This incredible rejection of California's waiver to regulate their own greenhouse gas emissions was done contra the input of the EPA Administrator's own staff.
"California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers," said an EPA staffer. "We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts."
I wonder how the EPA Administrator could have been swayed to go against science, the moral imperative of mitigating the effects of global warming, the duties outlined in his job description... Fourthbranch!
On multiple occasions in October and November, Cheney and White House staff members met with industry executives, including the CEOs of Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler. At the meetings, the executives objected to California's proposed fuel economy standards:
In meetings in October with Mr. Cheney and sessions with White House staff members, auto executives made clear that they were concerned not just about the fuel economy measures in the bill but also about the California proposal for stricter emissions standards.
The Federal Energy Bill ended up being a bait and switch. In exchange for the increase in fuel efficiency, the automakers got their pound of flesh, the denial of that waiver. |
