As I mentioned in a previous post, 18 states, two cities and 13 environmental groups are suing the EPA over their failure to issue regulations on greenhouse gas emissions following last year's Supreme Court ruling. Piling on in what is most certainly becoming a trying week for EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming voted, 12-0, to issue a subpoena for EPA documents showing the agency's "progress in making the 'endangerment' finding and proposing national emissions standards."
While Henry Waxman, chair the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issues (or threatens to issue) subpoenas like they're going out of style, Ed Markey is a different story.
In his opening statement, Chair Markey noted that in his 32 years as a member of Congress, this is the first time he has ever found it necessary to issue a subpoena. He went on to say, "Paper is the traditional one year anniversary gift. On this anniversary of Massachusetts v. EPA, we're sending a piece of paper -- a subpoena -- to Stephen Johnson and the EPA. The modern one year anniversary gift is a clock, and we're trying to make sure this administration doesn't run out the clock on their term without taking action to protect the climate."
The EPA has 10 days to comply with the request to handover documents to the committee. If they miss that deadline, the next step is for the House to vote on a contempt citation (in the form of a resolution). If the resolution passes, the contempt citation is referred to the U.S Attorney for the District of Columbia and a grand jury impaneled.
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