The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lied to Congress about his rejection of a request from California intended curb global warming emissions, according to one United States Senator.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who has called for EPA chief Stephen Johnson to resign, made the statement at a hearing on regulation of greenhouse gases under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

“You’ve shown that what Mr. Johnson told us is not the truth,” Boxer told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, after lengthy questioning of the EPA’s Robert Meyers, who helped prepare Johnson for a meeting at the White House over the California decision.

Johnson denied California’s request for a waiver to impose tough new limits on climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions from cars and light trucks. That decision last December effectively blocked as many as 18 other states from following suit.

“It’s clear that a portion of the (EPA) staff believed one way, but the administrator at the end of the day made his decision based on the facts and the law,” said the EPA’s Jonathan Shradar. “If Senator Boxer wants to actually legislate and change the law, I imagine that’s what the people of California elected her to do.”

The EPA has not issued rules so far and the timeline for public comment and rulemaking on this issue make any action during the Bush administration unlikely.

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