Contact Information

James M. Inhofe	R-Oklahoma	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-4721
James M. Jeffords	I-Vermont	Voted not to confirm	(202) 224-5141
John W. Warner	R-Virginia	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-2023
Max Baucus	D-Montana	Voted not to confirm	(202) 224-2651
Christopher S. Bond	R-Missouri	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-5721
Joseph I. Lieberman	D-Connecticut	Voted not to confirm	(202) 224-4041
George V. Voinovich	R-Ohio	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-3353
Barbara Boxer	D-California	Voted not to confirm	(202) 224-3553
Lincoln Chafee	R-Rhode Island	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-2921
Thomas R. Carper	D-Delaware	Voted not to confirm	(202) 224-2441
Lisa Murkowski	R-Alaska	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-6665
Hillary Rodham Clinton	D-New York	Voted not to confirm	(202) 224-4451
John Thune	R-South Dakota	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-2321
Frank Lautenberg	D-New Jersey	Voted not to confirm	(202) 224-3224
Jim DeMint	R-South Carolina	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-6121
Barack Obama	D-Illinois	Voted not to confirm	(202) 224-2854
Johnny Isakson	R-Georgia	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-3643
David Vitter	R-Louisiana	Voted to confirm	(202) 224-4623

The Issue
President Bush has nominated William Wehrum to be Assistant Administrator for Air & Radiation at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A former lawyer with Latham & Watkins, Wehrum currently serves as Acting Assistant Administrator for Air & Radiation.

Over the past five years, as a political appointee within the EPA, Wehrum has acted to weaken public health and environmental protections, run afoul of the Clean Air Act, distorted objective analyses in favor of political agendas, and marginalized the roles and criticisms of agency experts and outside advisors.

The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee decided on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 to approve the nomination and send it to the full Senate for a vote. Please call your senator today to express your opinion regarding his or her vote on Wehrum’s confirmation.

Senator Barbara Boxer has announced she will place a hold on Mr. Wehrum's nomination, effectively paralyzing it on the Senate floor.

Manipulating Science on Mercury Emissions
Last year, when the EPA prepared a proposed rule to set limits on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, the EPA’s Inspector General reported that, under Wehrum’s watch, the EPA ignored science and instructed staff members to arrive at a predetermined conclusion favoring industry.

The proposed regulations had 12 paragraphs lifted verbatim from industry documents created by Latham & Watkins – Wehrum’s old law firm. As one former senior agency official put it, “the new mercury rules were hatched at the White House; the Environmental Protection Agency’s experts were simply not consulted at all.”
 
A subsequent Government Accountability Office report found that the EPA had distorted its analysis of the health impacts of mercury on brain development in children and fetuses. Despite these warnings, and to the great dismay of scientists and public health professionals, the EPA issued its final rule on March 15 without revisiting the egregiously manipulated and distorted science behind the rule. After the rule was finalized, the Washington Post reported that EPA officials purposefully omitted the results of a Harvard study—paid for by taxpayer dollars—which showed that the costs of mercury pollution and the benefits of a regulation stronger than the administration’s proposal were higher than previously thought.

The media has also reported that, in 2002, the Bush administration sought to suppress the agency’s own data showing that eight percent of women between the ages of 16 and 49 have mercury levels in the blood that could lead to reduced IQ and motor skills in their children.

Cutting Science from Air Quality Control
The Union of Concerned Scientists has signed on to a letter (pdf) opposing Wehrum’s nomination. The letter addresses a recommendation by Wehrum that would effectively sideline scientists in determining the quality of the air we breathe:

“Mr. Wehrum recently recommended to the EPA Deputy Administrator and Administrator that the agency jettison its three decades-long practice of providing expert staff recommendations to the Administrator and outside science advisors concerning the review of health-based national ambient air quality standards. Mr. Wehrum would curtail this longstanding professional staff role in order to consolidate greater power into the hands of political appointees. These standards underpin the nation’s work to reduce air pollution and upending the current process poses a substantial threat to our continued progress toward improving air quality.”

Creating Air Pollution Loopholes for Industry
Wehrum has also written and proposed new rules that would make it significantly easier for industrial facilities that emit hazardous air pollutants to avoid compliance with pollution controls. In an almost unprecedented move, 9 out of 10 of EPA’s regional directors drafted a nine-page memo in December criticizing the proposed rules. The memo was leaked to the press in early April.

Newspapers around the country have editorialized against the confirmation of William Wehrum, and indications are that the committee vote will be close. Please call your senator today to oppose his or her nomination.

Newspaper editorials:
New York Times
Philadelphia Inquirer
Fort Wayne News Sentinel
Connecticut Post
Bellville News-Democrat (IL)
Battle Creek Enquirer (MI)