WASHINGTON — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency initially supported giving California and other states full or partial permission to limit tailpipe emissions — but reversed himself after hearing from the White House, a report said Monday.
The report by the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee cites interviews and depositions with high-level EPA officials. It amounts to the first solid evidence of the political interference alleged by Democrats and environmentalists since Administrator Stephen Johnson denied California’s waiver request in December.
Johnson’s decision also blocked more than a dozen other states that wanted to follow California’s lead and regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks.
A White House spokeswoman denied interference.
Johnson “made an independent decision,” said Kristen Hellmer, spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
