Senate Dems call on EPA chief to resign

Three Democratic senators on Tuesday called for the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson, saying he has displayed “a dangerous pattern of disregard” for the health and safety of Americans.

“Johnson’s EPA has shown an extraordinary disregard for the law,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said. “And by extension, they’ve shown a disregard for the people that we represent and for all the American people.”

{mosads}Boxer, joined by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), also called on Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate whether Johnson has made false or misleading statements to Congress.

“Administrator Johnson has repeatedly been warned by Congress and the courts that he is on a dangerous course,” said Boxer in a news conference. “Time after time, the courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States, have overturned EPA's actions and accused EPA of employing, and I’m quoting from some of these decisions, ‘the logic of the Queen of Hearts and living in a Humpty-Dumpty world, where everything is upside-down.’”

The senators also criticized Johnson for failing to appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which Boxer chairs and Klobuchar and Whitehouse are members of, to testify on the EPA’s record.

Last week, Johnson did not show for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about White House interference with the EPA.

Boxer said Johnson is hiding behind “false claims of executive privilege” in an effort to withhold documents from Congress, including a report about the dangerous effects of greenhouse gas.

The California Democrat cited an e-mail sent to EPA employees, warning them to avoid directly responding to an interrogation by the Government Accountability Office and the EPA’s inspector general.

“Mr. Johnson has consistently chosen special interests over the American people’s interests in protecting health and safety,” Boxer said. “He has become a secretive and a dangerous ally of polluters. And we cannot stand by and allow more damage to be done.”

Klobuchar stated that 889 EPA scientists said they have experienced political interference in their work over the last five years. She added that the EPA has purposefully ignored findings of studies revealing environmental dangers.

“We can no longer pretend that there was no political interference with the science and facts when time and time again we see partisan politics prevailing over professionalism and special-interest spin prevailing over science,” Klobuchar said.

Tim Lyons, a spokesman for the EPA, dismissed Boxer’s claims and said Johnson has no plans to resign.

“Administrator Johnson’s record is one of aggressive health-protective environmental standards,” he said. “Sen. Boxer’s record is one of press conferences and political drama.

“This is nothing new coming from Sen. Boxer,” he added. “She should leave the reruns to the sitcoms this summer.”

Lyons also dismissed Boxer’s claim that the EPA was uncooperative with the GAO, saying that staffers are not restricted from talking to the office or to the press, but that having a point person makes communication more efficient.

Though Boxer cited five times Johnson has failed to appear before Congress, Lyons said the EPA administrator has been generally cooperative.