Republican Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) are asking the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to investigate whether senior U.S. EPA officials violated federal lobbying rules in assisting a former agency administrator, who advocated that EPA grant California a waiver to regulate GHG emissions from motor vehicles.
Issa and Davis want the Committee to investigate the "substantial information and advice" that senior EPA officials gave to former EPA Administrator William Reilly, who served for former President George H.W. Bush. Issa and Davis sent a letter to Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, in which they noted that EPA staffers helped Reilly with a presentation -- that stated that EPA's credibility could be "irreparably damaged" if EPA denied the waiver -- which he used for subsequent conversation with EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to discuss the California waiver.
Davis and Issa wrote that this type of assistance calls into question whether "senior EPA officials either violated the lobbying ban or otherwise misused their positions to surreptitiously influence EPA's decision on the waiver request."
In a statement, Waxman said "although the committee has found no evidence that EPA career staff lobbied members of Congress with respect to the California waiver, I will give careful consideration to the minority's request."