Official: EPA chief was OK with Calif. request

Democrats reveal deposition that he changed view after White House talks

WASHINGTON – The head of the Environmental Protection Agency initially supported giving California full or partial permission to limit tailpipe emissions

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Documents withheld

Also, EPA continues to withhold some documents that show telephone calls or meetings in the White House. The committee report said that the White House Counsel’s office has told them EPA has 32 such documents and has described them as “indicative of deliberations at the very highest level of government.”

A White House spokesman didn’t immediately return a call for comment Monday.

“It appears that the White House played a significant role in the reversal of the EPA position,” the report concludes. “It would appear to be inconsistent with the president’s constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws of the United States if the president or his advisers pressured Administrator Johnson to ignore the record before the agency for political or other inappropriate reasons.”

MSNBC