Markey Seeks Prompt Resolution of Document Dispute with EPA, Rejects EPA's Excuses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Select Committee, 202-225-4081

Markey Seeks Prompt Resolution of Document Dispute with EPA, Rejects EPA’s Excuses

Preserves Congressional Right to Documents and EPA Internal Process

WASHINGTON (April 24, 2008) – Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming sent a letter late yesterday to Administrator Stephen Johnson of the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting a prompt resolution of a Congressional subpoena seeking documents pertaining to two pivotal global warming decisions by the agency. This proposal responds to an April 16 letter from Johnson in which the EPA proposes to make the documents available subject to numerous and unacceptable conditions.  

“This proposal will give Congress the documents we want, and when we want them, and in a manner that satisfies the core concerns expressed by the EPA about the delicate nature of the deliberations within the administration on these issues,” said Chairman Markey. “It is time for EPA to stop stonewalling. It should not take a threat of contempt to gain their cooperation with committees of Congress.”

The letter is available HERE.   

The Select Committee is pursuing two sets of documents, both easily accessible by the agency. The documents relate to EPA’s decisions on global warming emissions regulations for vehicles, and on the agency’s ruling on the risks of heat-trapping pollution to public health or welfare.

Chairman Markey has proposed that EPA will provide the committee with the requested global warming documents immediately, but that the committee will not reveal any information included in the documents until either the EPA releases its upcoming Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on global warming emissions from motor vehicles and other sources of these emissions that are regulated under the Clean Air Act, or June 21, 2008, whichever is earlier.

In a response last week, the EPA said it would not be willing to allow the committee to review the documents until after the earlier of the date on which the agency releases its ANPR , or June 21, 2008. The EPA did not even commit to allowing the committee to claim possession of the documents, but nevertheless requested that the committee withdraw its subpoena before the documents were even made available for review. The EPA has not claimed executive privilege on these documents, but instead, according to the letter from Chairman Markey, has invented “a new claim of ‘chilling effects’ on the administrative process—a basis that I am not aware has ever been recognized by any Committee of Congress as lawful grounds to withhold documents within the purview of a Committee’s inquiry.”

“At this point, Administrator Johnson and the lawyers at EPA are throwing any argument they can think of against the wall, hoping one will stick,” said Chairman Markey. “None of their arguments have yet had any traction -- or legal basis, for that matter -- and therefore they must hand over these important documents immediately.”

In an April 2, 2008 bipartisan 12-0 vote, Markey and the committee subpoenaed the documents to discover the status of two important decisions that have been pending at the EPA for months. In conversations and in letters dating back to January, Markey and Johnson have discussed the EPA turning over the global warming documents. Johnson had personally committed to turning over the documents, but has since refused to do so, most recently when he testified before the Select Committee in a March 13, 2008 hearing.

More information on the exchanges between Markey and Johnson are available HERE.

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