III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 631 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Senate has lost confidence 

in the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen 

L. Johnson, that the Administrator should resign his position immediately, and that the Department of Justice should open an investigation 

into the veracity of his congressional testimony regarding the California 

waiver decision and pursue any prosecutorial action the Department 

determines to be warranted. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 29 (legislative day, JULY 28), 2008 

Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. SANDERS) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Senate has 

lost confidence in the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen L. Johnson, that the 

Administrator should resign his position immediately, 

and that the Department of Justice should open an 

investigation into the veracity of his congressional testimony regarding the California waiver decision and pursue any prosecutorial action the Department determines 

to be warranted. 

Whereas, for most of its nearly 4-decade history, people of 

the United States could look to the Environmental ProVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:50 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR631.IS SR631

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tection Agency for independent leadership, grounded in 

science and the rule of law, with a sole mission to protect 

our health and our environment; 

Whereas, since Stephen L. Johnson was sworn in as Administrator, the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to 

carry out its mission, and has issued decision after decision that fails to adequately protect public health and the 

environment; 

Whereas, on the issue of pollution from ozone, the Environmental Protection Agency under Administrator Johnson 

rejected the recommendations of agency scientists, public 

health officials, and the agency’s own scientific advisory 

committees, and instead established an ozone standard 

that fails to protect the public, especially children and the 

elderly, from the harmful effects of ozone pollution, such 

as lung disease and asthma; 

Whereas, on the issue of pollution from soot, known as ‘‘particulate matter’’, Administrator Johnson bowed to pressure from industry and failed to strengthen an outdated 

standard limiting the annual average levels of soot pollution, despite calls from the agency’s own scientific advisory committees and health and medical experts to 

strengthen that standard to protect public health; 

Whereas, on the issue of pollution from lead, Administrator 

Johnson failed to heed the Environmental Protection 

Agency’s own scientists and proposed a standard that 

would leave children in harm’s way; 

Whereas, on the issue of the Toxic Release Inventory, the 

Agency’s decision to weaken the community right-to-know 

rules for toxic chemicals used and released in communities across the country will quadruple the quantity of 


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•SRES 631 IS 

toxic pollutants that companies can release before the 

companies are required to provide to the public detailed 

information about the releases; 

Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency went forward 

with those changes to the Toxic Release Inventory despite 

objections from 23 State agencies and attorneys general, 

and despite concerns raised by the Agency’s own science 

advisory board; 

Whereas, on the issue of the toxin perchlorate, the Environmental Protection Agency promulgated a rule revoking 

the requirement for testing of tap water for perchlorate, 

a contaminant that has been found in the drinking water 

of millions of people in 35 States, and which interferes 

with the thyroid and is especially risky to pregnant 

women and newborns, and as a result, people in the 

United States will lack up-to-date information on whether 

their tap water is contaminated with that toxin; 

Whereas, on the issue of vehicle tailpipe emissions, Administrator Johnson denied a waiver that would have allowed 

California and up to 18 other States to enact strict restrictions on global warming pollution from automobiles, 

despite the reportedly unanimous recommendations of his 

professional staff in favor of granting the waiver at least 

in part, and finding that denying it would very likely be 

successfully challenged in court; 

Whereas, on the issue of global warming pollution, in defiance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. 

E.P.A. (549 U.S. 497), Administrator Johnson has failed 

to take action after the Court’s ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority, under the 

Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), to regulate 

greenhouse gas emissions that pollute our air, instead 


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bowing to pressures from the Bush White House to punt 

the issue to the next administration; 

Whereas, under Administrator Johnson, the Environmental 

Protection Agency has offered legal arguments for its insufficient standards that have provoked ridicule by the 

courts, which, for example, have accused the agency of 

employing the ‘‘logic of the Queen of Hearts’’ and living 

in ‘‘a Humpty-Dumpty’’ world in attempting to evade the 

intent of Congress and the clear meaning of the Clean 

Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); 

Whereas, Administrator Johnson has allowed the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific advisory panels to 

be infiltrated by the very industries they are meant to 

regulate and control, while at the same time removing 

from those panels without justification qualified scientists 

who opposed industry positions; 

Whereas a report issued on April 23, 2008, by the Union of 

Concerned Scientists, entitled ‘‘Interference at the EPA’’, 

uncovered widespread political influence in the Environmental Protection Agency decisions, noting, for example, 

that 60 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency 

career scientists surveyed had personally experienced at 

least 1 incident of political interference during the past 

5 years; 

Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency under Administrator Johnson has altered administrative procedures of 

the agency to allow the White House Office of Management and Budget and Pentagon secret influence over 

agency decisionmaking, such as through the Integrated 

Risk Information System process, an action which the 

Government Accountability Office has found to be ‘‘inVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:50 Jul 30, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR631.IS SR631

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consistent with the principle of sound science that relies 

on, among other things, transparency’’; 

Whereas Administrator Johnson’s response to widespread 

criticism that his agency is in crisis, and that he allows 

White House political operatives and polluting industries 

to dictate his decisions rather than the law and science, 

has been to label those who have raised those concerns, 

many of whom are dedicated career employees of his 

agency, as ‘‘yammering critics’’; 

Whereas, in defiance of his charge under the Constitution of 

the United States, Administrator Johnson has personally 

and repeatedly refused to cooperate with Congress in its 

efforts to conduct regular oversight of the Executive 

branch, refusing to produce documents as part of legitimate oversight investigations, refusing to appear before 

committees of Congress, and, when he has appeared, refusing to answer questions in a forthright manner; 

Whereas there is strong evidence to believe that Administrator Johnson, at a minimum, provided misleading and 

intentionally incomplete statements to congressional committees regarding the California waiver issue and, at 

worst, has given false testimony before those committees; 

Whereas, for example, Administrator Johnson on numerous 

occasions testified before the Committee on Environment 

and Public Works of the Senate that he based his denial 

of the California waiver request on California’s failure to 

meet the ‘‘compelling and extraordinary’’ circumstances 

criterion under section 209(b) of the Clean Air Act (42 

U.S.C. 7543(b)), and that he reached this decision independently; 


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Whereas, testimony by a former senior Environmental Protection Agency official, Jason Burnett, reveals that in 

fact Administrator Johnson had determined that California met the requirements for a waiver under that Act 

and had communicated his plan to partially grant the 

waiver to the Administration in a meeting at the White 

House, only to reverse course and deny the waiver after 

White House officials ‘‘clearly articulated’’ President 

Bush’s ‘‘policy preference’’ for a single regulatory system, 

even though the Clean Air Act clearly contemplates a 

dual system in cases in which the statutory criteria for 

the waiver are met; 

Whereas Mr. Burnett’s testimony was that Administrator 

Johnson was prepared to grant the California waiver 

until it was ‘‘clearly articulated’’ to him that the President preferred a different approach; 

Whereas Administrator Johnson’s sworn testimony before the 

Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 

Senate appears to have been designed to mislead Congress and the people of the United States regarding the 

extent to which the White House intervened in the decision to deny the California waiver, despite the conclusion 

of career staff at the Environmental Protection Agency, 

and evidently of the Administrator himself, that the statutory criteria for granting the waiver under the Clean Air 

Act had been met; and 

Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency is an agency 

in crisis and is in need of leadership dedicated to tackling 

the enormous public health and environmental issues 

faced by our country and our planet, in an independent 

manner that comports with science and the law and is 

immune from political interference: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) the Senate has lost confidence in the Ad3 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 

4 Stephen L. Johnson; 

5 (2) Administrator Johnson should resign his 

6 position immediately; and 

7 (3) the Department of Justice should open an 

8 investigation into the veracity of his congressional 

9 testimony regarding the California waiver decision 

10 and to pursue any prosecutorial action the Depart11 ment determines to be warranted. 

Æ 


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