International Clearinghouse for Hydrogen Based Commerce

Who The Hell Do We Thank?
As we witness the financial system of the free world in collapse, there are striking similarities between the rapacious behavior of the energy companies and the rapacious behavior of the financial institutions.
Commentary by Richard D. Masters, ICHC
November 14, 2008

   Here at the International Clearinghouse for Hydrogen Commerce, we tend to look at things from the viewpoint that pretty much everything that happens in the world is a result of energy choices.
    Overwhelmingly bad energy choices.
    But we are not talking about energy choices that you make. We are talking about energy choices that are made for you by the powerful centralized energy corporations that have used their vast wealth to to usurp democratic principals to guide the strategic policy of formerly free countries, as well as to purchase the control of corrupt, tyrannical ones. This enables the highest profit from resource plundering with the bonus of non-accountability.
    This is nothing less than a war and a coup on what was the United States of America, the principles she was founded upon and her grossly unaware population. During the past eight years, it has changed the face of America in the eyes of the greater part of the world from friend to foe, creating a much more dangerous world where military and financial adventurism, corrupt media, national pride and terrorism can be manipulated in the shadows to establish inflated commodity prices and a vastly effective market instability designed to steal wealth away from virtually every assumed safe haven - from your mutual funds to your 401k to your life insurance to your savings account.
    The people doing this to you are of the same ilk as the oil corporations the government has allowed to despoil lands of people in Africa and South America to supply you with cheap gasoline for grossly oversized vehicles. They are of the same ilk as those in congress who concocted the Great Ethanol Fraud, a zero-sum game that, in concert with rising oil prices, drove food prices beyond reach of many of the world's poorest to reward political primary states, agricultural campaign donors and wealthy investors in a host of erupting companies now going bankrupt. Meanwhile, research and support for true renewable energy went begging. Companies with years of taxpayer funded investment, with promising technologies on the verge of fruition, went bankrupt or were acquired by foreign nations - or soon will be.
    This was our true flower.

    From the vantage of our current precipitous and accelerating decline into economic chaos, recession and likely depression, it is clear that a terrible and catastrophic seed was planted long ago, when corporations were first granted charter. A responsibility for the well-being of the earth, upon which we humans live, was not considered. A requirement for compassion and respect for human beings was left out. The only mandate was profit, preferably uncontrolled, unregulated profit (Enron). And this profit was and is greatly enhanced by ignoring ethical concerns and disastrous environmental, therefore anti-human, impacts. These costs and consequences were and are brutally dumped on powerless non-consumer populations or absorbed by consumer populations who have been taught to accept them as a necessary part of economic life. For the corporations, the only concern, the only goal, is higher profit. Human beings have value as consumers of their goods. But if they cannot consume, or if they get in the way of profit, they are swept aside like spilled garbage.
      We have been led to justify the belief, through our educational institutions, government policies and financial markets, that global fossil energy resources are simply a commodity suitable for sale to the highest bidder. Yet in America we call these deposits a "precious national resource."
    There is an obvious contradiction in this. A dichotomy.
    It would be logical to expect every geographical segment of mankind to hoard whatever fossil reserves it was blessed with to enable emergence from poverty into technological prominence, creating high-tech industry and high-tech jobs, ending hunger and disease, and most importantly, laying the foundation for the next step: the necessary transition from anti-human, centralized, depletable, dirty fossil energy to pro-human, distributed, sustainable clean energy. What would follow then is surely of higher promise.
    No population would willingly give up this God-given opportunity for a better future. No, it would have to be taken from them, stolen from them by force. By surrendering democracy for corporate energy rampage in the name of democracy, the United States, by wielding its military might to seize oil states and pipeline routes to the West, has lost its credibility with much of the world.
    And with this light extinguished comes a dire foreboding of more darkness to come.
    Many hold out hope that the election of Obama will turn around the dark and fearful momentum of Energy Imperialism. Others see the two party system as nothing but two sides of the same coin held in the grip of corporate/military/media overlords that are much too powerful to confront.

    Fossil energy exploitation made America a wealthy, modern and powerful nation. We utilized our own fossil deposits to achieve this, creating modern postwar America with little importation of oil. It was not until the middle 1960s, when our cheap oil peaked, that our dependence on Middle Eastern oil began in earnest.
    This was the time when our government first incentivized the move to domestic energy. Although this effort toward sustainability was encouraged by Nixon (nuclear) and made significant headway under Carter in the 1970s (synthetic fuels from coal), in the 1980s it was halted by Reagan (decontrol), who was too preoccupied with his brilliant economic assault on the Soviet Union to understand the dire consequences of his failure to continue the struggle for energy self-reliance.
    The Reagan Era marked the beginning of the War on Renewable Energy by the centralized energy corporations. Big Oil and natural gas, now freed from the price controls they had struggled under since Nixon's extraordinary break with conservative economic theory, along with Big Oil's centralized energy cohorts from nuclear and coal, began to funnel their new-found profits toward the cravenly palm-up members in the U.S. Congress, gradually subverting the basic principals of democracy and, following the abject ethical failure of the Republicans to follow through with their Contract for America in the 1990s, ultimately buying up the influence of the entire Republican Party. In less than 20 years, the Republicans were voting as a block in concert with the oil companies' wishes over 90% of the time.
    The U.S. government and the oil companies had, in effect, become one. While a great show between the political parties seemingly raged in Congress, the 911 atrocity by Arab nationalists seeking to drive existing U.S. military entrenchment out of the Middle East backfired, ultimately resulting in the seizure of the Iraqi oil fields and oil pipeline routes from the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean. This could never have been achieved without complete control of the dominant political party and proxies at the top of the Executive Branch who handed Big Oil our armed forces on a silver platter.

    In much the same way that IBM viewed the nescient PC, the expansion of renewable energy was denigrated and regarded by centralized energy as a relatively insignificant but easily managed threat. For many years, low crude and coal prices presented an insurmountable barrier to wind power expansion. Then, as turbines became more robust, Production Tax Credits were allowed to pass to level the playing field between upstart wind and established energy, but never were they permitted to extend for the sufficiently long period that banks would find attractive for financing the capital expenditure that would make wind a potential competitor.
    The nuclear and coal industries ran decades-long disinformation campaigns against wind power, secretly recognizing the threat but publicly dismissing it. Big Oil spent millions on disinformation on the effects of pollution on climate change, possibly the greatest threat mankind will ever face, delaying the potential solution and loading the atmosphere with countless tons of carbon dioxide and pollutants.
    Awash in money, the U.S. educational system was allowed to deteriorate as the populace was bombarded with disinformation from every side.
    Why?
    Because stupid people are so easy to manipulate.
    So very easy.

Richard D. Masters is a former Ayn Rand Objectivist and Republican Central Committee member who once believed that corporations created opportunity.

    The fight for the direction of the Democratic Party, and thus Congress, has begun in earnest. Will the historic election of Barack Obama herald real change? Or will it just be business as usual for the oil and coal industries in sheep's clothing?
    We're about to find out - and you can help Congress decide. Next week Democrats in Congress will make decisions on committee leadership. No committee is more important for potential action on energy and climate than the House Energy and Commerce Committee. For years, that committee has been controlled by 82 year old Representative John Dingell of Michigan, the biggest Democratic friend of the oil, auto and coal industries.
    This is a problem. You can help solve it.
    Representative Henry Waxman of California has announced his intention to challenge Dingell for the Chairmanship of this vital committee. Waxman, who is one of the most progressive members of Congress, would indeed represent real change.
    I'm asking you to contact your Democratic Representative and let them know that you support Henry Waxman as Chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee. If you live in a district represented by a Republican, or if your district just became Democratic, please contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi at AmericanVoices [at] mail.house.gov.
    There are many reasons to prefer Henry Waxman over John Dingell. Here are a few:
- John Dingell was the top recipient of coal money in this most recent election.
- Since 2000, John Dingell has received an amazing 33 times more from the oil and coal industries than Henry Waxman has. 89 percent of Congress is cleaner than John Dingell is.
- On average, Dingell and his allies have received nearly six times as much money from Big Oil as those Democrats that support Waxman, and nine times as much money from King Coal.
    It's really important that we act on this today. The fossil fuel industry is already moving to support Dingell. We need to counter them right now. In short, this battle is between the future and the past of Congress, and the country.
    We need to win it, and yes, we can.
    Yours for a Separation of Oil & State,

Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director

PS - We really need all the support we can get right now. Every bit helps. Thanks so much for anything you can do right now.

    "To date, we have had no leadership capable of moving the world in a new direction. President Obama can be this leader, he will be the catalyst for the dawn of the solar revolution and the beginning of the transition to a truly renewable economy."
   J. Peter Lynch, Financial Analyst
    How Will Renewables Fare in the New Political Environment?
      Renewable Energy World     November 5, 2008

"We no longer have a country.
We don't have a republic any more.
...They managed to destroy the United States. Why? Because they're oil and gas people
and they're essentially criminals."
Author Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal: 'The US is Not a Republic Anymore'
PressTV (IR) June 30, 2008

"Democracy is not working
the way it's intended to work."
James Hanson, NASA Climate Scientist

"We must end the Age of Oil in our time."
Senator Barak Obama
Lansing, Michigan August 4, 2008

BIG OIL'S MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

"[John McCain thinks] Americans are so stupid — so bloody stupid — that if you just show them wind turbines in your Olympics ad they’ll actually think you showed up and voted for such renewable power — when you didn’t."
Eight Strikes and You’re Out NY Times

Thomas Friedman
Author of
Hot, Flat & Crowded
Why we need a Green Revolution and how it can renew America
Senate Voting Record on Renewable Energy

"Senator McCain did not show up for the crucial vote on July 30, and the renewable energy bill was defeated for the 8th time. John McCain has a perfect record on this renewable energy legislation. He has missed all eight votes over the last year — which effectively counts as a no vote each time."
Thomas Friedman
The New York Times August 12, 2008

McCain: Palin Most Knowledgeable Person on Energy in United States of America!
Sarah Palin - Her Record on Renewable Energy
Andrew Williams Red, Green and Blue September 11, 2008

In 2007, she stalled the Fire Island Wind Farm Project by placing a veto on $20 million of state support. Even though she later rescinded this decision, enabling the project to move ahead, she has vetoed a further $268 million in budget items this year, including other renewables projects; This same budget contributed $2 million towards a bizarre conference to “highlight arguments that global warming isn’t threatening the survival of polar bears.” In opposition to the recommendations of state biologists, she has also argued against listing the polar bear as endangered; Due to lack of financial support, several renewable energy projects in the state have been stalled; The Alaskan policy of distributing the state’s ‘oil royalties fund’ to residents, instead of ploughing it back into clean energy development, has led some commentators to suggest that any sort of large scale renewables infrastructure is doomed from the start.

WILL PALIN NEXT APPLY HER NEW "OIL DEPENDENCE" FORMULA FOR
ALASKAN "ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY" TO THE U.S. ECONOMY?
Rather Than Invest in Renewable Energy, Palin Declares Alaskan Fuel Tax Holiday, Extends Credit for Village Fuel Purchases, and Gives Away State Oil Revenue as $1200 Cash Gift to Residents (to pay Big Oil for higher fuel costs and to secure voter loyalty) -- RDM
Palin Signs Energy Package
Office of the Governor State of Alaska August 25, 2008

Governor Sarah Palin today signed legislation that will help Alaskans combat the high cost of energy. ...SB 4002 uses revenues generated from the state’s natural resources to provide a one-time special payment of $1,200 to every Alaskan eligible for the 2008 Permanent Fund dividend. The bill also raises by 50 percent the maximum amount of loans that bulk fuel bridge and bulk fuel revolving loan funds can make to communities and cooperatives.

Palin Cuts Money for Energy Research
Stefan Milkowski Fairbnaks Daily News-Miner (Alaska) May 29, 2008

Gwen Holdmann, the group’s director, said Tuesday the $500,000 in state funding was needed as a match for federal grant money. “It really cripples us in our ability to bring federal funding,” she said of the governor’s veto. Holdmann said she was hoping to use some of the funding to bring a top expert in geothermal energy to Alaska to help develop a research program in the field. She said she also applied for federal grants to study new technologies involving river current, tidal energy, and combined wind and diesel power systems.

Palin Kills Chugach Electric Wind Farm Funding
Rindi White Anchorage Daily News (Alaska) June 30, 2007

Palin vetoed $71.5 million in requested fund projects, including
$20 million for a Chugach Electric Association wind farm.

"While the northern edge of her state literally falls into the rising Arctic Ocean, Sarah Palin says, ‘The jury is still out on global warming.’"

And Then There Was One
Thomas Friedman New York Times September 2, 2008

    With his choice of Sarah Palin — the Alaska governor who has advocated drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and does not believe mankind is playing any role in climate change — for vice president, John McCain has completed his makeover from the greenest Republican to run for president to just another representative of big oil.
    Given the fact that Senator McCain deliberately avoided voting on all eight attempts to pass a bill extending the vital tax credits and production subsidies to expand our wind and solar industries, and given his support for lowering the gasoline tax in a reckless giveaway that would only promote more gasoline consumption and intensify our addiction to oil, and given his desire to make more oil-drilling, not innovation around renewable energy, the centerpiece of his energy policy — in an effort to mislead voters that support for drilling today would translate into lower prices at the pump today — McCain has forfeited any claim to be a green candidate.
    ...Palin’s nomination for vice president and her desire to allow drilling in the Alaskan wilderness “reminded me of a lunch I had three and half years ago with one of the Russian trade attachés,” global trade consultant Edward Goldberg said to me. “After much wine, this gentleman told me that his country was very pleased that the Bush administration wanted to drill in the Alaskan wilderness. In his opinion, the amount of product one could actually derive from there was negligible in terms of needs. However, it signified that the Bush administration was not planning to do anything to create alternative energy, which of course would threaten the economic growth of Russia.”

Melting Permafrost Poses Threats to Infrastructure, Alaska Economy Stefan Milkowski Fairbanks Daily News-Miner July 30, 2008
A Melting Alaska Draws Visitors
Yereth Rosen Christian Science Monitor November 14, 2007

NY ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO
FILES LAWSUIT TO FORCE BUSH EPA
TO CONTROL GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION FROM BIG OIL REFINERIES
Office of the NY Attorney General Andrew M Cuomo August 25, 2008

Cuomo's Coalition of Twelve States, the District of Columbia, and the City of New York Sues EPA for Refusing to Adopt Pollution Controls, Violating Clean Air Act ~ Today's Action is the Latest Front in New York's Effort to Fight Global Warming

NEW YORK, NY (August 25, 2008) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced he is suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to adopt regulations that control emissions of global warming pollution from oil refineries. Cuomo is leading a group of twelve states, the District of Columbia, and the City of New York in a suit that challenges the EPA's refusal to require new or renovated oil refineries to install technologies that control global warming pollution, in violation of the Clean Air Act.
    The EPA's refusal to control pollution from oil refineries is the latest example of the Bush Administrations do-nothing policy on global warming, said Cuomo. Oil refineries contribute substantially to global warming, posing grave threats to New York's environment, health, and economy. As long as the Bush EPA continues its blatant violation of the Clean Air Act and its shameful refusal to control global warming pollution, I will continue to fight them aggressively on all fronts.
    Cuomo's suit announced today charges that the EPA violated the Clean Air Act when it refused to issue standards - known as New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) - for controlling global warming pollution emissions from oil refineries. These standards ensure that new or renovated sources of air pollution install state-of-the-art emissions control technologies. The Clean Air Act specifically requires the EPA to adopt NSPS for oil refineries, as well as power plants and other major stationary sources, if the EPA determines they emit air pollution that poses a danger public health and welfare. Nonetheless, on June 24, 2008, the EPA finalized new air pollution control regulations for oil refineries without setting a NSPS for global warming pollution.
    Oil refineries account for over 3% of the total energy consumption in the United States. Due to their large energy consumption, oil refineries are major sources of carbon dioxide, accounting for almost 15% of the carbon dioxide emitted from industrial processes nationally. These refineries also emit large amounts of methane, an especially potent global warming pollutant.
    The suit announced today by Cuomo is the latest front in the battle that New York and other states are waging to force the EPA to use its authority under the Clean Air Act to control sources of global warming pollution. For example, Cuomo is leading coalitions of states in lawsuits to require the EPA to set NSPS for global warming pollution emissions from power plants and to uphold the right of states to regulate pollution emissions from automobiles.
    I am committed to using the power of my Office to step in when the federal government has failed to take action on critical issues affecting New York, said Cuomo. The EPA's repeated failure to control global warming pollution will not go unchallenged by New York State.
    Today's challenge was filed in the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Joining Cuomo in the action are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia and the City of New York. The suit seeks to vacate the EPA's decision not to control oil refinery emissions of global warming pollution and to order the EPA to adopt proper NSPS. Although no petroleum refineries operate within New York State, major contributors to global warming are an acute concern to the State as they pose severe threats to its environment, public health, and economy.
    The case is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Morgan Costello and Michael Myers of the Environmental Protection Bureau, under the supervision of Special Deputy Attorney General for Environmental Protection Katherine Kennedy.

ANOTHER BLACK DAY FOR AMERICA

Republican Senators vote as a bloc to protect oil profits
from the threat of limitless renewable energy -- RDM
Renewable Energy Tax Credit Legislation Voted Down
in U.S. Senate
Renewable Energy World July 31, 2008
“Time is running out to extend the solar tax credits and without passage in the immediate future, tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars will be lost in new solar investment. Already companies are putting projects on hold and preparing to send thousands of jobs overseas — real jobs that would otherwise be filled by American workers. Failure to extend the solar tax credits is a severe blow to an industry that has proven to be an economic engine for the U.S. at a time when we need it most."
Rhone Resch, President, Solar Energy Industries Association

America's Shame: The vote tally

“With today’s technology, we can produce hydrogen for less than the cost of gasoline.… The technology to create hydrogen cheaply has been around for quite some time. The challenge is to get it to the fueling stations.”
Patrick Serfass, National Hydrogen Association
Clean-burning, Cheap-hydrogen Cars
Start High-profile Road Trip
Meggan Clark KeepMECurrent July 31, 2008

What these tax credits are designed to do is to stimulate investments by many players in solar and wind so these technologies can quickly move down the learning curve and become competitive with coal and oil — which is why some people are trying to block them. As Richard K. Lester, an energy-innovation expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, notes, “The best chance we have — perhaps the only chance” of addressing the combined challenges of energy supply and demand, climate change and energy security “is to accelerate the introduction of new technologies for energy supply and use and deploy them on a very large scale.”
Eight Strikes and You’re Out
Thomas Friedman The New York Times August 12, 2008

REPUBLICANS NOW TARGET THE LAST VESTIGES OF AMERICA'S WILDERNESS, PARKS AND COASTLINES FOR OIL EXPLOITATION BY THEIR INTERNATIONAL MASTERS WHILE THEY STEADFASTLY REFUSE TO ALLOW A TRANSITION TO RENEWABLE FUELS, EVEN AS U.S. CITIZENS AND BUSINESS SLOWLY STRANGLE ON RISING GASOLINE AND DIESEL COSTS.
MANY SHORT-SIGHTED AMERICANS SUPPORT THIS PILLAGE AT THE EXPENSE OF THEIR CHILDREN'S HERITAGE. THEY MUST ASK THEMSELVES, "IF WE DRAIN THE LAST OF NORTH AMERICA'S OIL WITHOUT DEVELOPING A RENEWABLE ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE NOW, WHILE WE CAN STILL AFFORD TO DO IT, WHAT WILL OUR CHILDREN HAVE LEFT? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THEM IF WE FAIL TO REPLACE OUR EXHAUSTED OIL RESERVES WITH SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVES? WHO WILL RULE THEM IF WE LEAVE THEM HELPLESS?" -- RDM

GM Posts $15.5 Billion Loss
Ford and Toyota Sales Plunge
BMW's Profit Slides 33%

An urgent message from the League of Conservation Voters 7/17/08

We're so deep in a hole, you'd think we'd stop drilling...

Unfortunately not everyone agrees. Big Oil's allies in Congress are trying to scoop up more land for drilling—including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Later today, President Bush is expected to go so far as to repeal the long-standing executive ban on offshore drilling put in place by his own father.

This is not only an environmental disaster, it will give us zero relief from gas prices and will pad Big Oil's bottom line. That's a raw deal.

Every week, we can expect a new, outrageous drilling provision. And we urgently need your support to stop them! Please give today—there will be votes on drilling in the next TWO weeks.

Donate today to help LCV stop the legislative madness and environmental destruction.

Big Oil's cronies in Congress are using high gas prices as an excuse for this greedy land grab, and they plan to make this a major campaign issue. Even some of our pro-environment friends in Congress are feeling pressure to support drilling legislation. But renowned oil businessman T. Boone Pickens is publicly broadcasting a different message: "I've been an oilman all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of."

We believe that the facts will triumph over the fear mongering, but we need your support to keep up the fight and deliver our message to Congress:

America simply can't drill its way out of this problem. Our supply (less than 3% of world oil reserves) can't possibly keep up with our demand (25% of world oil consumption). A few drops of oil, up to a decade away from making it to market, cannot alleviate our pain at the pump.
There are almost 70 million acres of proven reserves in Big Oil's possession where absolutely no drilling is taking place. As long as gas prices continue to rise, so does the value of the reserves they're sitting on.
We need consumer choices, such as plug-in hybrids and other fuel efficient cars—not a greater addiction to oil. Cutting subsidies for Big Oil and giving rebates to consumers would be true short-term relief.

The ban on offshore drilling, which has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades, is in real danger. Both President Bush and Senator John McCain have recently reversed their position and now support this land grab.

Your support today will allow us to conduct valuable polling in battleground states on this issue, lobby key Members of Congress, and place ads to educate consumers that drilling will not provide them with the relief they need.

Your gift to LCV will go a long way toward protecting our environment from irresponsible drilling—and truly rescuing us from our energy crisis.

Thank you, Norman, for your continued support of the League of Conservation Voters. We'll never match Big Oil's resources dollar-for-dollar. But backed by your commitment, I know we will be able to build a clean energy future.

Sincerely,

Gene Karpinski
League of Conservation Voters

---- JUNE 20, 2008 ----
BUSH INVOKES EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE TO SAVE BIG OIL FROM CO₂ RESPONSIBILITY

"I don't think we've had a situation like this since Richard Nixon was president; where the president of the United States may have been involved in acting contrary to law, and the evidence that would determine that question for Congress in exercising our oversight is being blocked by an assertion of executive privilege."
Henry Waxman, Chairman
U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
White House Asserts Executive Privilege in EPA Investigation
Erica Werner AP June 20, 2008
Waxman contends the White House intervened with EPA to produce more industry-friendly outcomes in setting new smog standards and denying California and more than a dozen other states permission to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.

Opening Statement of Rep. Henry A. Waxman
Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Business Meeting Regarding the Contempt Resolution June 20, 2008

    For months, the Committee has been investigating EPA's decision to prevent California and other states from reducing greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles and its decision to adopt new ozone air quality standards weaker than those recommended by the agency's scientific experts.
    These investigations have shown that the decisions in these important environmental matters were made not at EPA, but in the White House. In both cases, the scientists, the agency career staff, and EPA Administrator Johnson wanted to take stronger action to protect the environment. And in both cases, the White House rejected the agency's position.
    Today the President has asserted executive privilege to prevent the Committee from learning why he and his staff overruled EPA. There are thousands of internal White House documents that would show whether the President and his staff acted lawfully. But the President has said they must be kept from Congress and the public.
    In the case of the California motor vehicle standards, we learned that EPA's experts and career staff all supported granting the California petition. In a briefing prepared for Stephen Johnson, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA's own lawyers said: "we don't believe there are any good arguments against granting the waiver. All of the arguments ... are likely to lose in court if we are sued."
    Administrator Johnson listened and was prepared to support a partial approval to California's request. But then the White House intervened. In December, after secret communications with White House officials, Administrator Johnson ignored the law and the evidence and denied California's petition.
    In the case of the ozone standards, the same pattern happened. We learned that EPA's expert advisory panel unanimously recommended a new standard for protecting the environment. After considering all of the alternatives, Administrator Johnson agreed with the new approach.
    He was opposed, however, by industry and Susan Dudley, the Administrator of the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. And once again, the White House intervened. On the evening before the final rule was released, President Bush rejected the unanimous recommendation of both EPA's experts and Administrator Johnson and instructed EPA to abandon the new standard.
    The Clean Air Act is clear about what can be considered and what cannot be considered when EPA makes decisions under its authority. In both cases, the EPA's methodical and scientific process pointed to specific outcomes. In both cases, the outcome dramatically changed when the White House became involved.
    This Committee has a fundamental obligation to learn the truth about what actually happened on these critical health and environmental decisions. That is why we have been seeking documents in both cases that would provide important details about the President's role in directing Administrator Johnson's actions.
    This morning I have been informed that the White House is asserting executive privilege over thousands of documents the Committee is seeking. This is an extraordinary step. Administrator Johnson has repeatedly insisted he reached his decisions on California's petition and the new ozone standard on his own, relying on his best judgment.
    Today's assertion of executive privilege raises serious questions about Administrator Johnson's credibility and the involvement of the President. Without the remaining documents, it will be nearly impossible to fully understand the President's role in overruling the unanimous recommendations of EPA's own experts.
    We had scheduled a vote on a contempt resolution for this morning for Mr. Johnson and Ms. Dudley. We will not have that vote in light of the executive privilege claim. I want to talk with my colleagues on both sides about this new development and consider all our options before deciding how we should proceed.

RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING THAT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FIND STEPHEN L. JOHNSON, ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, AND SUSAN DUDLEY, ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET, WHITE HOUSE,
IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS FOR REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH SUBPOENAS DULY ISSUED BY THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform June 20, 2008

"SHAMEFUL, OUTRAGEOUS AND IRRESPONSIBLE!"
Governor O'Malley, Maryland
"A DERELICTION OF DUTY!"
Senator Frank Lautenberg

STATE GOVERNORS EXPRESS EXTREME OUTRAGE AT EPA DENIAL OF CALIFORNIA EMISSIONS WAIVER
January 24, 2007
FED EPA DIRECTOR JOHNSON GRILLED
BY CALIFORNIA'S BOXER ON C-SPAN

EPA Chief Sits and Takes His Punishment
Zachary Cole San Francisco Chronicle January 25, 2008

Abu Dhabi Aims to Build First Carbon-Neutral City
Joe Palca National Public Radio May 6, 2008
Fuel Cell Center Continues to Make Advancements
University of California Irvine May 5, 2008

Siphoning Off Corn to Fuel Our Cars
Steve Mufson Washington Post April 30, 2008

THE GREAT ETHANOL FRAUD BEGINS TO CRUMBLE

CONNECTICUT GOVERNOR
JODIE RELL POLITELY ATTEMPTS TO EDUCATE GEORGE BUSH ON THE SEEMINGLY UNFATHOMABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN OIL, CORN AND FOOD -- AND TELLS CONGRESS TO KILL THE BLOODSUCKING ETHANOL INDUSTRY IMMEDIATELY! -- RDM

Governor Rell Urges President, Congress to Tackle
Twin Pressures of Energy & Food Price Spikes
Office of the Governor (CT) May 1, 2008

    Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced she is urging President Bush and Congressional leaders to temporarily waive the federal Renewable Fuel Standard and lift a 54-cents-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. The Governor said these two steps could reduce the pressure that families in Connecticut and across the nation are facing from endless increases in energy prices and the costs of staple foods.
    Governor Rell also called on Congress and the President to pass a second, energy-related stimulus package to help families keep up with food and energy costs.
    “Connecticut residents and business owners, squeezed from one side by energy prices and on the other by food prices, are trapped in a vise,” Governor Rell said. “The pressure is relentless and mounting ever-higher. It is time for the federal government to take some strong, definitive action to address these issues.”
    The Governor noted in her letter that a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline currently costs an average of $3.787 in Connecticut. A month ago the average was $3.35; a year ago the average was $3.06. A dozen eggs costs around $3, while a gallon of milk runs about $4. A box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes costs $4.29 while a top round beef roast and chicken breasts are both priced at $4.99 a pound.
    “As unrelated as the cost of a gallon of gas and a gallon of milk might seem, these price increases actually have a common link: corn,” Governor Rell said. “The demand for ethanol – either as an additive to gasoline or as the primary component in fuels such as E85 – has increased sharply in recent years. Since most ethanol is made from corn, that demand has meant there is less of the crop for use as food for people and animals. Moreover, many farms are opting to switch from crops such as wheat to corn because of the higher price commanded by corn.
    “Every day the families of Connecticut – like their counterparts in every other state – face difficult decisions and diminishing choices,” the Governor said. “They are struggling to cope with the epic upward spiral of energy prices, struggling to avoid the worst effects of the current economic slump and struggling to make ends meet. Their struggles have been made all the more difficult because the prices of basic staples such as eggs, cereal, bread and milk have shot up by double digits even as more and more of our household budgets are consumed at the pump or burned to heat our homes.”
    Governor Rell recommended two specific actions to ease the demand pressure on corn prices:

Lift the current 54 cents-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. “The tariff is a major disincentive to imports of ethanol,” the Governor said. “Especially since refiners have turned to ethanol in lieu of additives such as MTBE, virtually all of the ethanol used in motor fuels has been domestically produced. Importing less-expensive ethanol from producers such as Brazil, Mexico and Jamaica could reduce gasoline prices and ease domestic demand, but because of the tariff those potential savings have not been achieved.”
Waive temporarily the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. “I recognize that ethanol is an increasingly important component of the nation’s efforts to decrease its dependence on foreign oil imports and improve air quality, and I value these efforts,” Governor Rell said. “However, given the current crisis, I believe a temporary waiver is in order and will not significantly hinder energy independence or environmental improvement programs.”

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