Another air board official leaves

The executive [Officer] of the California Air Resources Board quit Monday - and on her way out the door accused Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top aides of blocking efforts to clean the air and fight global warming.

"I believe the governor cares deeply about air quality, but no one in his inner circle does," Catherine Witherspoon said in an interview with The Fresno Bee. "The day-to-day orders that we receive from the governor's office are to do less; to delay; to not burden industry."

Witherspoon's departure comes less than a week after Schwarzenegger fired air board Chairman Robert Sawyer. The Governor's Office said last week that one reason for the firing was Schwarzenegger's displeasure with a decision by the air board to approve an 11-year delay of a smog clean-up deadline for the San Joaquin Valley.

But Witherspoon said that was a "cover-up" and that, in reality, Schwarzenegger aides were worried that Sawyer was moving too aggressively on rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"The real reason for firing him which was climate change policy," she said. Sawyer "sought to adopt more early action measures than the governor's office wanted."

Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn denied the charges.

"The administration took action on the Air Resources Board because they were not moving in a direction consistent with what the governor is looking to achieve on protecting air quality and aggressively implementing (the state's new global warming law)."

Source: Sacramento Bee
July 2, 2007

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