Top EPA official: can't recall anyone inside EPA who recommended that EPA reject Cal ghg waiver

Just in case you missed it, a fascinating exchange this morning at a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) cross-examined Robert Meyers, principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for air pollution at the US EPA, about EPA’s decision to reject California’s attempt to enforce its greenhouse gas standards for motor vehicles.

Under Whitehouse’s patient cross – one of the best I’ve seen in some time – Meyers conceded he didn’t know of a single person within EPA who had recommended that EPA Administrator Steve Johnson reject California’s request to enforce the standards.

As Whitehouse continued to press Meyers about how Johnson reversed course and rejected the waiver after a White House meeting, Meyers suddenly acquired amnesia (as well as a desperate need to confer with an agency lawyer, rather like a mob figure mulling whether to take the Fifth).

“I’m not sure I can remember” said Meyers, “with that much detail.”

Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) accurately noted that “you’ve shown that what Mister Johnson told us [at a previous hearing] was not the truth.” Indeed.