EPA refuses to explain rejection
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Invoking executive privilege, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday refused to provide lawmakers with a full explanation of why it rejected California’s greenhouse gas regulations.
The EPA informed Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) that many of the documents she had requested contained internal deliberations or attorney-client communications.
“EPA is concerned about the chilling effect that would occur if agency employees believed their frank and honest opinions and analysis expressed as part of assessing California’s waiver request were to be disclosed in a broad setting,” EPA Associate Administrator Christopher P. Bliley wrote.
This is the latest twist in a congressional investigation into why the agency denied California permission to impose what would have been the country’s toughest greenhouse gas standards on cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles.
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