by Matthew Hay Brown

A Senate panel investigating EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson’s decision to deny California the authority to regulate automobile emissions of greenhouse gases apparently will have to proceed without Johnson himself.

The agency chief has denied an invitation by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer to discuss his decision at a “field briefing” next month in Los Angeles, the committee said today.

“Rather than looking in the eyes of the people he is affecting, Mr. Johnson is hiding out in Washington, D.C.,” Boxer said in a statement. “His shameful decision denying the California waiver must be overturned.”

California, which has unique authority under federal law to develop its own air quality standards subject to EPA approval, had sought permission to begin limiting tailpipe emissions of the gases that scientists say contribute to global warming. A dozen other states, including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland, stood ready to enforce the California standards.

But Johnson denied the request last week, reportedly against the unanimous recommendations of the EPA's legal and technical staffs. Johnson said fuel efficiency standards signed into law by President Bush last week rendered the California proposal unnecessary.

Scheduled to appear in Los Angeles Jan. 10 are former California Gov. Jerry Brown, now the state’s attorney general, and the heads of the California Air Resources Board and the Sierra Club. But Johnson was to have been the guest of honor.

“As you know, Californians are shocked by your decision,” Boxer wrote to Johnson last week. “I am requesting that you appear … so you can come before the people of the State of California to explain the legal and technical basis for your decision.”

In a release this afternoon, the Environment and Public Works Committee said Johnson had declined the invitation.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also is investigating Johnson’s decision; Chairman Henry A. Waxman – like Boxer, a California Democrat – has warned Johnson against destroying any documents related to his ruling.