Bill Seeks to Counter Clean Air Act Waiver
U.S. Sen. Dianne
Feinstein joined with Sen. Barbara Boxer (both D-Calif.) on Jan. 24 to
introduce a measure to overturn the U.S. EPA's denial of California's
Clean Air Act waiver. The Boxer-Feinstein bill would legislatively
grant the state of California (and any other state) the authority to
adopt and enforce tailpipe emissions reductions.
The bill is also co-sponsored by Joseph Lieberman, Hillary Clinton,
Frank Lautenberg , Benjamin Cardin, Bernie Sanders, Sheldon Whitehouse,
Patrick Leahy, Christopher Dodd, John Kerry, Barbara Mikulski, and
Barack Obama.
The denial of California's waiver blocks
implementation of the state's landmark law to cut tailpipe emissions by
30 percent below projected levels by 2016.
"It's become clear that Administrator Johnson's denial of
California's waiver was based on politics, not science," Feinstein
said. "So, today, Senator Boxer and I have introduced legislation to
take this decision out of the hands of the EPA – and allow California
to move ahead with curbing tailpipe emissions."
Feinstein also
called on the General Accountability Office (GAO) to open an
investigation into the decision of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to
deny California's waiver.
This follows a similar request submitted by Feinstein earlier this month to the Insp