[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7014-7015]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         NOMINATION OF EPA DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR STEPHEN JOHNSON

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, on March 10, I announced my intention to 
object to any unanimous consent request for the Senate to take up the 
nomination of Stephen Johnson to be Deputy Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. I did this because I had been 
trying to obtain information concerning EPA's decision to become 
involved with the City of Portland combined sewer overflow program 
since last August. Despite numerous requests, EPA failed to

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answer my questions and failed to provide me with the documents I had 
requested, with the exception of a limited number of documents that EPA 
would have to provide to any requester under the Freedom of Information 
Act, FOIA.
  Today, I am releasing my hold on Mr. Steve Johnson to acknowledge 
that EPA has made a good faith effort to provide documents on the 
Portland sewer situation since I placed a hold on his nomination. 
Although I am lifting my hold on Mr. Johnson, I remain troubled by 
EPA's policy for withholding documents from Members of the Senate and 
the Environment and Public Works Committee, in particular. I believe 
the EPA position on this critical issue is contrary to the law and the 
controlling court decisions. I have also voiced my concern that EPA 
policy would mean the end of Congressional oversight. I believe that 
Senators should not be forced to place holds on nominees in order to 
obtain documents they need to conduct their oversight duties as members 
of the committee with primary responsibility for oversight of EPA.
  I will lift my hold on Mr. Johnson's nomination today to acknowledge 
recent EPA efforts to respond to my requests. I will also be monitoring 
EPA cooperation in responding to my requests for information in the 
future. And if EPA again tries to stonewall as it did to my requests 
for information on the Portland sewers, I will put a hold on other EPA 
nominations if that is what it takes to get the agency's attention and 
cooperation.

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