WASHINGTON (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency has released long-awaited scientific justification for its controversial decision blocking California and other states from reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. A 48-page decision document argues that California doesn’t have “compelling and extraordinary conditions” required under the Clean Air Act because the rest of the nation also suffers the effects of global warming. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson tells The Associated Press in an interview that California has to have unique problems in order to justify a federal waiver. Environmentalists and California officials disagree with that interpretation – and contend that California does have worse problems from global warming than other states.
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