EPA's Whitman Denies Energy Companies Bullied Her to Relax NSR

Oil Daily, The, March, 2002

EPA's Whitman Denies Energy Companies Bullied Her to Relax NSR

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christie Whitman categorically denied to a Senate panel Wednesday that any energy company lobbied her to relax air pollution regulation relating to the controversial new source review (NSR) program.

Whitman's denial came on a day the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released documents to shore up their charge that political appointees in the EPA were the driving force behind the effort to weaken the NSR program.

Refusing to crack under the intensive questioning of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on the influence of energy companies, Whitman said that while there had been "discussions," she had "not been personally lobbied for...