POLITICS SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 / 1:35 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

U.S. Senator Feinstein seeks probe into EPA actions against California

Valerie Volcovici
3 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein on Friday called for a probe into whether politics instead of pollution was behind the Trump administration’s threat this week to withhold more than $4 billion in federal transportation funding from California over claims of poor air quality.

“I am concerned that California is being unfairly targeted,” Feinstein, a Democrat who represents the state, said in her letter to Charles Sheehan, deputy inspector general of the EPA.

In response to the letter, an EPA spokesperson said: “EPA’s actions are not political. We will continue to work toward fulfilling the mission of the Agency.”

On Tuesday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler sent a letter to California’s top air regulator threatening to withhold the federal highway funding, saying the state “has failed to carry out its most basic tasks under the Clean Air Act,” and not produced timely plans to meet targets for air quality goals.

Feinstein’s letter said “this issue of backlogged state implementation plans is nothing more than a pretext to attack California, rather than a good-faith effort to help improve California’s air quality.”

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