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

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California) pounced immediately today, saying the memo shows that the EPA’s administration have been turning the agency into “a secretive, dangerous ally of polluters, instead of a leader in the effort to protect the health and safety of the American people.”

The Office of the Inspector General also made a statement today, saying, basically, what the f–k, dude, you’re supposed to be on my team and this is my job:  “All EPA officials and employees are required to cooperate with OIG. This cooperation includes providing the OIG full and unrestricted access to EPA documents, records, and personnel.”

The managers who were sent the e-mail were in the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, which means they’re the guys in charge of making sure pollution laws are obeyed. So basically the legal compliance people were being told not to comply with the inspector general. Which proves once and for all that these days the EPA is The Office.