 
        released in communities across the country will quadruple the quantity 
        of toxic pollutants that companies can release before the companies are 
        required to provide to the public detailed information about the 
        releases;
Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency went forward with those changes to 
        the Toxic Release Inventory despite objections from 23 State agencies 
        and attorneys general, and despite concerns raised by the Agency's own 
        science advisory board;
Whereas, on the issue of the toxin perchlorate, the Environmental Protection 
        Agency promulgated a rule revoking the requirement for testing of tap 
        water for perchlorate, a contaminant that has been found in the drinking 
        water of millions of people in 35 States, and which interferes with the 
        thyroid and is especially risky to pregnant women and newborns, and as a 
        result, people in the United States will lack up-to-date information on 
        whether their tap water is contaminated with that toxin;
Whereas, on the issue of vehicle tailpipe emissions, Administrator Johnson 
        denied a waiver that would have allowed California and up to 18 other 
        States to enact strict restrictions on global warming pollution from 
        automobiles, despite the reportedly unanimous recommendations of his 
        professional staff in favor of granting the waiver at least in part, and 
        finding that denying it would very likely be successfully challenged in 
        court;
Whereas, on the issue of global warming pollution, in defiance of the Supreme 
        Court's decision in Massachusetts v. E.P.A. (549 U.S. 497), 
        Administrator Johnson has failed to take action after the Court's ruling 
        that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority, under the 
        Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), to regulate greenhouse gas 
        emissions that pollute our air, instead bowing to pressures from the 
        Bush White House to punt the issue to the next administration;
Whereas, under Administrator Johnson, the Environmental Protection Agency has 
        offered legal arguments for its insufficient standards that have 
        provoked ridicule by the courts, which, for example, have accused the 
        agency of employing the ``logic of the Queen of Hearts'' and living in 
        ``a Humpty-Dumpty'' world in attempting to evade the intent of Congress 
        and the clear meaning of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.);
Whereas, Administrator Johnson has allowed the Environmental Protection Agency's 
        scientific advisory panels to be infiltrated by the very industries they 
        are meant to regulate and control, while at the same time removing from 
        those panels without justification qualified scientists who opposed 
        industry positions;
Whereas a report issued on April 23, 2008, by the Union of Concerned Scientists, 
        entitled ``Interference at the EPA'', uncovered widespread political 
        influence in the Environmental Protection Agency decisions, noting, for 
        example, that 60 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency career 
        scientists surveyed had personally experienced at least 1 incident of 
        political interference during the past 5 years;
Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency under Administrator Johnson has 
        altered administrative procedures of the agency to allow the White House 
        Office of Management and Budget and Pentagon secret influence over 
        agency decisionmaking, such as through the Integrated Risk Information 
        System process, an action which the Government Accountability Office has 
        found to be ``inconsistent with the principle of sound science that 
        relies on, among other things, transparency'';
Whereas Administrator Johnson's response to widespread criticism that his agency 
        is in crisis, and that he allows White House political operatives and 
        polluting industries to dictate his decisions rather than the law and 
        science, has been to label those who have raised those concerns, many of 
        whom are dedicated career employees of his agency, as ``yammering 
        critics'';
Whereas, in defiance of his charge under the Constitution of the United States, 
        Administrator Johnson has personally and repeatedly refused to cooperate 
        with Congress in its efforts to conduct regular oversight of the 
        Executive branch, refusing to produce documents as part of legitimate 
        oversight investigations, refusing to appear before committees of 
        Congress, and, when he has appeared, refusing to answer questions in a 
        forthright manner;
Whereas there is strong evidence to believe that Administrator Johnson, at a 
        minimum, provided misleading and intentionally incomplete statements to 
        congressional committees regarding the California waiver issue and, at 
        worst, has given false testimony before those committees;
Whereas, for example, Administrator Johnson on numerous occasions testified 
        before the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate that 
        he based his denial of the California waiver request on California's 
        failure to meet the ``compelling and extraordinary'' circumstances 
        criterion under section 209(b) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7543(b)), 
        and that he reached this decision independently;
Whereas, testimony by a former senior Environmental Protection Agency official, 
        Jason Burnett, reveals that in fact Administrator Johnson had determined 
        that California met the requirements for a waiver under that Act and had 
        communicated his plan to partially grant the waiver to the 
        Administration in a meeting at the White House, only to reverse course 
        and deny the waiver after White House officials ``clearly articulated'' 
        President Bush's ``policy preference'' for a single regulatory system, 
        even though the Clean Air Act clearly contemplates a dual system in 
        cases in which the statutory criteria for the waiver are met;
Whereas Mr. Burnett's testimony was that Administrator Johnson was prepared to 
        grant the California waiver until it was ``clearly articulated'' to him 
        that the President preferred a different approach;
Whereas Administrator Johnson's sworn testimony before the Committee on 
        Environment and Public Works of the Senate appears to have been designed 
        to mislead Congress and the people of the United States regarding the 
        extent to which the White House intervened in the decision to deny the 
        California waiver, despite the conclusion of career staff at the 
        Environmental Protection Agency, and evidently of the Administrator 
        himself, that the statutory criteria for granting the waiver under the 
        Clean Air Act had been met; and
Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency is an agency in crisis and is in 
        need of leadership dedicated to tackling the enormous public health and 
        environmental issues faced by our country and our planet, in an 
        independent manner that comports with science and the law and is immune 
        from political interference: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the Senate has lost confidence in the Administrator of 
        the Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen L. Johnson;
            (2) Administrator Johnson should resign his position 
        immediately; and
            (3) the Department of Justice should open an investigation 
        into the veracity of his congressional testimony regarding the 
        California waiver decision and to pursue any prosecutorial 
        action the Department determines to be warranted.
                                 <all>