by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by dday [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

We didn't need any more evidence that the Bush Administration uses the executive branch as a political instrument.  But this latest example shows that they will use federal agencies to work to oppose legislative efforts at the state level, making a complete mockery of the entire premise of federalism itself.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Henry Waxman has received information that the Department of Transportation has been lobbying members of Congress to oppose state efforts, sought by California and others, to regulate tailpipe emissions.  California is waiting for an EPA waiver to implement their tailpipe emissions proposal.  The Governor has threatened to sue the EPA if they don't receive that waiver.  The first roadblock that the EPA tried was to appeal to the Supreme Court by claiming that they didn't have the ability to regulate greenhouse gases, but in a landmark decision the Supreme Court said that they did.  So plan B, apparently, is to use the DOT to threaten legislators in automobile-producing districts that their local economies would be severly impacted by any efforts to regulate.  This excerpt is from a letter by Waxman to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters:

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

California Attorney General Jerry Brown wrote a whole stack of letters, one to each of the 18 presidential contenders on Friday. He requested they weigh in publicly in favor of approving California's request for an EPA waiver to allow California to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle tailpipes. AP:

He asked them to submit written testimony to the federal EPA, which is weighing whether to grant California a waiver needed to put in place a state law that would cut greenhouse gas emissions, mostly carbon dioxide, by 25 percent from cars and 18 percent from sport utility vehicles beginning in 2009.

At least 11 other states are ready to follow California's lead if the state gets the needed federal waiver.

"As one who may be the next president of the United States, I believe that your written statement, which we will submit to EPA as part of the legal record, will help bolster our case," Brown wrote in the letter sent late Thursday. "I urge you to give us the strongest possible statement for submission to EPA."

Brown asked the candidates to weigh in by June 15, the public comment deadline.

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by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

Speaker Pelosi is not the California politician to have notified Rep. Bouscher of their opposition to his bill, which would overrule California's greenhouse gas emissions legislation. A dozen Democrats, including Rep. Jane Harman and Rep. Henry Waxman sent a letter to Rep. Bouscher. Arnold signed on to a letter along with the governors from Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington. AP:

"Congress must not deny states the right to pursue solutions in the absence of federal policy," they wrote.

This should set up a fight in the House Energy and Commerce committee, with some Republicans joining Rep. Bouscher and Dingell.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

California passed tough tail-pipe emissions standards, but we need a waiver from the EPA to actually enact them. The Supreme Court says that they need to address the issue. Today, Arnold and fellow Republican Governor Jodi Rell from Conneticut took the Bush Administration to task in an op-ed appearing in the Washington Post. It is a good one.

Another discouraging sign came just last week, when President Bush issued an executive order to give federal agencies until the end of 2008 to continue studying the threat of greenhouse gas emissions and determine what can be done about them.

To us, that again sounds like more of the same inaction and denial, and it is unconscionable.

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