Waxman to EPA: Let me help refresh your memory

Rep. Henry Waxman has fired off another one of his famous letters - this time to Environmental Protection Agency head Stephen Johnson demanding documents that might help shed some light on the nature of his actions in a behind-the-scenes lobbying effort to block California's request for a vehicle emissions control waiver.

Johnson was specifically cited in a number of e-mails that Waxman's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee obtained showing that the Bush administration was working full-throttle to kill the waiver request.

But when he appeared before Waxman's panel last week to discuss power plant sitings, Johnson sidestepped several questions about his actions, replying with a string of "can't recalls."

Chided Waxman, ``Your testimony before the committee last week did little to clarify the role that EPA may have played in this lobby campaign.

Waxman demanded from the EPA all documents and communications between the agency, the Department of Transportation and the White House on the California waiver, as well as all communications between the agency and members of Congress as well as the auto industry.