EPA memo said White House energy plan 'misleading'
Date: 07-Feb-02
Country: USA
In a letter this week to Cheney, Waxman asked the vice president about a confidential memo from the EPA last April 27 that questioned whether the Bush administration's energy plan was truthful about the effect of environmental rules on U.S. energy supplies.
The EPA memo said that language in the White House energy plan, which was still in its draft form at the time, was "inaccurate and inappropriately implicates environmental programs as a major cause of supply constraints."
U.S. utilities, oil refineries, mining companies and other energy firms often complain that strict anti-pollution rules are too costly and cumbersome.
The EPA memo said blaming energy supply shortages on environmental regulations was "overly simplistic and not supported by the facts," "misleading," and creates a "false impression."
Some of the EPA's concerns were resolved in the final version of the energy plan, which was released by the White House several weeks later.
However, Waxman accused Cheney of making only "cosmetic" changes to the energy plan that continued to blame environmental regulations for shortages in oil and electricity supplies. Cheney is the former top executive of oilfield services company Halliburton Co .
Waxman said the latest EPA revelations prove the White House plan benefits the energy industry at the expense of the public.
"We know now that important EPA objections were rejected by the White House in favor of positions that benefit the energy industry," Waxman said.
Waxman, who has been pushing for Cheney to release records related to the task force, said because of these circumstances it was more important than ever to release the records.
"Congress and the public should have as much information as possible about who was influencing the process and why EPA believed its concerns were not being addressed," Cheney said.