WASHINGTON-EPA officials told agency Administrator Stephen Johnson that California had ‘compelling and extraordinary conditions’ to justify a federal waiver to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, according to excerpts of agency documents made available Wednesday. Johnson denied the state’s request for a waiver under the federal Clean Air Act in December. In doing so, he said the California standards were not needed to meet ‘compelling and extraordinary conditions,’ one of the criteria in the federal law. The excerpts from EPA documents were released by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., whose environmental committee is investigating Johnson’s decision and has a hearing scheduled for Thursday, when he is expected to testify. The staff report was given to Johnson in a Power Point presentation dated late October. The Environmental Protection Agency has refused to release unredacted versions of that presentation or other documents in response to congressional requests, citing an executive branch confidentiality. However, Boxer’s aides were allowed to review and transcribe several versions of the 46-page presentation on Tuesday, spending 5 1/2 hours doing so under supervision of EPA staff, Boxer said. White tape covered the portions of the documents deemed confidential by EPA officials, but the congressional […]