EPA regulation of GHG would harm Bush legacy, Cheney, oil interests thought: report

Washington Report 1: President Bush dumped an EPA plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, refiners and autos at the urging of White House insiders, who feared it would hurt the president's legacy, a former EPA official told a congressional committee this week. The administration's efforts to respond to the Supreme Court's April 2007 decision, calling on EPA to regulate heat-trapping emissions, were outlined by Jason Burnett, a former adviser to Administrator Stephen Johnson, who spoke to the House Select Committee on Energy and Global Warming. Committee Chair Ed Markey (D-Mass.) concluded, in a report that combines Burnett's closed-door testimony with documents obtained by subpoena, that the president backed down after hearing arguments from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, the Office of Management and Budget, the Transportation Department, Exxon Mobil Corp. and others in the oil industry. (Source: E&E Daily)