WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Continuing his investigation of President Bush's energy policy, California Democratic Rep. Henry A. Waxman Tuesday accused Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force of ignoring warnings from the Environmental Protection Agency in preparing its recommendations.
Waxman said in a letter to the vice president that he had obtained a "confidential memorandum" from Tom Gibson, the associate administrator of EPA, to Cheney's energy task force "that states that EPA's concerns about the energy plan 'have not been addressed,' that new language in the latest draft is 'even more problematic' than earlier drafts." Waxman included the memorandum in a news release. It was dated April 27, 2001, a few weeks before the report was issued last spring.
Quoting Cheney's assertion on NBC's "Meet the Press" that his report on the nation's energy needs was a "good balanced report," Waxman said the memorandum from EPA "indicates, however, that the Administration's own environmental experts did not share this view."
Waxman quoted the following portion of the memorandum:
"EPA has provided comments regarding the language on oil refineries and fuel infrastructure and supply issues in past rounds of the document review process, but our concerns have not been addressed. In the latest draft, new language has been added which is even more problematic. Costs of compliance with environmental requirements are overstated, several inaccurate statements and opinions are presented as factual, and no citations are provided for many of these statements," the memorandum said.
"We are very concerned that this language is inaccurate and inappropriately implicates environmental programs as a major cause of supply constraints in the United States' refining capacity."
Waxman acknowledged in his letter that the comments were on a draft of Cheney's report, but claimed, "Despite EPA'S objections, the final version of the White House energy plan continues to blame environmental regulations for energy shortages."
Tom Gibson did not return telephone calls Tuesday. But EPA spokesman Joe Martyak responded. He acknowledged that the memorandum was valid, but said it was on a draft of the report, and EPA "was definitely satisfied" with the final report and found it "balanced and comprehensive."
His statements were echoed by Jennifer Miller Wise, Cheney's media spokeswoman, who pointed out that the May 16, 2001, report was accepted and passed by a bipartisan vote of Waxman's colleagues in the House of Representatives.
In section 7-13 of Cheney's report, the task force notes, "The U.S. refining industry has experienced a decade of low profitability and rates of return on investment. This has discouraged investment in new refineries."
Later, the report states, "While excess capacity may have deterred some new capacity investments in the past, more recently other factors, such as regulations, have deterred investments."
