美國參議院環境與公共事務委員會（Senate Environment and Public Works Committee）9月24日舉辦一場聽證會，檢視布希政府在公共衛生及環境事務上的執政紀錄，但是這場聽證會中該委員會副主席（Ranking Member）奧克拉荷馬州共和黨參議員殷霍夫（James Inhofe）並未出席，他是委員會的前主席。
參議員殷霍夫並非生病或是出遠門，而是蓄意抵制這場聽證會，並且安排兩位政府單位見證人表達他的抗議。結果，這兩位見證人都沒參加聽證會，也沒有任何一位共和黨委員參與此會。
殷霍夫的發言人馬瑞諾（Marc Morano）表示這是參議員殷霍夫第一次對環境與公共事務委員會聽證會進行抗議。馬瑞諾說：「參議員殷霍夫的行動是要反制委員會多數黨（the Majority）拒絕同意一個少數黨（Minority）在這整個110期議期內所要求的聽證會，儘管這個少數黨已經要求許多次了」。
馬瑞諾表示，參議員殷霍夫曾經兩次以書面方式要求舉辦一個聽證會來檢視「乙醇對全球糧食及牲畜飼料價格影響上新興問題、有關經濟永續性、運輸及基礎建設上的需求、水源使用以及許多其他環境議題」。在2006年參議員選舉以前，共和黨掌控參議院的時期，殷霍夫是該委員會前主席，他曾同意3項少數黨舉辦聽證會的請求。
一位參議院多數黨的職員表示，事實上，現任委員會主席的加州參議員鮑克瑟（Barbara Boxer）曾同意舉辦殷霍夫所要求的乙醇聽證會，但是時間安排上一直是項挑戰。根據這個消息來源在2007年8月23日所表示的，殷霍夫的其他聽證會要求都已經獲得同意，而鮑克瑟也允許參議員殷霍夫在奧克拉荷馬州主持「瀕危物種法案（Endangered Species Act）」及石油工業聽證會，這場聽證會是這位奧克拉荷馬州參議員所特別要求的。
消息來源還指出，參議員殷霍夫要求舉行其他有關「美國氣候安全法案（America’s Climate Security Act，譯註：又稱為Lieberman-Warner climate change bill，由Lieberman及Warner兩位參議員提出）」的幾場聽證會，而這些聽證會也被照辦。
委員會裡的民主黨參議員們在9月24日的聽證會中聽取許多在布希政府環境及公共衛生執政紀錄裡都十分重要的見證人的說詞。
見證人之一的克拉克（Jamie Rappaport Clark）是野生動物守護者（Defenders of Wildlife）組織的行政副總裁。她曾在美國聯邦政府的國防部（Department of Defense）及內政部（Department of the Interior）服務20年。她在柯林頓政府時期的1997至2001年擔任美國漁業與野生動物局（U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service）的主任。克拉克告訴委員們：「布希政府的所作所為擺明了是要對『瀕危物種法案』所列瀕危物種的保護工作採取拖延戰術。」
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing today to review the Bush administration's record on public health and environmental matters, but it was conducted in the absence of Ranking Member Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a Republican and former chair of the committee.
Senator Inhofe was not ill or out of town, he boycotted the hearing, and he asked the two government witnesses scheduled to honor his objection. Neither one attended the hearing nor did any of the Republican committee members.
Inhofe's spokesman Marc Morano said this is the first time the senator has objected to an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing. "Senator Inhofe's actions were in response to the Majority's refusal to grant a single Minority requested hearing this entire 110th Congress, despite numerous requests," said Morano.
Senator Inhofe requested a hearing twice in writing, Morano said, to examine the "emerging questions surrounding ethanol's effects on world food and livestock feed prices, its economic sustainability, and its transportation and infrastructure needs, its water usage, and numerous other environmental issues."
As the former chairman of the committee when the Republicans controlled the Senate before the 2006 elections, Inhofe granted three minority requests for hearings, said Morano.
A Majority staff source says that, in fact, committee chair Senator Barbara Boxer of California has agreed to hold the ethanol hearing Inhofe requested, but finding a date has been a challenge.
Other Inhofe requests for hearings have been met, according to this source, who said that on August 23, 2007, Boxer permitted Senator Inhofe to chair a hearing in Oklahoma on the Endangered Species Act and the oil industry, a hearing the Oklahoma senator had specifically requested.
Senator Inhofe requested additional hearings on Lieberman-Warner climate change bill, and they did take place as well, the source said.
Today, the Democratic senators on the committee heard from a variety of witnesses who were unanimously critical of the Bush administration's environmental and public health record.
Witness Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, worked for the federal government for 20 years at the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior. She served as director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 1997 to 2001 in the Clinton administration.
"The record of the Bush administration amply demonstrates that it decided to slow-walk the listing of species under the Endangered Species Act," Clark told the committee.
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