Better Planet » Stephen Johnson http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/betterplanet DISCOVER covers environmental news from every content of the globe and every corner of the blogosphere. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:21:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 EPA Update: Four Senators Tell Chief to Resign http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/betterplanet/2008/07/30/epa-update-four-senators-tell-chief-to-resign/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/betterplanet/2008/07/30/epa-update-four-senators-tell-chief-to-resign/#comments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:45:42 +0000 Benjamin Nugent http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/betterplanet/2008/07/30/epa-update-four-senators-tell-chief-to-resign/ Four Democratic senators called on EPA chief Stephen Johnson to resign yesterday: Barbara Boxer of California, who is chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. They basically accused Johnson of perjury. They also announced they’d asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to look into prosecuting him.

Pollution Sign

The alleged perjury took place Jan. 24th, when Johnson told Boxer’s committee he’d made an independent decision not to allow California to enact its own fuel economy standards that would have been stricter than national ones. In reality, says the former EPA administrator Jason Burnett, Johnson seemed disposed to grant California at least a partial waiver until the White House told him not to. (Here’s a previous post about Burnett).

In case there’s any confusion over names: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is a guy from Rhode Island who wants to take Johnson down; The White House is an entity that allegedly makes Johnson dance like a little beggar child.

 Image: flickr/National Archives

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