CALIFORNIANS OUTRAGED AT FED SMOG LOBBYING.

Byline: LISA FRIEDMAN

Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Federal transportation officials have urged members of Congress to fight California's request for a waiver on emissions standards, prompting outrage from Southland legislators over the Bush administration's apparent effort to thwart the state's landmark anti-smog law.

In a voice-mail message obtained Tuesday by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, a Department of Transportation official asks a lawmaker to fight California's request for the federal waiver that it needs to implement the law curbing tailpipe emissions.

"If California were to receive this waiver, it could lead to a patchwork of regulations on vehicle emissions, which could have significant impacts on the light-truck and car industry," says a transcript of the message left by Heideh Shahmoradi, special assistant for governmental affairs in the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation.

Shahmoradi urges the unidentified lawmaker in another state to submit comments to the Environmental Protection Agency and "reach out to your governor's office for them to submit comments, since this would greatly impact auto facilities within your district."

Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said his office obtained the voice mail from a member of Congress who requested confidentiality. Waxman released a transcript and said he redacted only information that could identify the lawmaker.

Waxman called the message "highly inappropriate," adding that the use of federal resources to lobby members of Congress "would be considered by some to be illegal."

Shahmoradi defended

But in a page-long response to Waxman, DOT Acting General Counsel Rosalind A. Knapp said Shahmoradi and others sought legal advice before contacting members of Congress.

The calls, Knapp said, "in no way violated anti-lobbying restrictions."

Those rules, Knapp argued, prohibit grass-roots lobbying to encourage third parties to contact members of Congress on an issue, but do not apply to contact between the executive and legislative branches.

Waxman, however, still moved Tuesday to have Shahmoradi deposed, and he wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters demanding all documents connected to California's waiver request.

It was unclear whether Shahmoradi would testify.

But California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Barbara Boxer and California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez also called on the administration to cooperate with Waxman's committee and explain DOT actions.

Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming program, accused Shahmoradi of "reading from the (auto) industry script."

California pushing

California has been seeking a waiver since 2005 to implement legislation cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent from cars and 18 percent from sport utility vehicles beginning in 2009.

Schwarzenegger had warned the Bush administration that the state would sue the EPA unless a decision was made by Oct. 25.

In addition to California, 11 other states are poised to cut tailpipe emissions and also are waiting on the waiver.

A public-comment period on the waiver will close Friday, after which a date is expected to be set for issuing the decision.

The voice-mail message from the transportation official, however, suggests that with enough pushback from lawmakers, EPA administrator Stephen Johnson might extend the deadline.

Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and has held California up as a model in the fight against global warming, blasted the Bush administration.

"The apparent attempt by the administration to manipulate the public- comment process against California's waiver petition is simply outrageous," she said, adding she plans to question Johnson when he comes before her panel on June 21.

Bill Maile, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the voice mail "is very problematic."

"Government officials should not be actively lobbying Congress to thwart California's efforts to protect the environment," he said. "The governor believes the administration should clarify exactly what happened."

Nunez weighs in

Nunez also decried what he called "a whispering campaign by administration officials to try to derail one of the most important tools out there to fight global warming."

The waiver also sparked political controversy earlier this month when Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who represents Detroit automakers, inserted language into a draft energy bill that would have blocked the EPA from granting California's request.

Dingell is among lawmakers sympathetic to the auto industry who argued that letting California and other states implement their own rules would force automakers to comply with confusing and separate requirements. Pelosi has vowed to oppose Dingell's provision.

Meanwhile, the Senate on Tuesday continued to debate its own sweeping energy bill. That measure aims to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by raising fuel economy standards and forcing federal buildings to go greener.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who engineered one of the major provisions in the bill that sets the average fuel economy standard at 25 to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, braced for an attack by Michigan lawmakers.

"Detroit doesn't listen," Feinstein said. "The American people overwhelmingly support increased fuel efficiency."

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com

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