Report: EPA cut corners on climate finding

By DINA CAPPIELLO

WASHINGTON

An internal government watchdog says that the Environmental Protection Agency cut corners when it produced a key scientific document underpinning its decision to regulate climate-changing pollution.

The Inspector General report, obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Wednesday, says the agency circumvented a more robust review process that was warranted for a technical paper supporting a costly and controversial decision to control greenhouse gases for the first time.

The EPA and White House disagreed with the report's conclusions. They said the agency "reasonably interpreted" peer-review guidelines.

Nothing in the report challenges the overwhelming scientific consensus around the causes of global warming. But that's unlikely to stop Republicans and industry lawyers from using it to say the Obama administration should not regulate greenhouse gases without Congressional action.