Remarkably, Altman says, while the policy being formulated closely resembled the one developed by industry and the Bush administration, the public representatives on the official committee were ignorant of the previous nine months' secret meetings until SEED filed its request for documents with the administration in 1999. We had no idea that the fix was in from the beginning. Environmentalists were tipped off to what had taken place when someone anonymously faxed the minutes of a secret July 1997 meeting to the Sierra Club's Carman. The imprint on the fax suggested that it was sent from Exxon. It was that fax which, in 1999, inspired Altman to investigate.
Environmentalists are outraged.
They say the resulting policy lacks teeth, and fails to give the commission the authority it needs to address the state's air woes. Even some in industry were not comfortable with the chummy relationship between the governor's office and the polluters. Governor Bush laid out some basic principles - that we should have an effective policy, and that he would prefer if industry came forward with a voluntary program, but there was no pressure on us. Loading the public committee with compliant representatives was part of the governor's plan, according to Kennedy's memo. There was some discussion about public input and support.