SFGate: Boxer rips EPA chief as bowing to industry/Official says policies speed up benefits to the environment

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Boxer rips EPA chief as bowing to industry

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Wednesday, February 7, 2007 (SF Chronicle)

Boxer rips EPA chief as bowing to industry/Official says policies speed up

benefits to the environment

Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

(02-07) 04:00 PST Washington -- California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer

ripped the Environmental Protection Agency's top official Tuesday for

rules changes that could limit the input of scientific advisers into

agency decisions and reduce public access to information about toxic

substances in communities.

Boxer, using her clout at her second hearing as the new chairwoman of the

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, accused EPA Administrator

of bending to the wishes of industry rather than

protecting public health.

" I want to send a clear signal to EPA and to this administration: We are

watching, " she said. " No longer will EPA rollbacks quietly escape

scrutiny. "

defended the Bush administration's record on the environment,

saying his agency had pursued policies aimed at cutting the costs of

regulation and giving companies incentives to reduce their pollution.

" These decisions and actions all accelerate the pace of environmental

protection, " said. " They all deliver environmental results. "

Boxer devoted the hearing to shedding light on half a dozen controversial

decisions made by the EPA late last year, which she said received little

scrutiny from the formerly Republican-led Congress. Among them:

-- The decision to shut down or cut access to seven EPA libraries across

the country. The libraries are used by scientists, agency employees and

citizens looking for information about public health and environmental

hazards in their neighborhoods.

-- The agency in December eased the rules on industry for the reporting of

their discharge of toxic chemicals. Previously, companies that released

500 pounds of chemicals were required to file a detailed report. Under the

new rule, firms would file detailed accounts only after releasing 2,000

pounds of chemicals.

-- The EPA in December proposed changing its decades-old policy that asked

scientific advisory boards to study and develop new air quality standards

before the agency would announce them. The move to lessen the influence of

the advisory boards would strengthen the hand of the agency's political

appointees in setting policy.

Democratic senators on the committee complained that the agency's

decisions seemed designed to satisfy the requests of key industry groups.

The Battery Council International, a trade group of battery manufacturers

and lead smelters, sent a letter to the EPA in July urging it to revoke

the ambient air quality standard for lead -- which the agency said in

December it is considering. The trade group also asked the EPA to expedite

the decision by changing how the agency and scientists review its

proposals.

Boxer warned that " if the standard is revoked, there is no assurance that

lead will be monitored in air across the country. Polluters could emit

dangerous levels of lead without being detected. "

insisted he is committed to reducing emissions of lead, which pose

health risks to humans, especially children, even at low levels.

In written testimony, he noted that lead concentrations in the air had

fallen by 95 percent since leaded gasoline was banned but said it was too

early to say whether the lead standard would be revoked.

Boxer and got into a testy exchange over the EPA's closure of its

libraries.

called it an effort to modernize the libraries now that many

people are accessing agency data and scientific reports on the Internet.

He said the reports kept in the libraries either would be made available

online or would be donated to other libraries.

But Boxer read e-mails from EPA librarians that detailed the destruction

of agency reports and other documents.

" There's something about Americans, they don't like things being destroyed

-- libraries, books, movies, things like that, " Boxer said. " The image of

it is discomforting. "

" We have not been disposing of documents, " insisted , who noted

that the agency halted plans to close more libraries because of the

outcry.

But received a little help from Republicans on the committee. Sen.

Inhofe, R-Okla., the panel's ranking Republican, accused critics of

the EPA's library plan of being " hysterical " and motivated by the desire

to save a few union jobs.

Inhofe asked if he knew that the EPA's libraries held titles

including " Memoirs of a Geisha, " " Fat Chicks Rule!: How to Survive in a

Thin-Centric World, " and the Dr. Seuss book, " The Lorax. " smiled

as each title was read, saying he was aware the EPA had those books.

Boxer, annoyed by the scripted exchange with Inhofe, commented

sarcastically: " I'm amazed that the administrator of the Environmental

Protection Agency would know what books are in the library. ... You're a

multitasker, that's for sure. "

It's not the first time Boxer and have clashed. The California

Democrat held up 's nomination to head the EPA until the agency

dropped a program that paid parents to monitor the health effects of

pesticides on their children.

Boxer warned that he should expect to spend more time in her

hearing room explaining his agency's decisions.

" It's over in terms of your not having to come before the committees of

Congress to respond to them, " she said. " This is just the start. "

E-mail Zachary Coile at zcoile@....

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