Bush administration works behind the scenes to BLOCK California on emissions regulation [View All]

WP: U.S. Trying to Block Calif. on Emissions
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 25, 2007; Page A03

The Bush administration has conducted a concerted, behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign to try to generate opposition to California's request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, according to documents obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

California, along with 11 other states, is hoping to enact rules that would cut global warming pollution from new motor vehicles by nearly 30 percent by 2016. To do so, California needs a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency, a request that has been pending for nearly two years. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has threatened to sue if EPA does not rule on the waiver by Oct.

A flurry of e-mails among Transportation Department (DOT) officials and between its staffers and the White House, released yesterday, highlights efforts that administration officials have made to stir up public opposition to the waiver. Rather than attacking California's request outright, Bush officials quietly reached out to two dozen congressional offices and a handful of governors to try to undermine it.

One May 22 e-mail written by Jeff Shane, undersecretary of transportation for policy, outlined how Transportation Secretary Mary Peters orchestrated the campaign. Peters "asked that we develop some ideas asap about facilitating a pushback from governors (esp. D's) and others opposed to piecemeal regulation of emissions, as per CA's waiver petition," Shane wrote. "She has heard that such objections could have an important effect on the way Congress looks at the issue."...

Some DOT officials expressed discomfort with the campaign. When one government affairs aide in Peters's office who had been making calls to lawmakers questioned whether the department was being too aggressive, an assistant secretary responded, "I think we need to be a bit careful on this." The agency's chief of staff wrote the next day, "The last e-mail isn't a good conversation for email."...

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