June 25 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration suppressed analysis that didn’t back up its proposed finding that greenhouse-gas pollution poses a danger to the public, a Republican lawmaker charged.

Representative Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson that criticism by a staff economist was barred after the administration decided to issue the finding.

The opinions “by an individual who is not a scientist” were “heard and considered,” EPA press secretary Adora Andy said in an e-mailed statement. “The claims that his opinions were not considered or studied are entirely false.”

Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives are working to pass an energy measure tomorrow that would put a nationwide cap on carbon emissions. Critics of the measure, including billionaire investor Warren Buffett, say the plan to create a market system for trading pollution permits represents a regressive tax.

Internal EPA e-mails “raise serious questions” about “whether you truly sought objective and complete information in exercising your judgment,” Barton wrote to Jackson in the letter dated yesterday.

Career Economist

A career economist at the EPA unsuccessfully tried to have his analysis included in a review, according to an e-mail cited by Barton in the letter to Jackson. The economist wrote that he had comments that were “critical to the justification (or lack thereof) for the proposed endangerment finding,” according to Barton.

Some EPA officials also were concerned that an office within the agency would face deeper budget cuts if they forwarded e-mails questioning the finding, Barton said. The finding, if implemented, would open the way for the nation’s first regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and factories.

An EPA supervisor responded to the economist in an e-mail, saying the administration had decided to “move forward on endangerment and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision,” according to Barton.

Such correspondence raises “serious questions about the integrity, transparency and completeness” of the EPA’s rulemaking process on the issue, Barton wrote.

Portrayal Challenged

Challenging Barton’s portrayal, Andy, the EPA spokeswoman, said the dissenter’s “manager allowed his general views on the subject of climate change to be heard and considered inside and outside the EPA and presented at conferences and at an agency seminar.”

The employee “was also granted a request to join a committee that organizes an ongoing climate seminar series, open to both agency and outside experts, where he has been able to invite speakers with a full range of views on climate science,” Andy said.

Barton asked Jackson to answer questions within two weeks, including whether she issued orders to cease any research related to the endangerment finding and whether she has received instruction from the White House to stop analysis of the proposal.

The so-called endangerment finding, which has been under public review and isn’t final, stems from a Supreme Court ruling in April 2007. The court said the government could restrict heat-trapping gases under the Clean Air Act if it found them a danger to the public health and welfare, and it ordered the EPA to make a determination.

Declined to Act

Former President George W. Bush’s administration declined to act, passing on the issue to President Barack Obama.

“This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations,” Jackson said in a statement in April.

Obama has made curbing greenhouse gases a priority, calling on Congress to pass so-called cap-and-trade legislation that would limit carbon-dioxide emissions. The president’s budget plan assumed almost $650 billion in revenue from such a program from 2012 to 2019.

The EPA has said that climate change related to carbon dioxide and five other gases can lead to increased drought, more flooding, heat waves and wildfires.

The EPA also says heat-trapping emissions from motor vehicles cause or contribute to global warming.

Power plants account for about 40 percent of carbon-dioxide emissions, and vehicles make up about 30 percent, according to government figures.

The U.S. produces about 20 percent of the planet’s man-made carbon-dioxide emissions, according to Energy Department figures.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington, at KChipman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 25, 2009 12:46 EDT