Elections change things is the oft heard mantra that is playing out all over our nation’s capitol right now, and we hope that the resulting arguments, often good for their own sake, leads to better and more balanced environmental policy, which would be good for all of us.
Boxer grills EPA administrator
She accuses agency of rolling back progress, but witness defends record.
By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, February 7, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barbara Boxer, the new head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, lambasted the head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday over "environmental rollbacks" in a hearing that was equal parts political theater and substance.
Conducting her first oversight hearing since becoming the panel's chairwoman last month, the liberal California Democrat detailed six areas where she said agency decisions have benefited industries at the expense of public health.
"EPA has gone too long without meaningful oversight," Boxer declared. "I want to send a clear signal to EPA and to this administration. We are watching ... and no longer will EPA rollbacks quietly escape scrutiny."
But EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson defended the agency's actions, telling the committee that the Bush administration has a solid record of environmental achievement, including new rules on diesel fuel that he touted as the "single greatest achievement in clean fuel since lead was removed from gasoline."
"Regardless of rhetoric, our environmental record is clear," he said. "America's air, water and land are cleaner today than it was a generation ago, and under the Bush administration this progress continues."
Boxer focused the hearing on rules or policy decisions proposed over the last six months or so, many of them in December before Democrats took control of the Congress.
