Washington
Post: Emails made public through a Freedom of Information
Act request show the current frustration of some Environmental
Protection Agency officials with the White House. The email
exchange among EPA officials was prompted by a letter from
President Obama to House Speaker John Boehner on 30 August
2011, in which he misstated the cost of one of the EPA's
antipollution rules and failed to highlight the potential
benefits of others. In addition, no one in the EPA knew about
the letter until after it was sent. In one email, EPA White
House liaison Dan Kanninen related what he told White House
cabinet secretary Christopher Lu: "In the interest of both
accuracy and situational awareness tighter coordination would
[have] been appreciated and in this case would have avoided a
fairly significant error." EPA officials have expressed concern
that the White House focuses too much on the cost of the
proposals and not enough on the potential health benefits to
the public.
