Johnson Must Go Coalition
http://johnsonmustgo.org

In a move that has become increasingly rare among her Congressional colleagues, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) took public her call for the removal of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson if he continues stonewalling Congress, saying,

"Today, I am announcing a number of actions.
1) I am asking EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to release every document related to the Agency's finding that global warming poses a danger to the public, including bringing the endangerment e-mail back to earth.
2) EPA s hould also immediately release a strong advance notice of proposed rulemaking on global warming emissions.If Mr. Johnson refuses to do these two things -- if he does not have the strength to do them -- he should resign. The American people need the head of the EPA to be an independent advocate for their health and their environment."

Citing testimony provided by former EPA official, Jason Burnett, who "resigned from the Agency after concluding that no constructive action on global warming would take place during this Administration," Boxer went on to charge that a "cover-up is being directed from the White House and the Office of the Vice President." Citing the testimony in October of 2007, of CDC Director Julie Gerberding, Boxer went on to charge that,

"When we held a hearing on the health impacts of global warming, we were stunned to learn that the testimony was watered down and heavily redacted...We now know that this censorship was part of a master plan. The goal of the plan was to ensure that the EPA's response to the Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA would be as weak as possible. As you know, the Supreme Court overruled EPA, finding that greenhouse gas emissions are clearly covered by the Clean Air Act and the EPA had to move forward and address global warming."

EPA Administrator Johnson has come under withering attack from environmental groups, EPA whistleblowers, the No FEAR Coalition, ACLU and others who say that Johnson's lack of leadership and lock step acquiescence to Bush Administration pressure has made Johnson complicit in criminal negligence regarding the protection of the environment and the American public. After Johnson overruled the findings of the EPA's own scientists who had recommended more stringent emission standards in California, 15 states filed suit against the EPA in efforts to enforce the findings of the EPA scientists whom Johnson had overruled. Indeed, just last month a partnership of over 20 organizations http://johnsonmustgo.org publicly demanded Mr. Johnson's resignation.

"So, it turns out that - as with many departments of our goverment - Dick Cheney has been running the EPA, and effectively shooting our children's future in the face with his shotgun," said David Swanson, Washington Director of Democrats.com. "Asking Dick Cheney to protect our environment is like asking a serpent to guard a cage of mice. But, of course, nobody ever asked him. Stephen Johnson was approved to serve as the administrator of an agency in an open and democratic government, not to obey secret orders to mislead the Congress and the public and reverse the legal actions of his staff. If Cheney is not held accountable, and his loyal servant Johnson is not held accountable, and those EPA employees who fail to blow the whistle on them are not held accountable, their faces will need to be carved onto a strip-mined mountain as a giant monument to our species' attempted suicide."

“Johnson continues to stonewall Congress and continues to overrule EPA staff experts’ advice, threatening human health and the environment,” said Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder. “It is time for him to go.”