Pelosi: EPA’s rationale for blocking emissions rules ‘implausible’

Fallout from the EPA’s decision to block states from imposing greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks continued Friday in the form of a critical letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“I vigorously disagree with your rationale for that decision,” Pelosi wrote to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

{mosads}“In particular, I find implausible your inference that the passage this week of the ‘Energy Independence and Security Act’ eliminates the need for the waiver requested by California.”

California had requested a waiver from EPA to go forward with its efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes. The Clean Air Act allows California to set its own clean air standards. Other states can adopt California’s rules or those imposed by the EPA.

Seventeen states have moved to adopt the California tailpipe standard.

The EPA’s decision this week was apparently the first time the agency denied a wavier request. Johnson said the recently passed energy act would reduce emissions nationally. California’s program could create a confusing “patchwork” of standards, Johnson said.

Pelosi said she and Johnson discussed the decision in a phone conversation, but that she remained unconvinced by the administration’s reasoning.

“Surely you and others in the Bush administration were aware that the Congress rejected requests from the administration to waive the Environmental Protection Agency’s longstanding authority to regulate emissions and to grant states waivers under the Clean Air Act. Citing the passage of our new law as a justification for denying California’s request defies the legislative history as well as the explicit language of the ‘Energy Independence and Security Act.’”