[inaudible conversations] good morning. Today is the day we will examine the president s fiscal year for the epa joining with morning is administrator wheeler and acting chief Financial Officer. Welcome to both of you. Fiscal year 2021 the president s 66 billion to the epa but this request the presidency of what you were able to achieve on the fy 2020. And then to eliminate the new funding we provided to address pfas and the Clean Energy Funding grants c by 47 percent at 409 million fy 2020 also has money from the 3 billion we invested with our nations crumbling Water Infrastructure. Recently held a listening session and they would lose and what at what happened of these cuts were to go through the pollution control also proposed cuts to the clean water grant act air pollution and monitoring to have our communities back home included it would be an absolute catastrophe for clean water. And i directly heard about concerns with the budget with the pfas pollution it could be truly devastating if inactive but unfortunately this will not be enacted congress will which one reject these like we did the last three or so rather spending time talking about a request that will not be enacted i want to focus on how the agency will implement the fy 2020 appropriations and how you plan to work with congress as we craft fy 2021 bill administrator wheeler last year you talked about leaving the agency stronger than you found it. However it is my understanding they never reach the staffing target in 2019 and current staffing these we will below the 2020 target trying to ask you about your plans to make up for lost ground is equally important the epa employees out of respect the agency has behaved in a very confrontational way last july rather than negotiate contract on the employees the epa agreed to return to the bargainingd table. Im happy to hear that so we are watching the progress and hope the epa leadership canst keep up with the outcome so with those policies over the past decade a steady decline of Funding Resources p available for compliance and workforce weve also seen a steady decline over the same period in the number of compliance and Enforcement Actions experts go inside andr of outsie epa to tell us the two are directly related thats because epa enforcement budget is almost entirely used to pay for compliance and enforcement personnel fewer violations are detected if you are cases brought forth and to be extremely proud we could find the dollars to reverse the trend of declining compliance and fy 2020 agreement provided for enforcement and compliance the first increase in nearly a decade but the additional fourcent dollars for not only translate into a better environmental outcome. There needs to be the policy in place to achieve the objective i hope to score this further with you in the course of todays hearing. The administration with those efforts of climate protection we can see their ability. The proposal to undermine the mercury and toxic standards is universally to Public Health and the power sector and the proposal to roll back Greenhouse Gas standards will cost billions of dollars in progress for Climate Change the repeated efforts to science and health care based standards mean more strokes and match preventable death we have questions and find they want to touch briefly between the epa of this committee and there is the commodity between the appropriations branch we have been able to find ways Work Together constructively even when we disagree even when we strongly disagree. The epa had gotten away from that tradition the past few years and i hope that i continue to hope things will continue to improve and become even better. But we have not back to where we used toto be frankly or where we need to be by hope we have an honest and frank discussion in a way that brings us together and the American People to protect they health and air and water and now i would like to yield to our Ranking Member for his opening remarks. Thank you for yielding and holding this hearing the epa fiscal year 2021 budget request also administrator wheeler thank you for coming to the committee thank you for taking time to joinn us also at some point in time unfortunately we have other hearings are taking place at the same time they are no less or more important but the idea theres only four of us in three of us are on another subcommittee. Any offense. This december celebrating the 5h anniversary since this and the toxic substances controlling to create a healthier environment for all americans. In 2019 epa continue to uphold its mission to protect Public Health last year they deleted all superfund sites from the National Priority list the criteria declined leading the agency to have resources from emergingm contaminants to tackle the growing infrastructure backlog advance commonsense reform using those burdens the fiscal 2021 budget six. 58,000,000,000. 2. 4 billion that is below the 202 inactive level we look forward to hearing from you will to build upon the prior year successes the advanced regulatory reforms to address the most critical environmentall and human health challenges. First and foremost to recognize the importance of great lakes they are one of the United States and ohios greatest Natural Resources providing one. 5 million jobs covering the fresh surface water and generating billions of dollars of wages every year and then to have sustained robust funding with the great lakes ecosystem with those inflation species to protect and preserve the lakes for future generations and that which is a school to the fiscal year level they also include funding to research and prevent and then to have though aging Water Infrastructure and then and then to be clean water but the funds so i could be leveraged to spill for the Infrastructure Environment there were 115 million to the additional grants and faith and tribes and then to address the Drinking Water like lead it also prioritizes over 1 billion of the Superfund Program to redevelop sites for economic development. And in 2019 the request is 82 million for remedial programsms. The Superfund National priorities list despite having funds for Water Infrastructure i suspect disagree with several proposed cuts to remain good stewards of our resources we must ensure the agency and his partners have the necessary resources and tools at their disposal the Budget Proposal other has other geographic Programs Research programs and protection grants and several other categorical. And then to study environmental threats. And to look forward to the tribe to update the agency and en protect the health and wellbeing we look forward to working with you over the coming months i appreciate you taking the time and i look forward to t your testimony i yield back. Thank you. Youu have five minutes with what you would like to share with the committee we do have your full statement and will be entered into the record. Thank you. Bcommittee. Joining me today is david bloom acting chief officer mr. Bloom it marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the epa in 2020 we can all agree how far we have come over that time. Today the us is a Global Leader with respect to clean air and access to safe Drinking Water and to have contaminated lands at the fastest pace in over a decade we release to the review highlighting accomplishments and i encourage everyone to read the full report and be entered into the record. The Trump Administration is proving Environmental Protection and historic Economic Growth go hand in hand because those Environmental Issues disproportionately impact children of low income and minority communities we take strong actions to protect these populations the federal land action plan is a new costcutting and the epa will continue coordinating with federal state and tribal and Community Partners to protect the most vulnerable among us. For the first time in nearly 20 years epa has new tighter standards for lead dust in homes and childcare facilities across the country and for the first time in nearly three decades epa proposed a provision to lead and copper rule to ensure Water Systems have plans in place to rapidly respond to elevated levels of lead in Drinking Water in the most impacted areas in the country the budget request includes Additional Resources throughout epa to continue implementing the action plan to address chemicals of concern last month epa proposed regulatory determinations for Drinking Water and propose to close the loophole for those that have certain chemicals that are imported into our country. These with previous epa actions are key milestones of the extended efforts to implement the action plan the aging Water Infrastructure budget request includes 2 million continuing to have the state revolving funds for every dollar contributed to date millions have received 3 million of water structure investment return additionally the 25 million is expected to deliver more than 2 million and direct Credit Assistance purring for billion in total Infrastructure Investments the agency is improving the process and reducing the backlog 36 areas around the country lifting major regulatory burdens and in 2019 epa acted 366365 for backlog and just last week the final area reached attainment for the entire state to put into compliance these and achievements not only help Public Health but support greater growth that are is a priority for President Trump when it comes to enforcing the nations laws the epa is significantly increasing compliance and 2019 to receive voluntary disclosures at over 1900 facilities more than double 2016 the agency is determining to step up criminal cases which have increased in all categories for the First Time Since 2011 administrative civil and criminal fines were the highest in the last decade. The pa is cleaning up the largest contaminated sites and returning them to productive use the leading superfund sites the largest number deleted in the National Priorities list since 2001 the superfund enforcement tools can help with redevelopment and secured commitments to reduce or treat to eliminate 470 Million Pounds of pollution the highest of the past four years the budget request provides 130 million no less for those specifically targeted for opportunity zones to spur to economically distressed areas and those communities to receive those grants with more than 64,000,108 were opportunity zones to support Environmental Justice. As the epa celebrates we can proudly say americans today have significantly cleaner air and wind and water we continue this progress to make sure all americans no matter where they live share it. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you very much we have other hearing so i command my colleagues on my side of the aisle trying to accommodate everyone. But i will hold everyone to the five minutes and let you know when you have one minute left. I greatly appreciate that madame chairman. Thank you for being here gentleman. My office asked you for a broke one a breakdown by Program Office and spending for region five in the last five years. Your Congressional Staff told me such data is not available. Can you generate this data . We will see what information we can provide to you. Somebody is cutting the checks. Somebody has to know who is working there and how many you have paid in the last five years. You are looking for information for the last five years for region five. And under the Program Office. Yes sir. We will go back and pull that together and provide that to your staff. If you confront one provide that to the whole committee we would appreciate that. We would request that as wel well. Your predecessor epa Inspector General report issued last may nearly one year ago had spent more than 985,000 in travel in a ten month. There was a litany of violations by mr. Pruitt and the actions for constraining controls over the epa travel to prevent further waste and abuse 124,000 of taxpayer dollars that could be recovered for one from mr. Pruitt for inappropriate travel. With that 124,000 has that been recovered at this point in time . There were a number of errors in the report even though it was broken down to the specific sent the aig told me at the time it was a rough estimate they ignore the fact that half of the cost was protected detail and that is required to fly with the administrator wherever that happens to be. They ignore that part of the loss of a number should become in half. They did it specify what authority we would have with that money plus the fact the administrator at the tim time, security was put in place for his travel this all predated me before i joined the agency but there are a number of errors in that report the general counsel has been through that and there is no justification. Let me understand the dollar figure maybe half of that but your question is if you have the authority to go after any of that money. Normally if an agency spends money inappropriately it will happen again and someone in your agency does anyone have the authority to go after the money to that was inappropriately spent . The cfo reviewed every questionable expense and said no mount one amount should be recovered epa has taken immediate steps to take corrective action beyond what is required for any trip taken by the administrator over 5000 must be approved by the coo chief Financial Officer or chief of staff so the dollar amount that the ig identified was not justified in the report. Lets say it is half of that are one quarter of that do have the authority to go after that . If not does that mean you can sheet the United States out of dollars that we dont have the number one the ability to go after . Inspector general aired in the report whether or not he was justified to take firstclass travel. It was approved by several people at the time including security detail who approved the need to travel first class so there was no abuse. If nothing was wrong why did you have to put corrective action in place . We did above and beyond what was required to assure the public there is no issues and there will be no misuse of fund funds. We went above and beyond what the law requires. As opposed to going to the money that was inappropriately used. There was no finding there was a justifiable finding it was misused it was approved the travel was taken. Thank you chairman i would refer to mr. Stewart. Thank you Ranking Member is very gracious of you to pull your time. Some of us have two or three or four subcommittees so i do appreciate you giving me your time. Thank you for being here. Its a tough job its very partisan its very controversial in our society. Its very technical and with those questions that you deal with thank you for doing that. I will hit two things very quickly. First thank you for rolling back the previous regulations that have enormous importance in the ability of the federal government to regulate that and second there is no economic benefit 400 percent in the last year and those refineries in the district can you give me some hope and if there is something we can do . In the last couple of weeks it has gone up because of the tenth Circuit Decision we are working through the issues to decide the right path forward. You expect to appeal that decision . We are still working with that with the department of justice the decision has to be made by next week so we will be announcing something shortly. So short of that anything else that you can do . We are looking at other avenues to provide stability in the program and make sure we dont have those wild fluctuations. And with that great benefit especially for Social Security your veterans and others if you keep price of energy down and there is no real obstacle to that. If i could spend some time i am a farmer and a rancher and its quite important and then before they can be marketed and then to experience a significant number it is a very positive thing is good for everyone but we dont thank you have that ability to deal with the increase of the applications and moving toward accelerating the approval process for the biopesticides. Its very important with usda and all three with the website that has been created of the biopesticides and we are working very diligently we have a number that have to be by 2022 but to make sure we get them right and for the safe for environment and public consumption. And then to shortchange this you dont want to skip steps and there is no reason for that but it seems to me the delay that is longer than that do you agree we could do better and we need to anticipate the amount of time . We do have a plan in place with the deadline of 2022 but if we run into issues we want to make sure we get it right and then ends up being harmful to the environment. Thank you i yield back. We will recognize. Thank you very much for being here today. A couple of things, first of all we increased the appropriations for Environmental Justice programs by 47 percent we know what those funds should be used for so i would very much like to have an accounting from you and how the funds were used but now with the Environmental Justice program so i would like to know with such a dramatic of funds. The clean car rule there is a draft with that analysis with the allegations of people that are professionals working with the department to be discouraged with what is proposed and then the fear of retaliation of those individuals in my understanding just this week the Inspector General was asked to investigate to keep those career experts word you commit that all comments that are relevant to this proposal by the individuals who are career experts that there is no retaliated on retaliation against anyone who does so . We elevated the Environmental Justice and we are using programs and opportunity zones. Nobody will be retaliated at al all. It is important to know the last on the cafe standards rotated by the Obama Administration epa had the lead but this time around the decision was made the primary lead was given to nhtsa so some people are working on this but the second seat is not as prominent as it was before but we take all comments from career staff. Right now were in the middle of the interagency review process its an appropriate to send every comment because sometimes they can contradict each other but comments are weighed everyones concerns are taken into account. And nobody will be retaliated against. Thank you. What about the mercury and air toxic standards. Prior to announcing the proposed rule my understanding is the epa did not conduct the analysis of the potential impacts of this action or the agencies prior analysis to we need to make sure it completes this to understand the benefits of the supposed action of Public Health and our environment which is generally not supported among many agencies and interest . Will you commit now to have epa conclude such an analysis before a final rule . We have and analyze the rule we dont believe there to be any change in the equipment that is already installed. We have analyzed the regulation we do not believe there will be any changes of equipment and no reduction from the power plants. Finally making whatever adjustments you think are necessary, while that and anyway result in being more mercury or other toxic agents in the environment . No we do not believe there will be at all. The max regulation remanded back to us by the Supreme Court at the same time of a Technology Review we determined the technology in place need to stay in place and do not need to be taken offline. I yield back. So nothing will be turned off . Those technologies are in place but they can turn them off. We dont believe. Believe or you know . That is what the Analysis Shows with the Technology Review that is currently installed will remain in place and will remain on most were not just to reduce mercury but also other pollutants. Thank you for being with us today madam chair thank you. I went to go a little bit further with your remarks so if the chemicals are presence one present in household and then they end up in wastewater with a concentrate with the biosolids that are nutrient rich organic material that have been applied to it as fertilizer. There is no standard for the biosolids in concentration and application can lead to contamination of crops and water we are already having this problem in maine with one dairy farmer who treated his land without knowing it was contaminated 690 parts per trillion so now he cannot sell his crops and his livelihood is real and so what at this point in time what do we need to understand these biosolids . As far as the entire agriculture communities with pphos we entered into a partnership with usda and also made it over 5 million of new Research Money targeted to agriculture uses and problems. So actually this is the secondary that had this issue theres another one west. May be arizona. Its at new mexico. I talked to the governor of new mexico about that. We have partnered with usda to try to address this. There are over 600 chemicals in commerce ten over the last five years and 5000 identified by the eu we have the foremost researchers in the world that the epa working on a whole host of issues around the 5000 plus chemicals you cant say all are the same the sticker test for detecting them in the Water Systems is different with Different Health impacts with people in the environment and different cleanup technologies so we are doing Research Across the entire spectrum and part of that what we emphasize the past years looking at the agricultural issues with biosolids. Great. That is helpful and moving fast just to follow up to my know you have address the water issue but since Wastewater Treatment facilities they dont make the pphos but it causes this contamination problem in the biosolids a what is designated as a Hazardous Substance unless we prevent the industrial discharge we have not solved the problem under the clean water act so when can we expect you to leave and one list this is a toxic chemical under the clean water act . First of all on the hazardous side, we have been working on that. We have proposals talking to our federal partners before we go into review and we also move forward with our regulatory determination. We have our Health Advisory of 70 parts per billion and taking Enforcement Actions around the country and we have worked with the states and local governments on another 24 Enforcement Actions we are aggressively going after it. We are not just sitting back waiting to find it on where the chemicals have been produced and where they are used. We overlay that with mapping on the water tables and then go out to communities to tell them you may have an issue or problem you have to test to see if you do so we are being aggressive to find where the problem might be to get it treated. I would like to submit for the record our Program Update we list one issued last month outlining all the things weve done over the last year over the pphos action plan. Thank you for that. I have not read that but i will do so. Im about to run out of time but i hope we can stay in touch when those standards will be implemented because this is a serious issue and the fact we know about two of them probably me there are all kinds of agricultural sites around the country we dont know about and these are forever chemicals. You are stuck with them once they are on your land. I have to yield back. Thank you chairman. Administrator wheeler no surprise i was happy to see the fy 21 request equal equal to the fy 20 levels of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative this is crucial to preserve the great lakes. If it is funded at 320 million again fy 21 what improvements can the epa and partners make for the quality and the health of the citizens of those that live in the region and what benefits are we likely to see . Thank you for your support i will keep saying this until somebody corrects me come i believe im the only epa administrator ever to swim in the great lakes i have a great fondness for the great lakes myself as does the president. We are focusing on nutrient loading not just in the great lakes of course but the tributaries. We are working on marketbased mechanisms to work with the farmers not using a hammer to beat them up which has happened in the past but use marketbased approaches to work with the farmers to reduce nutrient loading going into the great lakes. They are an incredible resource. Thank you for joining me last year at the lake Guardian Research ship the largest on the great lakes. We have been collecting data on three of the lakes for over 30 years in the other two over 20 years with a ship that travels all five of the great lakes every year. And with this valuable information researchers from around the world that come to spend weeks at a time on our Research Vessel looking at different scientific issues of the great lakes is turning into be one of the most studied water bodies in the world and we are making tremendous progress to get that cleaned up. We have a lot more work to do i dont want to shortchange that at all. There is a lot of years of abuse on the great lakes that we need to turn around but we do see some healthy signs looking at the bay program which is showing tremendous success over the years to see Lessons Learned and that estuary that could be applied to the great lakes. I appreciate that but with fy 19 it shows there were serious concerns to restore across the region to reduce phosphorus with the algae blooms controlling the Invasive Species. And those of the Water Program is epa using that increase to expand new programs like the trash free programmer nutrient based projects . Yes we provided 2 million for the trash program and looking at the resources we have to what more we could spend as well as the Invasive Species program. Thats what i hear from my constituents in ohio there is streambank erosion but not coastal erosion so with that infrastructure we are looking for ways to mitigate the damage from further loss of land how is epa working with other federal agencies with the army corps of engineers help communities address coastal erosion protect the ecosystem . We are working with the army corps of engineers. I was in michigan last year as well to take a look at the coastal erosion issues with the great lakes and the army corps was with us as well as fish and wildlife service. This is a multi agency and Multi Department approach looking at the erosion issues as well as water issue. Im interested in the Great Lakes Initiative of restoration to restore any damage caused by the erosion . I will get back to you on the specifics of that i know we are looking at that but im not sure that has gone out yet. And looking at the football program. [laughter] i yield back. Thank you madam chair and thank you for being with us. The great civil rights leader in environmental advocate from my region billy frank junior only said tell your story and thats how you make changes. Looking at your budget request there is a lot of change i would like to make. I thought i would start by telling you some of the stories that i represent the Critical Role of the Puget Sound Geographic Program and one of the most iconic bodies of water. But it turns out there were too many to choose from i got stories from tribal and Community Leaders throughout the district that want you to understand how important this program is. Folks like the chairman of the tribe that talks about geographic helps the epa me to the treaty and trust obligations to native American Communities he said, the future puget sound has yet to be written but that risk is too valuable and sacred to lose. If we fail future generations will not know the unique experience of eating food from the sound if we fail we will teleport on tear apart the fabric of rural economies that depend on Sustainable Resources if we fail cities and towns will lose the Pacific Northwest culture and identity and the treaties that require protection of fish and clam habitat. Of the director of the state fish and Wildlife Agency and the role these funds play to recover the species throughout puget sound i have talked to tribal leaders from shellfish growers whose jobs are at risk if we fail in this effort. And from other Community Leaders that understands the value of puget sound. And i also have copies for use. And those throughout the puget sound region are counting on you to pull the epa obligation you have let them down again by asking congress to eliminate the vital funding but from the record of last year every dollar the epa spends on puget sound recovery and by eliminating the program you are leaving 400 million on the table used to support that is mandated to accomplish and that is a lose lose as far as im concerned. Lester the budget proposed wipeout all geographic programs thankfully congress with those laminations im Proud Congress has shown bipartisan support not just in puget sound but all the funding for the great lakes and these other geographic programs im grateful to the chair in the Ranking Member to come to puget sound not only see how beautiful it is but also how at risk it is. Asking congress to eliminate the majority of funding who asked congress to continue funding the great lakes with the Recovery Efforts in your home state of ohio that supports the Recovery Efforts and would ask you to justify this but i want to understand what is the difference . Explain what is different about the states of michigan ohio wisconsin with those that you support funding for in states Like Washington and california and others to eliminate funding. First of all that geographic funding is voluntary under statute and those are discretionary but we can address the issues and other Geographic Areas and then king county washington to help puget sound 104. 5 million i was there last year for the check signing. And with those tribal leaders. And then to visit with her tribal leader once again but i do believe we have those authorities and other resources to address those the funding of the Geographic Area is important across all the states. That is important. The everglades those unique challenges we felt was important to have for the everglades as well and which is why we give them three or 4 million. I did not mean to imply that the Puget Sound Geographic Program is discretionary but whether or not it is discretionary that is why i specifically sat down with tribal leaders when i was in seattle last year. I yield back i heard a couple years ago a Campaign Speech at the great lakes would not be funded because the president cut that from the budget. But i believe this Committee Supports all of the initiatives equally regionally to the best of our ability with the dollars that we have. Thank you madam chair. With my colleague from Washington State the sounds like we need to get to puget sound all of interested how that story went out of time so i will yield back. Thank you. Thats another thing i will not touch. [laughter] i will ask the question we have a couple of them but i want to make sure we have time to get into all of them and with that proposed regulation and determine recently of pphos and Drinking Water as you know we have many contaminated Drinking Water sites in minnesota where three m is cleaning up the water in some cities and now we know it will not be enough money for the future. What i have heard from my constituents they are concerned about the epa setting the standards and the politics from the standard. They want to make sure they want to make sure exactly what pfas will be reviewed in a transparent way to give them total confidence the industry is not involved in the same standards using the best science available. So how can you ensure the science is looking at impact on the most vulnerable population because typically when we set standards for white middle aged males they are not set for children or women are often looking at Community Standards for those of us of color so what kind of transparency do you hav have . First of all theres a lot of research we are doing the research is very open with of the foremost researchers in the world working on this at the epa in several of the labs of North Carolina we have some of the foremost researchers working on this issue but looking at the methods to identify the presence of the chemicals in the water and to understand the health and the transport and exposure and that remediation there are a lot of areas we have to research we are making all of that available to the public. What standards are they looking at . They are looking at children and pregnant women also white middleage men with the lead and copper rule it is primarily children. I want to make sure its that way for everything. Looking at the subpopulation. That goes right into what you are saying to say more about that with a highly controversial actions how it handles science and the draft Risk Assessment assessment shows a science linking to fetal Heart Defects to examine the exposure to what is released annually last year we found out a company that used it in manufacturing has seen unsafe levels for more than 15 years so several legislators are now working on a complete began because it shows it may be unsafe so three questions, for the auto immune suppression and with that assessment and i will submit these for the record i dont expect you to have this at your fingertips. Is it true the exposure level of the auto immune suppression is 500 times higher than what triggers Heart Defects . If they were to use information of toxicity with the epa be forced to abandon and thats why submitted it for the record. But they were probably set at Different Levels than what we look at today. I will respond for the record on the specific questions on what types of Health Effects we are looking at but i do know we are looking at specifically of the connection with cardiac development. But the important thing to remember is a draft evaluation going through peer review. It has not been finalized yet we will get a lot of that information if we missed something that comes out of peer review and also for Public Comment we take that very seriously. So we will have an opportunity to raise the issues that you just raised. I just want to point out it is imperative that the pay responds in a timely manner perk you heard it has been a year since we had a response since the last time we spoke over a year ago so the mask if you be willing to respond within 45 days of receiving them. We will certainly strive to do that all responses have to go through omb before we respond back to congress i cannot control the entire calendar but we will get those to us quickly as possible. And then give us periodic updates where you are so we can talk to omb because we cant do our job properly without the questions being answered. Thank you madam chair. 27 cut relative to epa 2020 enacted level. Part of the budget decrease includes almost 800 million to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund a critical state federal partnership to help the government almost daily a new report is released outlining dangerous contaminants threatening the health and safety of communities. Also to clean and affordable Drinking Water which is the basic human need. I want you to know that the position you have im 100 supportive of. What we do collectively will have an impact for generations to come. How do you justify the cuts to programs and ensure americans have clean and safe Drinking Water so that we can avoid another situation . To avoid another situation thats why we propose it or update to the role for the first time in over 30 years we will get more of the lead pipes replaced around the country. 27 decrease in funding. I dont believe that will affect us. We requested 2 million for the fund is at this point the fund has been in existence for 80 billion circulating through the Revolving Loan fund is between the state and local projects such as the new wind grants, so we have other tools we are trying to use to figure out the best approach for example the Disadvantaged Community is so theres other opportunities to provide funding for schools and day care cente centers. That has been significant and i want the record to reflect im very concerned about the shortages at the regional offices across the country. Country. Everyone has a budgeevery one hf january 21, 2020, is at an alltime low of 938 fulltime employees which is always below the previous alltime low of 941. Last year you testify personally that the epa director about efforts to speed up hiring. Why do your practices fail to increase the employment of the past 12 months and has staffing plans been created for all the regions across the country and the coming year and how do you plan to recruit more minorities into the workplace. Last year we hired over a thousand new employees almost 40 of th the work force is eligiblworkforce is eligibleto e years we have the hiring process, one of the most streamlined hiring processes they are consistently below the 90 day average for agencies and departments and people once we identify them so we are giving him out of the resource to attract the talent and they are trying to lead under the Civil Rights Office has identified hispanics and people with disabilities as two primary areas where we need to do more recruitment for the diversity across the board for the agencies and we are working on both of those. Region five right now we have the fte currently 915 employees and the target is 995. So we are approaching the target again we have a lot of people who are eligible and taking advantage of the retirements. Mr. Administrator i want to say for the record my time is up. We cant do our job if we dont have the staff to do that and if we are not funded. I understand your desire and some good things that you have done but this is a crisis in the country with the environment and you must speak up. You cant just do not have the staff and not have the funding. With that i would close and thank you. I would say we do not have the funding in 2020 for the fte ceiling of 14,000. We didnt receive enougthey didh funding to fully fund the fte ceiling of over 14,000 employees. Br waiting to get the full list of the past ten years for region five so its a little bit how should i say movement of talking about numbers and not funding when we have requested information and happened received the information almost a full year ago. Thank you, madam chair and i apologize to my colleagues from michigan i didnt see you in the room when i was joking about the football. I have to apologize also. I didnt see her. We will be back. [laughter] d. H. A habs, they are susceptible to habs and the great lakes. 2014 on the algae blooms with 500,000 people not safe Drinking Water and cost 65 million diminished Property Values and tourism revenue. Thats why i was pleased to see the request includes 50 million for new categorical programs to Fund Prevention and response efforts for hav that pose Significant Health or economic risk. How would this help us prevent and respond in a way that we cannot currently do through other Grant Programs and how are other programs adequate in addressing these problems . We have been doing a lot more research and we have requested 22. 4 million in the 2021 budget. 15 of that is for the competitive grant program. They differ quite a bit from region to region and different causes and different technologies are needed to address them. We have a number of different labs for example the kansas city lab in the upper midwest as well as the great lakes region, so we need a competitive grants in order to address the specific issue problems in the regions of the country. How are the new grants supplemented for the epa carried out in the great lakes restoration issue . It would go a long way. I know that the state of ohio under the leadership is looking at this issue in particular hes committed in a number of resources at the state level and we are looking to partner with him as well as the other great lakes states on issues such as these and they are looking at in addition to the new grants and funding we have for that this is also why we are looking at for example the marketbased mechanisms to work with farmers on reducing what goes into the rivers and streams such as the river in toledo and the problems we had up there with the habs. Of congress provided 320 million for this and 15 million for the habs program, how one debate coke much would they spend in fy 21 . I would have to get back on the full dollar amount is the 22. 4 million is in addition to we already have the number of projects in a number of resources that we are using to address the habs that they have for a number of years now. Think you and i would yield back. I want to go back and talk about Childrens Health again. The epa in your testimony today and i want to be clear on this unfortunately i dont think that it applies to all the work the epa should be doing in supporting Childrens Health. For example, the epa is forging ahead with this effort to undermine the mercury air toxic standards and i think you and i had a disagreement on how that is going to turn out. But it protects unborn children from brain damage caused by mercury. The epa is giving this in spite of as i mentioned earlier in my testimony the universal opposition for Public Health groups and to the American Academy of pediatrics. And stopped the efforts to ban the use of the curve. Some of these chemicals out there weve known for years weve known for decades it could have a severe neurological consequence for babies and children the epa supporte suppoe same conglomeration of the nih since 97 and the nih had fundi funding. Fy 2020 conference agreement affects the epa to restore the centers. Can you confirm to me today that the funding has been restored to the centers they want to redirect the funding to other priorities. As it is my understanding the nih decided to change the way that they were providing grant money to the centers. By information covered with just said so i want to make sure i have that correct. Its important that we are using the right standards and we learn more about them. Epa has taken some controversial actions in regards to how it handles science. Your proposed transparency and regulatory science sparked intense criticism from the scientific community. In fy 2020 and agreement included our requirements but once the rule is finalized it should be sent out for review to the National Academies of science. The rule alters the ability to use the best science available in its rulemaking so im not sure your schedule for finalizing the rule but the epa has the mechanisms to put in place that yo so that you can m0 day deadline to contract to have a contract with the National Academy of the review. I believe we do have it in place. I issued a supplemental proposal on the strengthening and Transparency Regulation for the 30 day comment for additional changes and further explain and clarify what was in the original proposal. We submit that yesterday as it should be on the website today and in the federal register. We cant keep changing scientific standards based on different review boards and different panels and different sciences so having the academy look at it i think is anything that you were to do a Gold Standard and i think that it would give a lot of people more confidence in the science available being used at the time. I havent read the testimony yet but i will soak thank you for being here. I want to start by thanking you for your work as you know that has been a challenge for this committee for congress and the epa for a number of years. I can tell you how many times ive stood up the steps down here and talked about the way that it was regulated before the problem is what the heck did it mean and of course you couldnt determine what it meant. It is being opened to a steam boat or canoe or what people would think if the epa wasnt regulating the water that it was unregulated. Just the states regulated and most states did a good job. Its been a concern to farmers and ranchers in my district and i was pleased to join the region administrator in corps of engineers a few weeks ago to announce the exciting role of the Dairy Farmers present along with ranchers they said it was welcome news. Can you explain a little bit about this and what the epas role will be compared to the state and local jurisdictions in the states prepared to regulate the waters that they now have. Certainly. And thank you for your comments protection rule. Things were different this time around. The overarching principles going into this was a Property Owner should be able to stand on his or her property and how with the requirements were instead of having to hire outside consultants and attorneys. And thats very important. Its also important we recognize for the first time that in addition to federal water protections states also protect waterways just because it is not protected under the federal definition doesnt mean it isnt also protected under state rules into the third overarching principle was to make sure we had a regulation that would stand the test of time and be upheld by the courts. For too many years weve had regulations get slapped down by the courts and people didnt really understand what the requirements were so what we did is take a step back and followed the clean water act as well as the Supreme Courts decisions so i believe we have a rule we are also defining for the first time what is the waterway as well as what is not for example prior croplands would no longer be considered a waterway so its important to define not just what is considered a federal water but also what is not so we took all of those into the account and consideration and they received around a million comments actually think it was over a million for the public. It took us a while and we proposed it in december of 2018. We didnt finalize it until last month because of the tremendous amount of influence in the country. I believe at the end of the day we have a rule that will protect the navigable waters across the country and the wetlands to those waterways and about surf the test of time and will be a landmark in the clean water act for future generations. Dual states have privacy over their waters . We have the clean water act and safe Drinking Water act so states have a number of programs that have been delegated to the states. The safe Drinking Water is the same thing most states of the safe Drinking Water act delegated to them. States can go further than the federal protection for the navigable waters. That is probably where you are getting. For the purposes of the waters yes, states can go abroad and most of them do. One other question i noticed you submitted a rule regarding the Carbon Neutrality disappears to bthisappears to be consistenh the appropriation bill language that we have carried and i want to thank you for your work on this. Its important i know in other states to give proper credit the lifecycle is an important tool in recognizing the benefits. Can you talk about the importance of recognizing biomass as being Carbon Neutral tax we worked on the Public Comment and we want to receive this from anyone interested in the issue and we hope to finalize that be the end of the year. Thank you. Going back. Last june the Agency Brought to the committee that it intended to relocate its region six from Houston Texas to oklahoma. The question is overall how much does the epa plan to spend on refurbishing the space and relocating employees and how much was spent in 2019 and how much was spent in 2020 . It is a co location and the total cost of the move is estimated to be eight to 10 million they expended 170,000 in expenditures for this year for 500,000. Expected savings are 1. 8 million annually and again this is a co location we are operating under the 2016 wall that was passed by congress directing federal agencies to try to reduce the spaces and go to the agency owned spaces in oklahoma it is large enough to accommodate the researchers in the lab and its owned by the epa switch will save a significant amount of money and there will still be located in regions. Im glad you were prepared to answer the question because this has been an unfortunate circumstance before the committee and the agency. Our committee has requirements governing the programs, so they asked questions about the reorganizations, work force structure, shaping the transfers were downsizing, consolidations and facilities and laboratories. It appeared especially in this case the epa maintained it wasnt a subject asking a lot of questions as the committee. I asked for an explanation from the agency and we didnt get one. After several months of repeatedly asking, the only response i received in a letter back is if i wanted a response to the first letter, i should write a second letter. I expect the agency when we ask about the reprogramming this is you want to have the flexibility to do this programming. We want to give it to you. Even waiting for the answer i received today and several months ago we proved them that we need tthey need to know thate going to want to be told i have to send repeated letters from asking basic questions to do the Due Diligence and oversight when funds are being reappropriated. We will try to complied. On the region six weve briefed the Committee Staff on the issue about the lab as soon as we were notified of that. It was my understanding that your staff was briefed on that. I will check with the staff that this would be if i wrote you a letter i expect a letter back so lets make sure we have everything in writing. The gao made several recommendations for ways to epo could improve its handling of data and according to the report by epa developed them and has already begun in the process to implement these implementations. One of the recommendations focus on the clear and consistent definition of informal compliance assistance. The epa also does not have a mechanism or procedure input for consistently tracking or reporting this data. Together this makes tracking data trends over a period of time difficult. Will you commit to work to making it a priority that they follow suit on implementation to the recommendations . Yes we are following through on those recommendations. You are probably aware that the office is continuing and ongoing and that there is a second evaluation where the epa enforcement strategies are achieving the stated objectives as it is detailed in a strategic plan. They said they should review the plan as a part of the evaluation however officials in the office of the Government Relations have intervened and refused the a ret to review these documents. The gao said they are willing to forgo the possession at the epa. The gao offered the legitimate Law Enforcement interest. I believe very strongly there could be some arrangements that allow the gao to receive its audit objectives without jeopardizing the enforcement work so i would like for you to work with me and to work with the gao to find an arrangement that gives the information it needs while safeguarding for these to do justice to the oversight. I know the staff is working with the gao to try to address their needs. I wasnt aware of the recent offer or how they would look at the data. I will go back to my staff and talk to them about god that they havthat but wehave to make suree protect the information and that is it cannot be, cannot leave the agency so as long as there are safeguards in place we should be able to work that. In a confidential manner i am sure by the reports the way we can do that is working with a combination. With the Sensitive Information is also the supreme courcourts decision on confidel Business Information the casework and case law is done in a proper way and particular Enforcement Actions taking place but we need to look and see what they are doing they go through background checks and all of us have enforcement agencies and we can make sure the compliance is done. But if you can get back on a letter to the committee where we are in the time frame or if theres an impact if you would let us know what the impact is we need to go to the Government Reform Committee we need to get it done in a more timely fashion whats going on rather than so a letter on that would be good. I have a couple of other questions maybe i will submit for the record. Staffing has come up quite a bit so we are going to find out. Because enforcement will pay for itself and when we are not enforcing the standards then taxpayers cleaning it up as the righis theright kind of action g place. Also have questions on workforce and they have questions on why we think we are having so much Trouble Holding on to staff a dimension that is retention. They expect to reach it and we didnt have enough funding to reach the 2020 fte number and also made a change in the reprogramming authority from 30 million down to 5 million which is making it very difficult to try to find the levels in three of the offices. We do have a funding issue as far as the current levels but they dont have enough funding we have issues in some of the agencies with the department of interior not coming to us with reprogramming funds when money has been set aside and as you talk about when you have money available, so lets talk and they can work those things out because we want to make sure we have the staff to do the job the right way and protect the air and water that all of us believe as americans. So, with that i would conclude the hearing and we will stand adjourned until the next priority meeting on marc march 102020. Thank you very much for coming. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] had t. Vicepresident biden hey. Cheers and applause] how are you. Good to see you. Thank you, man. Thank you. Nice to see you. Folks, its going to be very short and i wanted to come down and begin by thanking everyone for being here. And mr. Mayor, thank you so much for you