Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) delivered remarks in today’s Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change hearing with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan.
Excerpts and highlights from her prepared remarks:
THE EPA’S CRITICAL ROLE
“Welcome back to the Energy and Commerce Committee, Administrator Regan.
“Your annual testimony on the President’s proposed EPA budget is an important chance to examine your priorities and your agency’s performance.
“EPA serves a critical role in our nation’s efforts to protect the environment and public health.
“This role includes standard setting, regulatory science and risk assessments, and large amounts of technical and financial assistance for states, tribal communities, and localities.”
CELEBRATING SUCCESS FOR A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT
“As you well know, although you do not acknowledge it in your written testimony, EPA today is operating against a backdrop of a tremendous record of environmental improvements.
“A review released last month by the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies noted that for the past twenty years the public has perceived the nation’s environment as getting worse.
“Yet across the board, the opposite is the case.
“Air quality, for example, has been steadily improving – ozone, NOx, particulate matter concentrations are fractions of the levels 40 years ago.
“And the trend has continued over the past decade – including in states with heavy industrial and economic activity.
“These positive results extend to land, water, and air toxics.
“You should celebrate and promote these results, Mr. Administrator, and do your part to explain how and why this has happened.
“And you should talk about the challenges ahead, as tighter requirements run up against technological and economic limits.
“Continuous tightening of the screws, especially when standards are not technologically feasible risks broader economic harms to the very people you are seeking to help.”
THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S REGULATORY OVERREACH AND BUDGET
“I worry that this administration’s radical climate agenda, will distract EPA from the hard work to ensure existing standards are implemented, and existing programs can succeed.
“We’ve seen what can happen.
“The Obama administration issued controversial, damaging rules that threatened to cut opportunity for people in struggling communities as jobs left regions.
“Look at the Clean Power Plan rule which sought to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
“EPA overreached with that regulation, which threatened American jobs and the economy. A legal challenge to that regulation is pending before the Supreme Court right now.
“Senator Capito and I led a bicameral amicus brief in that case, focused on the need to stop federal agencies from going beyond their statutory authorities and ignoring Congressional intent.
“Because of President Biden’s inflation crisis, families and retirees today are paying more for less, from the gas pump to the grocery store.
“This calls for responsible federal budgets that focus on core missions, and effective management—the ingredients for accountability and success.”
“The EPA fiscal year 2023 budget request is nearly $12 billion. This amount is $681 million more than the request from last fiscal year, and that was a more than 20 percent increase.
“States are tasked with enforcing most of EPA’s regulatory requirements; but, this budget request calls for growing EPA’s workforce by 10 percent compared to current levels.
“You testified to the House Appropriations Committee recently that EPA is not ‘inflating itself’ because ‘a majority’ of EPA’s budget goes to the States.
“But not even 50 percent of your requested budget would go to the States.”
WINNING THE FUTURE
“I hope you will agree with me that we need to return to building – not dismantling – the American economy.
“I’m concerned about actions at the EPA to destroy next-generation technologies by having premarket chemical reviews collect dust on the desks of Federal bureaucrats. I’m concerned how EPA is creating uncertainty, including delays or cancellations, in our permitting processes; and expanding regulations further, like the coal ash rule, WOTUS, and the cross-state air pollution rule.
“These are actions that ultimately drive projects out of America and make us more reliant on countries like China with the lowest environmental and labor standards.
“Projects taking years to develop, and money lost due to abrupt policy changes have a chilling impact on peoples’ willingness and ability to make things in America.
“To succeed, EPA must not be an obstacle to development and prosperity for American families, especially as they struggle to afford everyday life because of the administration’s energy and inflation crisis.”
Original source can be found here.
