Transcripts For CSPAN3 EPA 20240703

We take you live now to the house science, space, Technology Committee hearing featuring epa administrator Michael Regan. The hearing will review the Environmental Protection Agency Science and technical activities and their use he will order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recesses of the committee at any time. Before my Opening Statement i would also like to request unanimous consent to submit chairman lucas stopped Opening Statement to the bracket. I recognize myself for five minutes for Opening Statement. I would like to welcome everyone to this mornings hearing, science and technology at the Environmental Protection agency. Im pleased to welcome epa administrator Michael Regan for the first time in front of the Science Committee. In fact it is the first time any epa administrator has testified since 2019 and we have a lot to discuss. Thank you for coming. I appreciate you joining us today. I have to say her testimony was sent to the committee unacceptably late. We require witnesses to send written testimony no less than 48 hours ahead of the hearing. Our members need time to review your statements so we can prepare for the discussions and ask thoughtful and informed questions. We invited you to testify in july and you have plenty of time to meet this deadline and while you have internal review process, Previous Administration witnesses had no problem handing in testimony on time. Given the importance of science at uva, it is my hope, and chairman lucass that the admission will come before the committee regularly in the future so i that the next time you will join us, you will have testimony ahead of time and you can have the most productive discussion possible. Anticipate much of todays conversation will focus on the use of science and technology in epas regulatory, and when necessary, the regulatory agenda. And although its been a while since we have heard it, every epa administrator that has come before our committee has stressed the need for scientific integrity at the epa and importance of relying on the expertise of career staff and scientists when crafting the regulations and policies of the agency. That reliance on science is especially important today given the fact the Biden Administration epa has promulgated 1083 rolls to date, nearly 55 roles a month, since the president took office. There is no industry exempt from the wide range of topics these rules cover, from pesticides in agriculture to emissions for power plants. The chemicals and manufacturing regulations have the potential to hamstring our economy, it is not achievable and based on science. Administrator begins epa set ambitious goals, reducing emissions from the power sector by 80 , having two thirds of the cars on the road be zero emission at eliminating all methane emissions in the country just to name a few. Admirable as those they be, we simply cannot set goals without analyzing the economic and social costs to achieve them. We cannot flip the switch, off domestic fossil Energy Production unless we have reliable and affordable replacements otherwise hospitals and military bases would go dark, families would struggle to make ends meet, businesses will close and lights would be last. We need to be realistic about what these goals require from the people we serve. Additionally todays hearing is an opportunity to get an update from the administrator on the 100 billion influx of funding the agency has received from the ira. No matter what side of the spectrum used on, this pace of spending is undeniably vulnerable to the waste, fraud and abuse. This funding has led the potential to positively impact crucial sectors of our economy. Also have the potential to fund wasteful project that line the project pockets of select temperamental groups and Proper Technology that will never achieve success on their own in the market. We must carefully examine the agencys processes to set up programs, get money out the door and monitor the progress of projects, well into the future. I want to think the admission her for being here today and i will end with a bit of the sentiment. Testifying is a lot like a doctors appointment. We are purposely looking for things that are wrong and you were here criticisms on how things look. It is because we want to prevent actions from turning into unfixable problems. Everyone here wants effective smoothly running Environmental Protection agency and today is a necessary step to ensuring that. I hope we can Work Together to ensure epa is doing things for people and not to people. I want to recognize Ranking Member, john a woman from california for her Opening Statements. I think you very much and thank you administrator, for being here with us today. Before saying anything else, i want to say how delighted i am to see chairman lucas, back here. Mr. Lucas, on behalf of all members and staff on the side of the aisle, we are wishing you continued success on your recovery. We stand ready to do whatever we can to assist, and it is really terrific to see you back. I also want to discuss the epas research and development work. The epa has a unique and really important mission, to put humans and Environmental Health at the center of everything we do. The office of research and development serves a crucial role in that mission. The office strives to drive science that regulatory losses depend on to ensure they are Setting Health protective standards. It puts out stateoftheart assessments, that state, local, and tribal governments rely on to protect resident plants. Epa laboratories across the country monitor air for pollutants, soil for contaminants, like pfas and wanted to track viruses like covid19. All americans, whether they know it or not depend on the epa to deliver on his clear mandate to Prioritize Health and safety above all else. Under your leadership, this epa has made incredible efforts to bring this mission to Environmental Justice communities. These communities have been on the front lines of really devastating pollution, by industry and sometimes by the federal government itself. Some beer and incredibly high risk of cancer due to unfettered dumping by chemical companies. Others worry that environmental contaminants and anemic government responses will have irreversible impact on their childrens development. They have been neglected in programs that have prioritized clean water, energy efficiency, and climate resilience, and other better resourced areas. The epas new office of Environmental Justice and external civil rights is an important step in addressing these needs and connecting these communities with much needed information and resources. Im proud of the work we did in the last congress to fund this effort. The Inflation Reduction Act provided 41 billion to the agency, to advance Environmental Justice and the bipartisan infrastructure lot included 50 billion to improve water of the structure and quality. I look forward to hearing how congress can continue to support this important work. Now i would be remiss not to note, the larger context of this meeting today, we are hurtling toward a Government Shutdown. There is an infighting, taking priority over the functioning of our government and by extension, the health and well being of all americans. Administrator regan is a perfect witness to put this into perspective. This year we have seen at least 23 weather and climate related disasters with losses exceeding 1 billion. In the thick of hurricane season, how will epa determine that it is safe to drink the water . Following the next devastating storm, epa provides Rapid Response to manmade disasters as well. What if there is another catastrophic Train Derailment like we saw earlier this year in ohio . The epa cant effectively respond and inform evacuation orders and their hands are tied by the manufacturing crisis. I hope your testimony, mr. Regan, can inform the larger body of just how many serious consequences of the shutdown, that we face, would exist. As you know, from my previous comments, i also want to raise the issue of the last leaded fuel and transportation, and that is unleaded fuel in general aviation airlines. We have a situation where children are being poisoned by the lead in these fuels. We have a study out of my own county, showing that the airborne particles from emissions and small planes have actually elevated the lead in the blood levels of children near the airport, to rival lent, michigan. We need to do something soon and aggressive, about this Health Problem and im hoping you can talk further about that as this hearing goes on. With that, mr. Chairman, i look forward to our witnesses testimonies and opportunity to ask further questions. And i yield back. Thank you to the Ranking Member. I would like to introduce the chairman of the full committee, mr. Lucas, for Opening Statements. Thank you, mr. Chairman and my official Opening Statement has been entered into the record but i would like to take just a moment to thank the Ranking Member and all of the subcommittee chairman, who have handled the hearings, while ive been gone. And for that matter the membership on both sides of the room. This committee is a very productive committee. We are very focused on the ability to accomplish things. In my absence, i am very appreciative of and while i may move slower for a little bit longer, i have Great Expectations about what we are going to accomplish for the rest of the session. And again, thank you to all of my colleagues, you have been wonderful. I yield back, mr. Chairman picks but thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to recognize a gentlewoman from North Carolina to introduce our witness. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Again, it is wonderful to see chairman lucas back. We have missed him and he has been such a great leader of this committee. It is a privilege to introduce my friend, and fellow north carolinians, administrator Michael Regan. Administrator regans distinguished service at the North Carolina department of Environmental Quality set a strong example for other states around the country. And now we are sharing him with the whole country. Hes been a real champion in addressing pfas contamination in particular. My North Carolina colleague congressman rouser and i have seen the worldclass Water Treatment facility on the Cape Fear River and our state and local government would not have gotten to this point without administrator regans outstanding work in this area. Now, at the epa, he and his staff are working tirelessly to tackle the pfas contamination problem and many others. He recognizes that we have a duty at the federal level to protect the health and safety of our people. Our communities, and our environment. In order to move this country forward. Thank you for your leadership, administrator regan and i look forward to hearing your testimony. Thank you mr. Chairman, i yield that. Administrator regan you are recognized for five minutes to present testimony. Good morning, everyone and chairman lucas, thank you for personally inviting me in april at the Agriculture Committee to join you today. Im glad to be here. Ranking member members of the committee, i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the role of science at the Environmental Protection agency. Protecting Public Health and the environment is epas privilege and greatest responsibility and is a science based agency, sound and reliable science is central to all our work. Epa continues to uphold the biden harris demonstration of commitment to rely on science which is Public Health and environmental challenges like pfas, the Climate Crisis, light, Water Quality, wildfires, threats to childrens health, and many others. As we do this important work, we are guided by the fundamental belief that the health of people, of our environment, and our economy go handinhand. We have a golden opportunity not only to make communities healthier and safer, but to deliver lifechanging programs in these communities that catalyze local and Economic Growth and good paying jobs. And we are committed to scientific integrity, to help us achieve our ambitious climate and economic goals. Are dedicated and talented staff work on many Critical Issues and am looking forward to sharing some of our work with you today. Over the past years weve taken strides to ensure all people have access to clean and safe Drinking Water. For far too long coming communities across the United States have been exposed to harmful pfas. In october 2021, epa released its pfas strategic road map. A coordinator strategy to protect the public and the environment from this deadly chemical compound. As science continues to develop, we know more now than ever about pfas and how it can cause Adverse Health impacts that can devastate entire communities. Earlier this year, the epa propose the firstever legal limit for pfas informed by the hard work and analysis of epa scientist. We expect to issue a final Drinking Water role in coming months. And while science has helped make significant progress, we have a lot of work to do to increase our understanding of pfas. Are scientists are focusing on methods to measure pfas in our environment, and understanding the risk on her health and echo systems and on ways we can reduce pfas that are already in our environment. Epa will continue making progress by working in close collaboration with tribes, states, communities, and other stakeholders including congress, to enact and implement pfas solutions that follow the science and standard day should stand the test of time. I am grateful to congress for providing 10 billion from the bipartisan structure lot to address emerging contaminants which weve begun this evening. Im hopeful and optimistic that epa scientist lead to a cleaner and healthier future for all. Epa is using science to address many of the issues wildfires present to her health, and our environment. Over the past 20 years, the numbers of acres burned annually due to wildfires in the United States has doubled. Wildfires are a major source of air pollution and emissions can travel thousands of miles, impacting the health of millions. This past summer we saw the smoke from wildfires in canada bring dangerous air pollution to the midwest and east coast and last month we saw how wildfires in maui brought unimaginable loss to families, homes and businesses. Epa scientists are developing new ways to model and monitor the emissions and are working to understand what additional toxins might be present in the smoke. Particularly for wildfires that cross into urban areas and burn manmade structures. Lastly i would like to speak about the work our agency has done involving light exposure. Science is clear, there is no safe level of exposure to lead. Period. Epa is and has been a leader in president bidens government approach to protecting families and children from that exposure. To date, the initiation has funded the removal of over 100,000 lead Service Lines and that number was significantly increased thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law. Are scientists will continue to research and develop ways to reduce lead exposure until we meet president bidens goal of replacing 100 of lead Service Lines. Epas committed to taking actions that are backed by sound, quality, and Peer Reviewed science. From her actions to address and cleanup pfas to providing information that helps people during wildfires, to decisions that protect our nations drinking and recreational waters, science is the backbone of all we do at epa. And while im proud of the foundation we have late, theres still much more work to do, to ensure all our children have safe, Healthy Places to live, learn and play. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and submit testimony for the record. I look forward to continued partnership and to achieving these ambitious yet necessary goals and i welcome all questions. Thank you. Thank you commitment letter for your testimony, thank you again. The chair recognizes himself for five minutes. Mystery companies in ohio generate roughly 3. 5 billion in earnings and 1. 3 billion in taxes and exports from production plants, exceeding 6. 5 billion. That is why im concerned by the epos update to the chemical regulation under the toxics substance control act, particularly as it relates to pfas and manufacturing of semiconductors. The Semiconductor Industry association went as far as saying the proposed action would have devastating effect on u. S. Competitiveness and would result in the an, has epa measured the economic consequences of the actions and has the epa sought input from the department of commerce, which is investing 50 billion in u. S. Semiconductors that your agency might completely shut down . First off i would like to say during my time as a regulator i spent time with families, mothers and children poisoned by pfas. I have seen it firsthand. That being said, i brought that experience to the epa. I believe we are developing very responsible regulations. Yes, i sat with the leadership of the National Association of manufacturers, ive met with the american chemistry council. I have met with ceos from industry. There is a way to do this while we protect the environment and people, and Economic Development. They are not mutually exclusive. Ive been in these conversations as late as last week with Industry Leaders and ceos and there is a password. We dont have to compromise, mobile protectiveness while we protect our communities. You been working with the department of Congress Commerce at our site them in general . We have. The president pledged from day one that approaching pfas would be the whole government approach. Not only the department of congress , i sat down with the secretary of defense and secretary of agriculture. Epa is not doing any of this work in a vacuum because we understand it impact on our society. Communication is key, i agree. In march, i wrote to you along with my colleagues requesting information on the processes for that cleanup of the east pella stain the realm in east houston, ohio. Which a week ago, several chemical and Environmental Monitoring experts were not part of the Disaster Response until one month after the derailment. Two on scientists discuss concerned regarding lack of testing for dioxins, a highly toxic chemical. The former set of epas response, lots of thinking went on, exclamation point. Administrator regan, are there other actions that epa is taking to remedy this response related to dioxin sampling and Holding Public trust in scientific findings. I would like to say epa was on site within hours of the derailment and we are still there. Weve been working hard, round theclock. I think what weve done in terms of having our conversations internally and externally is looking at the appropriate response to what the science determines. We never believed to dioxin was present but because the community was alarmed, and because so many people answer that, we decided to do additional testing for dioxin, which we did not find. But we wanted to do that, not only to alleviate concerns of those in the community, but as we exported the waste to other facilities across the country, that had those questions as well. My decision was, we need to do the testing, do it quickly because we dont need any interruptions in the cleanup and export of that waste. I stand by the science and i believe we have done exactly what we need to do to protect that community. Thank you. As major criticism of epa response has been deference to the Railroad Company and given authority to them in conducting the sampling, in response to your letter, epa said there are no plans for the agency to perform longterm studies, that other organizations will undertake such efforts. Given this criticism, that the epa stand by the plan and if so, what steps do you take to protect the citizens of ohio . I think i said it fairly simply from day one. We were going to hold the perpetrator accountable. Norfolk southern, like any other perpetrator is on the hook to fit the bill and do the work with the appropriate oversight from epa. We have been overseeing the cleanup work from day one, Norfolk Southern has done everything to date we have asked for. And i think you saw from the president s executive order last week, there other agencies involved. We will continue to sample, we will continue to monitor, we will continue to stay there with the people of East Palestine but there are other agencies that have been brought in to do longterm studies and looking into some of the things that go along with the very serious disaster like this one. Thank you, administrator. The one thing i will say and i will wrap up and if you could do me a favor, and i mean it, if you can talk to the president and get him to come to East Palestine. He said he would and we would like him like him to come. It would mean a lot to the people there. Regardless of political facility, it would mean a lot. I yield the dish i yield to the Ranking Member for five minutes. I want to ask you a question first about the subject i referenced in my Opening Statement. It is something i have been dealing with for quite some time. Let it fuels are the primary fuel for piston engine aircraft. Jets dont use commercial airlines dont use leaded fuel, just the piston engines, small aircraft. Which comprises of the bulk of the general aviation sector. The centers for Disease Control and prevention, cdc, has concluded, based on scientific studies, that there is no known safe level of lead in the blood. What this means, residents near general aviation airports live with light exposure in the air and ground every day. Now as i mentioned, theres a small airport in the district i represent, the county of santa clara commissioned a Scientific Study and found that the blood levels of children in the neighborhood surrounding the airport had blood levels that were rivaling that in flint, michigan. And so it is very important, that we get the lead out of this last part of transportation and protect the children of this country. Congress instructed the faa to come up with an alternative to leaded gas but they have not been able to get the job done. More recently, various groups petitioned the epa to finalize their endangerment findings related to leaded gas. Im hopeful that the finding will force the faa and industry, to come up with a plan to stop poisoning children with leaded fuels. Can you provide us with an update, as to where this effort stands . I was woman, first of all i would agree with you that theres absolutely no acceptable level of lead. For any of us, especially our children. So epa has been very active in this area, working very hard, following the science, following the process for lead endangerment findings in this area. We are making significant progress and we believe we will have the endangerment finding wrapped up, i believe this fall. For that process, its moving along in a very scientific and orderly way. So we are in the file, we can expect this quite soon . Yes, yes. It will be done this fall, maybe late fall but this fall. And i dont want to prejudge or predetermine the outcome but i want to tell you that weve been very methodical and disciplined im making this determination. Thank you very much. I just want to touch on another matter. As you know, im sure everyone in america knows, the House Majority has us on the brink of going into what i think is a very irresponsible government shut down. I dont think Speaker Mccarthy seems to have a plan to keep the government open. And i think that is going to cause real harm to the country and real harm to our constituents. Im really concerned about the efforts and effects of a shutdown on the epa. Could you describe the effects of a shutdown on the epas work . Im gravely concerned as well. You know, i think the epa has a mission to protect Public Health and the environment. And while we do have some good systems in place, there is a method to that. All inspections, of our Hazardous Waste facilities, superfund facilities, those inspections will be suspended. Inspections of Water Quality, our Drinking Water, those inspections will be suspended. I think you are very thoughtful in congressionally directing projects that will help you districts, that work will be suspended. You know, the emergency personnel, and essential personnel, will be there to handle emergencies. But a lot of essential work will begin to slow down. By the way, when we think about pesticides, herbicides, our toxic reviews to get the chemicals on market, so that our farmers are not guessing, that work slows down. So i have grave concerns about a potential shutdown. Thank you, administrator for your testimony, for answering my questions, for being here today. And i yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. Thank you to the Ranking Member, i recognize the chairman , mr. Lucas. Thank you, mr. Chairman administrator pfas, thank you for accepting the invitation to testify before the Science Committee. We had a good discussion that day, the community did on both sides of the room and clearly the issues that we both addressed, this committee and you and your agency are so intertwined. It is important that you be here. But let me ask about an issue that is near and dear to my heart, the epa is expected to shortly finalize its methane proposal which includes the super emitter response program. Allowing private entities, including, i fear, nontrained and nongovernmental officials to require followup action without any Agency Involvement or data verification. And equally alarming to me, the proposed rule, as it appears to be headed our way, would establish two Technology Standards, a less stringent one for the nontrained third parties and a more stringent one for the industry. So i asked this, why is the proposed rule so prescriptive in the technologies, industry allowing to use the detective missions but has a much lower standard for environmental activists . Will the epa maintain a list of false reports and set up prohibitions on her feet repeat offenders . You see where my concern is coming front. I do and i appreciate the question. Let me say, we have received over 500,000 comments on the proposed role. Personally i spent time that says something when you get that many comments. I have spent time with industry ceos talking about these very issues and what i can say is, we take the Comment Period very seriously. Were looking how to strengthen the issues you have raised so that the final rule will acceptably address all of these issues. But let me say that, we do not want any adverse impacts on an intentional consequences to receiving any kind of false data or any kind of data that jeopardizes scientific integrity, that we have built into this program. So we are looking at every single issue you raised and i guarantee we are responding in kind. We dont want a system that would appear to be hiring bounty hunters to have more flexibility than those who are being pursued, so to speak, right or wrong. I appreciate that. The same methane role proposed, calls for requirements of facilities within two months of the rule being finalize. A number of groups have flagged the supply chain restraints for equipment, certain to cause a delay in meeting that short deadline and at the same time i am aware of only one application to the epa from a company, seeking to use new technology in detecting leaks at oil and natural gas facilities. Administrator regan, given the current state of supply chains and lack of Innovative Technologies approved to lighten the burden, will epa consider pushing the deadline for complying with the agencys forthcoming methane rules, give them more flexibility . We are giving a lot of thought to compliance flexibility and compliance deadlines and again, just last week, week before last, i sat down with industry ceos to talk about the very issue and how we balance the potential impacts to the supply chain. So yes, we are having these discussions. I want to continually say that a proposal is just that, it is meant to spark a lot of good conversation and quite frankly i am really proud of the conversations we have had with api, with heads of exxon, bp and others, about how we think of these complex issues. That we all believe theres a technical solution but the question is, how quickly we can get there and we are having positive conversations about that. As you know, where i live in oklahoma is a Traditional Oil and gas but primarily natural gas area and methane is money. And the way the equipment, the way the transmission systems, the way the processing is handled, has changed dramatically in the last 40 years because to lose methane, you are losing money. They understand that. Mr. And ms. Ritter, i appreciate that and we will keep a very close eye, as the rules work their way through the process. Again, thank you for coming and i suspect, over the course of the coming months and years, there will be a number of opportunities where we will invite you back to the to discuss our focus on science and effective use of it. With that mr. Chairman, thank you. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I recognize. Welcome back chairman lucas. Added misrata regan, thank you for joining us today. I want to start by aligning myself with the representative, Ranking Member lofgren as representative for oregon airport, i emphasize the importance of light pollution. Mr. And ms. Ritter, protecting Public Health and the environment is the epa mission, requires strengthening, not cutting programs that are proven to work and thank you administrator for your commitment to the work of the epa, informed by rigorous and quality science. The Climate Crisis causes dangerous air quality as we recently experienced from the smoke caused by the canadian wildfires we experienced disasters in oregons as well. In 2021, the transportation sector contributed nearly one third of Greenhouse Gas emissions in the United States which amplified climate events and disproportionally affects vulnerable communities. There are Effective Solutions to the carbonized the transit sectors. For example, the Beaverton Oregon School District is investing in quieter and electric school buses, portland has an electric fire truck, which i got to ride on. Daimler trucks is leading the way to electrified and commercial freight Trucking Industry. But in light of record high temperatures, we need to scale up and expedite the work. Administrator regan, im concerned about the majority posit Budget Proposal that would cut funding for the epa by 42 and zero out funding for the agency field goal electrification average. How would these cuts affect epas research and development of emission reducing technologies . Thank you for that question. And it would significantly hamper progress. I think prioritizing people first, we know these emissions from vehicles are very harmful to Public Health and human health, especially when we think about our children, our most precious cargo who ride to and from School Every Day breathing diesel fuel fumes. And i would like to say that the technologies and the markets are driving this electrification. And so what we are trying to do is propose regulations that can really capture that, while also thinking about fuel, advance biofuels and others that contribute to the whole low Carbon Technology transition we want to see that advances our economy, combats the Climate Crisis, and really does protect Public Health. We cant do that without the proper budget. We need the people, we need the scientific rigor, we need Technical Analysis and we need the Economic Analysis to go with these efforts. I absolutely agree with you and now is not the time to be cutting the epa budget. Administrator regan, the Supreme Courts decision narrows the definition of waters in the United States that limits the epa scope of authority to regulate under the clean water act. In light of that opinion, how is the epa working to protect clean water and how might these efforts be made more difficult by a potential Government Shutdown . Listen, i pledge from day one to follow the science and follow the laws and the Supreme Court spoke and we immediately sprung into action to address the prescription that they gave to us. With that, we are having to look at all of our programs, to be sure we are leveraging all of our resources and statutory stations after tory authorities to address this. We have to do this. It is good for the icon system and as you all know, our wetlands serve as natural filters for emerging compounds as well. We will comply with the law. A Government Shutdown is hampering our ability to effectively engage, especially with Rural Communities who are dealing with emerging contaminant issues. We want people to have confidence in their Drinking Water and if we are not at work, we can do that. Thank you mr. Administrator. As a reminder, he am in many were signed into law by president nixon. The should not be partisan, clean air and water are critical to the people of the United States and also to our planet. I want to note in your testimony, you mentioned your researchers are studying how native seagrass can restore carbon and increased coastal resilience to flooding. As cochair of the bipartisan oceans caucus, i am leading the efforts on the bipartisan blue carbonville, which will do just that, plus create jobs in Rural Communities. Im hoping we can move that bill forward, soon and look forward to talking about that in the committee and with the epa. It is a great opportunity to use the sea grasses as carbon also to restore habitat at the same time. I yield back, mr. Chairman. I recognize mr. Posey for five minutes of questioning. Thank you mr. Chairman and its good to see you administrator regan. Last month, a company in my district that makes motors u. S. Navy seals, was rated by the epa and i tried to talk to you about this but your office said it was enforcement sensitive and i wasnt able to do that. Since this case involves National Security extensions are figured, how is the epa dealt with request, seeking regulatory clarity. Thank you for that question and im sorry we couldnt get together. I do have limitations in terms of that specific case because of the office of Inspector Generals investigation at epa but the Clean Air Act gives flexibility to look at clean air flexibility for vehicles as it relates to the National Security interests. I would love for our staff to get together and think about whether or not this specific case outside the investigation fits into a future discussion with the Clean Air Act like civility. Thank you. You think it might be possible to expand the exemption to First Responders like fire, emergency and medical services, law enforcement, et cetera . But our folks have had conversations with those entities as well as the manufacturers, have not really seen the need for that flexibility. Most of our flexibility is reserved for National Security interests. But we are open to those discussions and i would love to get our staff together to talk about that. This committee has come to line the epa has spent 100 10 million on advance combat equipment for enforcement operations. Could you briefly explain why we need advance combat equipment in the Environmental Protection agency . Im not quite familiar with that, so i will have to get back to you on that. I had more questions about the issue but i will respect that and we will get back together. Switching subjects, epas Inspector General sent a memo in april identifying the grant recipients were not required to disclose forms of support after receiving a grade. This means epa grant recipient can receive both federal funding and foreign support during a grants period of performance. And also means a country like china could influence the environmental findings that the epa uses. So just wondering, are you familiar with this memo . It is from the epa. Inquiring about what steps the agency might take to enforce to ensure full transparency from grant recipients, since receiving the memo. I asked for unanimous consent to enter this into the record, dated april 13, 2020. Management implication report disclosure of foreign support for epa researching grants. Im not quite sure if i know specifically what is in that memo. I can tell you that we have taken a number of steps to strengthen Research Grant requirements consistent with the nda of 2021. We responded to concerns raised by our office of Inspector General and we have updated the terms and conditions of our Research Grant to ensure that grantees provide disclosure about sources of funding, both before they get the grant and on an ongoing basis, once they receive those grants. We have responded to the ig suggestions, there. About is what i want to hear. Thank you mr. Chairman, i yield the balance of my time. Thank you. I recognize ms. Stevens for five minutes of questions. Good morning, i want to give you some accolades because you are the right person at the right time, leading your agency. We have so appreciated your dedication to issues, important to us in michigan. I will never forget being with you on belisle after we passed the structure law. Celebrating the cleanup money that had been dedicated to the great lakes. Thank you for your time. In michigan and your great leadership, at the agency, as you probably know the United Nations estimates the equivalent of 2000 garbage trucks of plastic is dumped into the worlds oceans, rivers and lakes every single day. Addressing plastic pollution and improving recycling infrastructure is just absolutely essential. I have long been a supporter of this work and my very first year in congress, as chair of research and Technology Subcommittee and this very committee, we can being the first ever Committee Hearing on recycling in about a decade and we called on the epa to create National Strategy for recycling. I was pleased to see the epa released its strategy for recycling in 2021 and we went on to found the correctional Plastic Solution task force. So i wanted to ask, can you provide an update on the National Strategy to prevent plastic pollution and how this strategy will support the epas work in reducing plastic pollution atlarge . Absolutely, thank you for your leadership in this area. As i traveled the country, vendor probably more than 35 states and over 10 countries. The number of two issued young people talk about our plastics and recycling and so in april, we released our draft National Strategy for reducing plastic pollution. We have received over 100,000 comments that we are coming through right now. So we plan to do our due diligence, follow the signs, follow the data and come up with a very strong strategy. And then, you know, im excited that thanks to the bipartisan of the structure law and thanks to congress, we have recently distributed 275 million in solid waste and the structure for recycling grants, to help states and local governments with this very issue. So we are on the job recognizing how important it is and we are paying attention. We applied your agency for the grants work and we look toward the future of infrastructure work we are doing in the congress, to support recycling and the structure. It seems like we are learning new things and on an almost everyday basis as it pertains to Plastic Waste and recycling opportunities. Something else, i wanted to ask, the epa is conducting this Vital Research across the board. Are particularly, with water, aquatic life, sediments, and the air. The epas Research Vessel guardian is the largest Research Vessel in the epa fleet and the largest on the great lakes. And having this critical asset, functionable and rich and 80 Days Mission Ready is vital to the safety of our nations great lakes. I wanted to give you a few minutes to provide any updates on the vital work of the Research Vessel, lake guardian is doing in the great lakes, and why it is important to the future of these flakes. And anything you could add around cuts to epa and the work of this, for the health and safety of our great lakes. I think this is a vessel we are extremely proud of. Most people think it is just purely ecosystem research. We know the impacts and effects of Climate Change, are changing the physical structure of our great lakes. The great lakes provides Drinking Water to millions of people. So this vessel is critical for Scientific Research in terms of ecological balance and also preserving the security for Drinking Water, for many millions of people. We are proud of the work that vessel is doing. Cuts in this area are at a significant cost to the people that rely on the great lakes for recreation and for sustenance. And so we are continuing to advocate for the research dollars, because science will drive away to a lot of solutions that provide a lot of Economic Opportunity as well. And the monitoring remains critical. We have seen from times of prosperity in the past that cuts to personnel have greatly damaged some of the work that my constituents rely on, to maintain the health and safety of our great lakes. With that, mr. Chair, im going to yield back. Thank you. I recognize mr. Raven for five minutes of questions. Thank you mr. Chairman and mr. Administrator, thank you for showing up and talking to us and answered questions. The epa has proposed multiple roles for regulating Greenhouse Gas emissions from the power sector. Which i will refer to collectively as a proposed 111 roll. This aims to cut the power sector Greenhouse Gas pollution 80 by 130. But in reality, according to some, stated by utility providers themselves, this rule will only serve the cause of hundreds of billions of dollars, significantly raise customer power bills, and require a rapid transition away from reliable American Produce natural gas without a realistic plan to fully replace that generation. What i really want to focus on mr. Administrator is my feeling that this rule is based on politics rather than science. In fact, one article quoted six people who said the white house that the epas original proposal back to your agency. And requested that it add more stringent requirements. Several questions. Did the epas original proposal include regulations on existing gas plants only . Yes or no. I think what weve done, weve had back and forth and interaction with experts in the white house on the construct of that roll. Collectively we agreed that the proposed role should include existing resources or existing protection. It seems to have the vault away from just existing. The white house ask your agency to change the proposal to include existing gas plants . We had robust conversation internally at the epa and the white house. The rules that came out of epa is a rule that is really grounded in our technological rigor and sound science and i think we are proud of the role we propose and we are taking comment. I understand but what has happened since the rule was proposed is different. To the white house request the proposal require coal plants to curb emissions 90 by 2035, or retire . Yes or no. Our role is reflection of our epa staff analysis. We have had conversations with the white house but i just want to push back on the premise of the question because it sends a signal that the white house is dictating the rules the epa proposed. It doesnt that signal and it is why im asking these questions. Please confirm or deny that the white house did have some level of input on the proposed 111 roll . But absolutely, we had conversation with the warehouse on all our roles. Thank you. How many staff scientists are employed by the way hows office of Climate Policy . You know that question has to be directed to the white house. Im not sure. How many scientists does the epa employee . I can get that answer. Im not sure. I want to be exact. You believe the epa employees who are scientists are the best minds in their field and knowledgeable on the most upto date science . I absolutely agree with that. Yes, sir. You can probably see where i am going. Explain why epa scientists are being overruled by political employees and even if that is not the case or you say so, dont you think political appointees get to set targets and then scientists have to crunch numbers to make it happen . That would not make for a skeptical public of the proposed rule and wouldnt you agree that the significant public distress in the epa is a massive problem to the agenda . But i would have to answer that question as a top political employee t appointee and say that i listen to my scientist. That roll reflects what i think is hard technical rigor and let me just say i have met in the past two or three weeks, with industry ceos on a lot of these issues and we are receiving a lot of feedback. I think the final rule will reflect the thinking of our scientists, plus industry scientists and how we land the final rules. Thank you very much. Got a little bit more time. You think, these six individuals , i believe that came out of the epa that spoke with this group, gave us this information. Were those six individuals scientist . I am under the understanding that they were. Im not sure who the six individuals are, that you are referring to. Thank you, i will yield back. The chair recognizes mr. Bowman for five minutes of questions. Thank you so much, mr. Administrator for being here today and your exemplary leadership in protecting our environment and our communities. I would like to act days ask about Technical Assistance centers which have played a key role in funding and selecting. These 16 centers are going to be instrumental in helping vulnerable communities take advantage of climate, and production her and r d funding. They will be crucial in making a reality. How will the epa help them get off the ground and how do you stay involved in the process to make sure that they are a success . Will the regional imitator coordinate between state and local governments and communities, applying for funding . But thank you for the question and we are proud of these Technical Assistance centers because it demonstrates solutions are topdown. The federal government should not dictate all the solutions and we are providing Technical Assistance, as you stated, using 17 Centers Across the country. Each of these centers have been awarded roughly 10 million. They have connected with local university, theyve connected with local ngos and people to provide the Technical Assistance, to those on the front lines and working in these communities. To your point, yes, our ministers will be involved for the day so will our National Office of external civil rights, who served as the facilitator for all the work that we do to ensure temperamental justice and equity is central to every single thing that we do. Thank you for that answer. I would also like to ask about how our k12 Public School system fits into your vision and plan for ira implementation. I would also ask secretary granholm about this when she joined us weeks ago. Public schools are the heartbeats of our communities, the next generation of s. T. E. M. And s. T. E. A. M. Visionaries are part of ours Public Schools and many are struggling with toxic pollution, crumbling of the structure, and Efficient Energy systems and the impact of extreme weather driven by Climate Change. And many changes that have to be addressed holistically. Cant can you talk about what is happening with agencies to help Public School take advantage of all relevant funding. Absolutely, the first thing i would say is doe is a Strong Partner and the partnership of these is to ensure that all of these communities and our state and local governments will understand the full breadth of Resources Available to reduce pollution and climate pollution. So we are excited about that in terms of our partnership with doe and other agencies. The Inflation Reduction Act creates billions of dollars for state and local government to apply for pollution reduction grants, which we are excited to say our cities and our localities and schools should be able to participate in that process but the thing im most proud of is how Many School Districts across this country are applying for the electric schoolbus and lowcarb and schoolbus grants, this is really revolutionizing how children can get to school and reducing the burdens that many of them face, especially having asthma attacks and respiratory stress before they can even get to the classroom at 8 00 a. M. We are really excited about that. But thank you for that. One final question, can you give a status update on justice for the implementation from epas perspective . What you see as successes so far and what are the challenges so far . Listen, ive said it before and i will say it again. Is a floor press. I believe that we have designed a program and process at epa to ensure the most vulnerable are first in line. Whether you are in appalachia, West Virginia or the black belt of alabama, there are communities that have been on the receiving end, disproportionally. So in many of our programs, we have not only met, but exceeded justice 40. When i think about resources from our Superfund Program and brownfield program, think about programs where we distribute our Water Quality resources, we are ensuring the communities that have not had a seat at the table have a seat at the table and get those protections. And by the way, many of our Rural Communities across the country into that very category. Thank you so much. Thank you for your exemplary leadership. I yield that, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Have recognized mr. Baer for five minutes of questioning. Thank you, mr. Chairman. We really appreciate you being here today, and testify. The question i have, really goes with what congressman babin was talking about, section 111 proposed rule. Mentioning specifically this proposed rule that indicates Carbon Capture is a technology that can be used to comply with this roll. Option Carbon Capture projects require the epa to issue classics for the injection of carbon. So my question is, how many classics permits has the epa issued . This year. I will have to get specific numbers for this year. The most recent, we are on track for looking at how West Virginia and louisiana can participate in our Classics Program and if my understanding is that taxes recently, in august, made an application. So i will say this, that the president has pledged Carbon Capture technologies will be part of how we move forward. The class six well program is in line with that and is a commitment at epa to get these classics well permits out. Along the same line, you anticipate more being in the pipeline, as we move forward . But i do, anticipate that we have really figured out some program efficiencies, especially as we work with louisiana and as we worked with West Virginia. We have identified a number of efficiencies and we are prepared to move forward as expeditiously as possible because we see it as part of the solution. Not everywhere but many places around the country. I think you make a good point. Because it helps to answer the situation, how you can utilities really make plans, if they dont have, and it requires, these classics permits. So i guess im making a comment in order for them to move forward. We need to be moving forward with classics permits. So another area i would like to go into, my colleague from ohio, mr. Miller brought to your attention, to discuss the epa handling of the East Palestine Train Derailment in february. And without a doubt, i hold the highest assurance for heritage in the building in my area, to handle the contaminated materials. However, i felt the process was somewhat disorganized, as it was laid down and as my constituents have had extreme concerns about the fact this material was moving into their area, coming from indiana. So senator rowan and i wrote you a letter back in march. You took about 55 days to get an answer to that. So anyway, the questions i have relates to that ladder. And if the chairman will allow, i would like to submit that letter for the record. Spoke without objection. Without objection. I guess that im trying to figure out why some of the facilities were not approved and yet rosedale, indiana, is quite a distance from his palestine. So how that Selection Process worked, and why some of these other sites, like victory, ohio, liverpool, ohio and some of those sites were not selected. Thank you for that question and the when we have a perpetrator of an incident like the one in East Palestine, they are responsible for identifying and selecting the sites. From Norfolk Southern, they gave a list of sites that they thought were capable of handling these particular waste streams. I know that they exhausted the number in ohio, and started to look at other states as well. It is our job, once Norfolk Southern submits a desired location to approve or disapprove, based on certification and that is what we did during that process. I know because east palestinian was highly visible, that there was a lot more controversy around who would receive these waste but i would agree with you that Companies Like heritage and others across the country received these all the time and handle them with utmost integrity and we didnt anticipate anything different on this one. Thank you very much for the answer. I see that i am out of time. I just think that process, it really needs constant review. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, i recognize ms. Ross for five minutes of questions. Thank you mr. Chairman and again, thank you administrator regan for being with us today. I also want to thank all your employees at the Research Triangle headquarters. I visited with them recently and they are inspired by your work in doing fabulous work there. And lets hope the government doesnt shut down, so none of them have compromised paychecks over the next few weeks and months. Back to the pfas issue. As you know, pfas chemicals affect Drinking Water, our crops, the air we breathe and the products we bring into our homes. And they have contaminated where the 2300 sites across 49 states. Polluting the Drinking Water of an estimated 200 million americans, including thousands of households in North Carolina, as you know very well. These forever chemicals have been associated with a wide range of Serious Health effects, including probable cancer, thyroid disease, lower fertility, and more. But we know very little about what these chemicals really are. Where they are manufactured and used, and how the American People are being exposed. It is vital for epa to define pfas in a way that will not deprive the agency, congress, state, and the public, of information necessary to address their harmful effects, efficiently and effectively. I lead Bipartisan Legislation that has twice passed the house that would direct the epa to use a simple definition of pfas. One fully fluorinated carbon atom. That is consistent with the International Consensus definition. This definition would ensure that we have a full picture of the nature and extent of pfas effects , enabling congress and the administration to formulate an effective plan of action to address the problem. Am hopeful that epas pfas reporting role under the Toxic Substances Control Act will capture the full picture of contamination in the u. S. How is epa going to ensure its definition accurately reflects the scope of the pollution crisis, and the wide range of chemicals, our communities are suffering from, in particular, pfas pollution from fluoropolymer is in North Carolina. Thank you for that question and we have recently issued our third test order, on this pfas substance, because we are in a continual collection mode of what these Health Effects are, to the point you made, there are many of these chemical compounds out in our environment that we dont understand. In terms of following the science and following the law from a regulatory standpoint, we have testing requirements under the order that will improve our understanding, and we have a national pfas strategy that spans, not only are task program but our cleanup programs, our air programs and water programs and we are really trying to get our arms wrapped around, what do we do with what is already in the environment and how do we work with industry to ensure that we dont continue to put into the environment. Thats great. On a different topic, this Administration Made significant investments in the transition to electric vehicles, specially is made possible through the Infrastructure Investment and jobs at an Inflation Reduction Act. We had the privilege of speaking with secretary granholm in this Community Committee earlier this month about what the department of energy is doing to advance this transition. Can you elaborate on the work that epa is undertaking to advance this transition . I can say we have a proposed rule for our cars and trucks, that looks at the opportunity for electric vehicles, to lower carbon pollution, along with advanced fuels and other technologies that pull carbon out of the air. I left because i think what we are doing is trying to codify technology that industry is out of the gates with. You have Major Car Companies running Million Dollars super bowl ads talking about how quickly theyre going to electrify the future. We have over 500 billion in private sector investment, into manufacturing and ensuring that we can do this, domestically. Are Technology Standards for cars and trucks and vehicles ensures that we leverage the full potential of electric vehicles, to meet the demands of the Emission Reductions for the Climate Crisis. I think we are in line with where the industry and technologies are going and we want to be sure that we give industry the regulatory certainty to continue to make the major investments. Thank you, i yelled that. Thank you, i recognize mr. Obrien for five missions five minutes of questions. Thank you mr. Regan for your willingness to be here today. I would like to ask a question about the greenhouse Reduction Funds the epa is attempting to establish. It is trying to get 20 billion at the door this year, which obviously is staggeringly large amount of money to move and one year. The freedom of information act request revealed the epa had a series of meetings last november with potential awardees of grants from that fund. And that raised concerns that the epa was picking winners and losers, essentially. Is that normal practice to have meetings, exclusive meetings with potential awardees of grants from a fund, particularly with the public Comment Period has not closed . But i have to say, we met with just about everybody under the sun to articulate the design or intentions of the program. I would argue that once we got beyond the initial conversations and we got into the design of the program, we had proper safeguards to ensure that number one, no one was unfairly advantaged and number two, those who could be a recipient, would not be involved in the design discussions. I can say i met with private equity hedge funds, venture capital, wall street, commercial bankers and i also met with cdf is, state and local governments. So we really tried to be sure that we understood, so the full breadth of the impact of this program, and i think you recognize that we have designed competitions so that those who are experts in leveraging capital can take that 20 billion and pull hundreds of billions of dollars off the sidelines to invest in low carbon technologies. Was speaking of those safeguards, one of the things revealed through that freedom of information act request was the fact that a former senior attorney for the sierra club was one of the required attendees from the epa, at a meeting that included the sierra club. Is that a conflict of interest or without fall into something you would think would be impermissible. I would have to look into the specifics because its not the first time ive heard that. Again, we have instructed, i had a number of conversations actually with our office of Inspector General on how to conduct and to design these programs, and as far as i know, we are meeting that letter of the law. I appreciate that you could look into that and get back to us on it. Obviously we would never want the public to think government headed some on the scales when it came to who is eligible for, and received funding from this grant fund. Absolutely. Talking for a moment about Nuclear Energy, i know we are all aware that we have a big problem with the disposal of nuclear waste. Regardless of what ones thoughts are on Nuclear Energy, we should be able to agree that storing stent fuels onsite at these decommissioned Nuclear Power plants, is not the best practice or in keeping of our obligation to protect the apartment. What is epa doing to promulgate longterm solutions to this problem . I would say we work closely with the department of energy on the waste storage issues. But let me be clear, im from the state of North Carolina were 50 of the baseload is Nuclear Energy. We see Nuclear Energy as lower Emissions Technology that can help us combat the Climate Crisis and Public Health issues. I think we have to say laser focus on how we store the waste and proliferation of as we look at new and advanced modular nuclear technologies. I want to be clear, we work very closely, handinhand with the department of energy on how we handle the storage of that waste. Lets keep working on the solutions because it is a goal that we all share. And lastly, talking about the pfas regulations your agency is promulgating, i just want to sound a cautionary note. We share the goal of providing clean, safe, affordable Drinking Water to all americans but it is not enough just to establish Detection Technologies and new regulations, because if we are not giving our water agencies the tools to remove the hazardous chemicals from the water, we really have not accomplished anything. We can pretend we put regulation on them and Problem Solved but if theres not technology to remove that from the water or if it is too expensive or we are forcing agencies to build that into the cost of Drinking Water, it makes it unaffordable. We really have not solved the problem so i hope we can Work Together on that. I see that my time has expired. Thank you for being here today and for your willingness to testify before the committee. I think it is helpful. A yield back. I recognize mr. Swenson for five minutes of questioning. Thank you chairman miller and Ranking Member lofgren for this meeting and administrator regan for your willingness to appear before us. It is great to see chairman lucas back in our Science Committee this money. I would like to thank administrator regan for visiting my hometown of rockford, illinois earlier this year, to witness replacement of led Service Lines into homes. Families were have are solving the problem. The district i represent, illinois 17th, we have some of the highest percentages of led Service Lines of any district in the country. Last congress we passed a bipartisan info structure la, which included funds for lead pipe replacement. Im proud of my colleagues for the work they put into that bill and the work we are doing today, we are all doing today, to keep communities safe and healthy. But as we are aware, congress is facing an appropriations cliff and as of right now, we do not have a plan to fund the government beyond this weekend. Should the Government Shutdown, what would be the impact of that shutdown for beneficial programs like led service line replacement, that the epa is implementing . Will thank you for hosting me in your district and it really was a good day. It is always a good day when you watch the extraction of led Service Lines and see families throughout the neighborhood, celebrating. We run the risk of not seeing those celebrations if we have a shut down. Simply put, the work cannot get done. We got 15 billion we want to get out to eradicate lead Service Lines. Both on the public and private side, this money tackles both of those. And without the epa employees to do the work, we hit the pause button and that exposes children, the literally, every day families, exposes them more to lead in their Drinking Water. Before i was elected to congress, i served my community as a meteorologist for 22 years. I was one of the first people to talk on local television about the impact of Climate Change. I represent family farmers. In western illinois, there have generations, i have seen these books of old weather records that go way back. People understand there is a change, as you and i do, as well. I am proud of john deere and company is focused on precision and lowering inputs and emissions, im proud the new amazon delivery trucks, that ev trucks are built in my district, by vivian. And the administration, i am thankful, is focused on Climate Crisis, implementing the whole of government approach. Can you elaborate on what role the epa is playing in this, im government and also the public and private approach and expand on how the epa is engaging in smaller communities to solve this crisis . I appreciate that and i spent a lot of time with the secretary thinking through how we use voluntary, and regulatory tools for our small, Rural Communities, as well as our larger communities. I think it takes a holistic approach. So im spending a lot of time engaging the private sector. We cannot solve this problem without the private sector. So we have great opportunities like this Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund question that was raised about billions of dollars of investment but we also have the responsibility to engage with the regulated community, with the ag community and how we get the best technologies, at the commercial scale, to ensure that we are combating the credit crisis and using every tool in the toolbox. I have a great deal of respect for usda, for congress, for d. O. T. , and the president sets the tone. And he indicated from day one, we would all Work Together and im glad we like each other because we Work Together very closely. I feel that from the Science Committee as well because this is a group of people here in congress, that are here to solve the problems of the American People. We put politics aside in this room and we solve the problems because we know that there are real people. We know that there is another generation and the generation after that, that are going to look back at 2023 and say, what did we do as things were changing. Its got to be a scientific approach. I appreciate what you do at the epa, i yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. Mr. Crawford, you are not recognize for five minutes of questioning. Thank you for being here, we appreciate it. The epa recently offered a proposal to vulnerable species pilot which i have concerns with and i think most people in attic and forestry, are pesticide users that share the can be impossible to comply with and reduces protecting crops and other property. Four out of five will no longer be able to continue farming operations if these relations are enacted. Obviously it would jeopardize the livelihoods of communities. My question is, can you claim why the epa feels the need to put in place severe restrictions while without looking at the science and how does this approach reconcile with the responsibility under the endangered species act to conduct determinations and Risk Assessments. I appreciate the question and thank you, we share our frustration which we have had 30 to 35 years of lack of compliance with the endangered species act, and as i have discussed quite frequently with secretary mills that as we collectively tackle the issue, the courts have now taken the driver seat in terms of setting the bar pretty high on epa, not responding to and losing litigation in court. So what we have attempted to do is work very closely, with usda , to resolve some of these litigation issues and begin to expedite some of the reviews that would comply with the Court Guidance and also bring new products to the market. We do not want our farmers waking up and guessing everything today, what is on or off the shelves. You mentioned, i have heard you tell two different members that you coordinate it with and have a good regulate working relationship with the usda. Have you coordinate it with fish and wildlife on this proposal and if not, how does that record now reconcile under the 2018 farm bill and the appropriations act which requires coronation with fish and wildlife. Im giving you credit for having coordinated with usda because you indicated you have but other regulators. We have. We have looked at the issue, i have looked at the issue three frustrated lands. I inherited a mess but we have to solve it. I dont mean to interrupt but my time is limited. If i am understanding you correctly, a lot of this is in the wheelhouse of the courts, is that correct . But a lot of it has been and the courts have made rulings. Where you will see a slight difference sometimes, with usda and your fish and wildlife is the court telling epa, it has to meet that measure and then we discussed and frankly, maybe usda or fish and wildlife have a higher appetite for risk. Doj is serving as our attorney and say, you cant afford to do x, y and z. You are seeing robust discussion to get at these issues and quite frankly, courts like the ninth circuit has set a really high bar. That bar would not have been the high if we had been on the offense instead of the defense. I think we can agree it is a very frustrating process. I definitely think we agree with that front. Let me switch gears, in 2020, the epas Risk Assessment demonstrated that line factory emissions are acceptable within ample margin of safety. The epas proposing to provide mission standard for hearted hazardous Economic Analysis of the epa proposal demonstrates the role would impose capital cost of almost 1 billion on an industry with only an annual revenue of 2. 3 billion. That would impose costs without appreciable benefit, would you commit to adopting online manufacturing. I think we want to ensure that we are meeting the letter of the law with as much flexibility as possible. I think we have to be reasonable and we want to protect Public Health and ensure that these industries can be productive. Because of course all of us rely on food, fuel and fiber that industry produces. I will yield back the balance of my time. I recognize. I want to welcome back joe lucas. I really appreciate his leadership on this committee and i think Ranking Member also promoting this important hearing. Administrator regan, thank you for being here today and clean water and air to ensuring transition, the epa work is truly essential to oregons health and prosperity and am grateful for your work to implement the bipartisan the structure law. Which is are you making an impact for my constituents. In february, epa awarded oregons 18. 9 million to address emerging contaminants like pfas in Drinking Water and the investments target our smaller communities and disadvantaged areas. In april, you testified, and we discussed the closing americas wastewater Technical Assistance program and you assured us then that you are working closely with usda on 11 pilot projects in communities around the country to provide a road map to scale up unified Technical Assistance. And export successful model, all across the country. From my community, the issue of Technical Assistance has been a priority since day one, since i was first sworn in. Historically, small towns are edited and managed to access some of these grants. You know, if they have any kind of assistance, in terms of staff capacity, they dont really have the Legal Expertise and some of the capacity to hunt down these grants in the first place and certainly dont have the expertise to apply for them. It is my understanding that was meant to equip the participating communities with the information they need to apply for funding in fall of 2023, this year. I questions are, are we on track to hit that target and are there key lessons you have learned so far in that process . Thank you for that question and we are on target. We are learning a heck of a lot from these 11 communities. We strategically chose these communities because we knew that there would not be a lot of we are prepared, epa and usda to take those learnings from the 11 and export those to ensure that they reflect the breadth of Rural Communities, smaller communities, that will be competitive for these resources. We are on track at our office of water, feeling good about having the capability to make sure these communities are competitive for these billions of dollars. And when is the Pilot Program dates when it wraps up, is there intent to extend the program nationally . I think the goal is two fold, we will assess whether or not we need to continue to pilot where will we take the learnings, compile them and see if we can export that level of learning and Technical Assistance to those who need it the most. We believe this 11 is reflective of the country and we believe that those learnings will help us get across the finish line. Is there anything you need from congress, in order to make sure this program is successful . Listen, i would say that the 50 billion we received from bipartisan in the structure law to focus on our feeling water in the structure was a huge shot in the arm but we have over 700 billion in need. What i am hoping is that congress will see epa has used the resources strategically and wisely, so that when we look for more resources to help more people, there will be a compelling case to do so. Thank you. And as you know, shifting gears, china dominates production of Critical Minerals essential to clean energy transition,. With the chips and science act and the ira, congress set ambitious clinicals while also seeking to reduce dependence on foreign countries, parties that seem at odds an issue that is exclusive to the energy sector, i have heard from intel employees that it is top of mind for Tech Companies that rely on these minerals to produce the may conductors and other electronics. How does epa supported research and form sustainability in mining and more broadly, how do you think about expanding Domestic Production of Critical Materials in an environmentally responsible way . But i will say we believe that we can do it in a responsible way. We believe we have to have responsible domestic mining because we cannot rely on china. And since the Inflation Reduction Act, i believe weve seen 45 billion in investments in Battery Supply investments, and supply chain, critical mineral supply chain issues. So what we do with our regulatory authority, is watch what the market is doing, watch where the technologies are going, and in our regulation standards, we incorporate best Management Practices and best technologies to keep the country globally competitive. That is the goal of the epas real. Thank you, i yield back. I recognize ms. Tenney for five minutes of questioning. Thank you, chairman lucas and Esther Miller and also thank you to chairwoman lofgren. I want to thank you for your service and for being here and giving transparent answers on the operation of the important functions. And thank you to chairman lucas, congratulations. Im glad to see him back in action. For the sake of time, not to give an Opening Statement but i want to dive and asked his questions and would appreciate straightforward yes and no answers on these if you could peer my first question is, are you familiar with arabella advisers . Arabella advisers . I am not. Are you familiar with the federal acquisition regulation, counsel proposed rule entitled disclosure of Greenhouse Gas emissions and climate related financial risk, that is the proposed rule, which requires major federal suppliers to publicly disclose Greenhouse Gas emissions and climate related Financial Risks as well as set sciencebased reduction targets. I am familiar. This was proposed which comprises the council. Does epa have involvement, consultation, coordination or otherwise in this . We may have had peripheral. We typically participate in interagency processes. You didnt directly get involved, as far as you know . Are agency could have. But you didnt, you and your staff. I did not, personally. You think as the epa, premier agency, you should have consultation in putting forth a rule and climate omissions, especially affecting major suppliers and entities all over the country . But i believe that our agency may have participated in interagency. But im answering straightforward, i did not participate. You know the council on governmental quality was consulted . I assume they were because theyre part of the interagency process. As you know, that counsel is in the white house and i am not. Appointed by the president. The role requires major contractors to have climate targets validated by a Company Called sciencebased target initiative, are you familiar with that . I am not familiar. The epa website cites the criteria as a good rule of thumb for companies to align their emission targets day she may want to know who they are, so they are going to be actually doing oversight on behalf of your agency and telling u. S. Businesses who they need to align with. Let me also know, since you dont know sbti, is a British Company and it interests me, not necessarily the alliance with u. S. National security interests, and i want to say, so everyone knows, and is on the same page, i want to inform you, sbti is a private Foreign Company that sets Emission Reduction targets and validates them for private companies for a fee. According to the epa website, this is the agency run, the apa center for corporate resource is for all organizations looking to expand work and Greenhouse Gas measurement and management. It says the Center Office offers resources to help reduce scope one, two and three emissions. From what you understand, and i described, the of the center and sbti conduct those activities . I am very familiar with the center of corporate leadership. I am very familiar with that organization, which i think to your point is a voluntary program we run because the private sector asked for ways. The proposed rule is not voluntary. The center for corporate climate leadership is a voluntary program. The role im talking about is going to be, if enacted, is mandatory. I want to ask, between the center which preexisting voluntary relationships you are talking about, it covers 85 to 90 of all u. S. Ghd omissions. Do you think the epa could at least be compared in Offering Services and activities u. S. Based government agency, and not a private entity funded by outside donors, to which have ties to political ties. We have a Greenhouse Gas reporting program. Dont you think we should go to the epa versus going to the sbti quit im not negating that group didnt come to epa, to consult with the epa on the reporting program we already have in place. I think we have two, the Greenhouse Gas reporting program and center for corporate climate leadership. Those both could fit into the process and it could have happened with senior leadership. Im about to run out of time. This is listed as full source for getting this information. Dont you think we should have choices and we shouldnt have a politically charged arabella under the proposed rule, there is no choice. They must go to the sbti and sbti is funded by arabella advisers ultimately which is funded by. I will look into this because i reject the premise that we dont have choice. We have a number of programs that are wellestablished, that could have set the interagency process. I dont want to negate. I think i agree with you. I recognize for five minutes of questioning. Thank you, mr. Chairman and Ranking Member for holding this hearing today. And i was happy to see chairman lucas back into the Committee Room today. And administrator reagan, welcomed. I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss epa science with you today. For the Agency Research activities, are a significant and welcome presence in my district and of course, its always a pleasure to welcome fellow carolinian to the Science Committee. My district in North Carolina is one of the nations leading hubs for Environmental Research and epa research for a huge part of that. The office of air quality planning, and standards, and center for Public Health and environmental assessments, are both based at epa rtp campus, where i was pleased to visit earlier this year, as well as other critical epa facilities like the National Computer center, the center for computational toxicology and exposure, and the first environment was about how epa suppor ts it s Research Programs in rtp and ensures that they have everything they need to continue their essential work on behalf of the American People. Thank you for that question. I smile, because i think you know in 1998 i interned in research trying to park, where i got my start with the agency. Listen, just so folks understand, the campus and rtp is considered a headquarter office. The number of personnel we have, the worldclass capacity, is so large that congress deemed that they would set up that separate campus in North Carolina. We rely on those individuals at ord to continue our leading research on thee air quality impacts of wildfires, looking at how we begin to address the chemical compound for emerging compounds and also as we think about expediting and pushing for our program. So if we face a shutdown, and if we lose the focus, we will see a pause in the work that is happening on a national and global level. So, can you assure me that under your leadership, epa is prioritizing scientific programs in Research Triangle park and elsewhere, with the budget they need, the staffing they need, and the highlevel backing they need, to conduct their work . This is why i come before congress often, to ask for the necessary resources, and it is imperative. I have stress from day one that scientific integrity is the northstar for us. Following science and following the law. I pledge that commitment to all of our scientists across the agency. We are trying to push as many resources and as much opportunity for the scientific voice to be heard in all the work that we do. I also want to take this opportunity to discuss an important oversight priority. For over a decade, epa has been working on updating the assessment of formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. Came to the conclusion last year, a draft conclusion and last month the National Academy provided a stamp of approval on the assessment. Its fourth time in nine years, affirming the progress that was made. Gao and the science immunity investigation found during the Trump Administration political influence derailed the important assessment from being finalized. As the academy said, it is imperative that epa finalize this assessment. Will you push to finalize this important assessment by the end of next year, so he stakeholders across, and beyond the federal government can incorporate it into protective policies. We are currently reviewing the nas and the external peer reviews as we speak. We are moving on expedited timeframe, along with looking at hundreds of studies as well, that we have to consider. We understand the sense of urgency and i commit to you that we put the necessary resources and personnel of this issue and we will move expeditiously. Thank you, mr. Administrator. I yield back. Thank you, recognized mr. Mccormick for five minutes of questions. Thank you i fellow marine and mr. Chairman, thank you. Mr. Regan, i also thank you. Administrator regan, want to talk about epas role on another part of the jurisdiction, which is space. Camden spaceport in georgia went to a sixyear process for final Environment Impact statements, that Camden County spent nearly 10 million on various studies, preparing for the Environmental Impact statement and consultants. I am glad to me finally forward on the impact in 2021, that took a decade and 10 million for the development to clear the paperwork acquired, largely because of the Environmental Review process. Can you point out concrete steps the epa is taking to shorten this approval process and remove the bureaucratic red tape from the budding space industry, specifically . What weve done at epa and obviously the eis process involves more than just epa but what weve done is, we have streamlined our permitting process and our environment will review process. We automated a lot of the processes, as you mentioned it is in the making for 10 years, over the past three years, we recognize that in order to get eis done, in order to get permits out the door, we have to use technology and more efficient measures so that we can ensure our state and locals get the needed permit so the economy can thrive. I can tell you that we have looked at how we can make processes more efficient. We have automated processes and we have also expanded our external stakeholder outreach, our state and local governments arms of the epa is much more robust and muscular and we have more of a finger on the pulse. I agree because i see it takes half as much time to get approval and it is obviously working. The epa rule is to protect human health and services in the apartment yet it seems often more focus on bureaucratic red tape, which i understand is a product of the regulation we burdened people with. Other bureaucrats also add onto that because it is a job. My own district, a mile and a half road in roswell, 700,000, for a study that lasted 18 months, just to see if we could repave a road that is going to get repaved anyway. But it cost three quarters of 1 million and delayed a year and a half what people are going over potholes and going through the process that is so drugged out to do something we know is pretty much inevitable anyways. Im looking for ways to streamline this process and get rid of the inevitable delays that have been making people miserable. I thought we were in government to serve people and make their lives better. Can you speak to that . I dont know if i can speak to paving roads and the expediting of that process. I can say with a bipartisan shirt infrastructure lot and the whole of government approach, there are more resources to look at how we stabilize our roads, our bridges and transportation. I can say our involvement in these environmental assessments, under my watch, have moved much more expeditiously. I can say that because as a former state regulator, ive been on the receiving end at the state level trying to work with the federal government. I tried to bring that knowledge to the federal government and work in an expedited manner to get the reviews done. Time is money. Time is money, now you sound like a business guy. I like that. We allocated 40 million for a study based on efficiencies, less cycle for the budgeting. And i was curious, you talk about efficiency and timeliness, which are supposed to be part of this review. You talk about how youre making progress. Can you tell me where that 40 million expanded your ability to digest that, making it more timely and efficient. You mentioned ai but other things, the 40 million went toward, finding out can make you better. Im not sure by recognizing the 40 million, you are speaking too. I will specifically, through the inflation reduction that we allocated 40 million to a study to develop more efficient, accurate and timely review process in the epa. Let me get back to you on the specifics of that. Holistically speaking i can tell you weve spent money, time and resources on efficiencies across the resources but i want to ask that you want to be accurate. With that, youll. Thank you. I recognize five minutes of questioning. Thank you so much administrator for being with us today. This is a great conversation and one of the reasons i wanted to serve on this committee is to oversee the implementation of science. As well as the Inflation Reduction Act and your agency has quite a role to play in that. One of the things you have the oversight of his 41 billion of distressed communities to discuss advancing Environmental Justice. I know that might seem like one of the d. C. Bubble phrases, but it certainly is impactful and necessary conversation to have because Environmental Justice means access to safe Drinking Water, clean air, addressing pollution of the past, to make sure doesnt catch fire again. We know that pollution does not know geographical boundaries, but impacts can also be disproportionate. I want to talk specifically about my district, ohio 13th because i represent akron, barberton, uniontown and communities working to address these longstanding Environmental Issues that we inherited, many generations ago. And we also want to make sure we get our fair share of the 41 billion. Talk about the difference these funds are going to make in our communities and how they are implemented across the country now. Absolutely. First off, thank you for your leadership. Locally, and also your role on the Congressional Black Caucus and Environmental Justice task force, as cochair. I think you know and understand that there are 70 communities like the ones that you have identified that have not had a seat at the table and have been left behind. They dont have the infrastructure to respond to the disproportionate solutions they face. With the actions i took, establishing a new National Program, the Environmental Justice and external civil rights program, this program on par with our other National Media programs, the air, water, land, chemical program. To ensure that all of the resources we get appropriated, in addition to the resources from these historic pieces of legislation, reach communities that need it most. Whether you are in your community or appalachia, or alabama, the disproportionate impact and lack of Infrastructure Investment is astounding. So not only set up a National Program but we have set up metrics and guidelines and policies to ensure every regulation, every policy, contracts and procurement have a lens of justice and equity applied. Thank you so much and i appreciate you saying appalachia because you are illegitimate person and some people say appalachia. As we are often corrected in ohio. I want to build upon something, and moved to another topic, specifically the community of uniontown and the state of ohio epa has been working with uniontown since the 1980s, to fix the industrial access landfill and the work of your agency is because of your agency being remediated and effective residents were hooked up to municipal water and away from while water. But this process is arduous, it is long term and it becomes very difficult. We have seen presence of one of the a dangerous chemical. We dont have time to go into it deeply but if you could blink twice and let me know that you will continue to work with the state of ohio epa and i will take it as a commitment of working with our community. But i want to talk about East Palestine. I want to thank you, and members of your staff are coming so quickly, to the aid of folks in East Palestine. It is not my district but certainly i appreciate efforts. Ive heard from the governors administration, their appreciation and i also express it publicly. And i know that we often hear about the administration and what they are doing, and i attest that i seen you there a couple of times, that you were there. But the thing unfortunately, members of congress, as members of Congress Push on the administration, dont push enough on our own colleagues to pass Bipartisan Legislation like the real act. We can do something to fix this and that is passing the real act, a bill that have not received any hearings in committee and it can be very impactful. But to your point earlier about Norfolk Southern and holding them accountable, i know there was a recent executive order from the president , to ensure that the administration is overseeing the work, the announcement was made several months ago in East Palestine. Can you talk about in 10 seconds or less, how you are enforcing and making sure that Norfolk Southern is doing what they promised to do for the people. We ordered Norfolk Southern to clean up the mess. They have responded to our orders, to date. And have doubted every i and cross every t. We are almost complete, to clean up the ways. We will continue to monitor the soil and water for the foreseeable future and the president executive order spelled out what we at epa have been doing which is to provide updates directly to him so the. Thank you, recognized mr. Williams for five minutes of questioning. Admin shooter, weve never met and i want to say how much i appreciate over here in the quarter. I appreciate your direct and relevant answers and also admire your command of the issues, that are under your jurisdiction. Please accept my sincere appreciation. One of the key lessons i have learned about research and development for my business experience, as well as my experience as a Nuclear Engineer, training as a Nuclear Engineer in the navy, his scientific innovation, or invention, does not always lead to broad adoption of new technologies or new solutions. In fact, actual broad acceptance of innovation is quite rare in actual practice. And as a society we tend to assume once a new technology, like solar panels or Carbon Capture or Hydrogen Fuel is first invented or innovated, it will inevitably be adopted and be a good solution for the market. However, in my experience, it simply is not the case. New technologies, faced the greatest hurdles after they are invented or if the innovation occurs, and there are many hurdles to adoption. Then beyond that even into broad acceptance, into our society. New products, face significant difficulties, expanding. This is quite clearly captured in a term coined by geoffrey moore. Theres a number of excellent, scientific studies on the cycle of innovation adoption. That have been done for many, many decades. So i hear from my colleagues across the aisle, that every regulatory action by the epa is urgent and necessary to save the planet. But i would urge you to place an even higher emphasis on a priority to stop impoverishing working families through Higher Energy costs. In my state of new york, extreme governmental policies have rapidly driven up energy costs for ratepayers. It is an aggressive fact that tag that is unfair, sir. Im specifically concerned the epa and this administration failed to properly consider the issue of crossing the chasm and the cost and difficulties of scaling up and implementing new technologies. Take the proposed section 111 rule that epa released earlier this year. This role implemented, would burden existing natural gas plants, that we rely on, for power today, which with strict regulations for Carbon Capture and Hydrogen Fuel blending, which there are many technical challenges to, including of metals. Many of the utilities will be subject to the rule have warned bringing these technologies online and in commercial scale would require hundreds of billions of dollars of investment. This doesnt take away from their profit, this gets passed on to ratepayers and will significantly increase energy costs for consumers and businesses. Under your leadership, is the epa and the mandating of these Massive Technology investments by utilities, are you accounting for the rapid rise in energy costs to all americans . All of the Technology Standards that we propose take economics into consideration. I think affordability and reliability, along with technical availability, is what we are discussing, and i think we propose the rule. We have received a lot of comments in the past two to three weeks, ive met with multiple ceos. Ive met with my team, met with grid reliability express, congressman bill johnson convened a productive conversation around these topics. The proposal is just that and we will continue to evaluate comments that have come in and engage with industry. Our ratepayers and others, and hopefully the final rule reflects something that is ambitious and also doable. The folks you listed, that were at the table, i dont hear strong representation, except through elected members like myself, of the helplessness that working families feel for forces that are being put upon them, costs that are put upon them quite honestly, by your agency, and the mandates require. That are simply unaffordable. It is literally impoverishing working families. Please respond, if you like. My time has expired. I would like to say congressman bill johnson did an excellent job representing the constituency and bringing people to the table that my staff met with. We are meeting, and talking with everyone because we understand the impact of the work we do. Thank you, sir. Five minutes of questions you have been recognized. I am hearkened by chair lucas and i thank him for holding the hearing today and thank you administrator for coming to speak with us. As you know, my district is home to , which is colorados only Major Petroleum refinery. Is a critical piece of local Energy Infrastructure and our economy. So much so that if we see issues at the refinery with production, my constituents feel the pain at the pump and i agree it affects working families. That being said, the refinery is right next to underserved communities and the omissions are compounded on the other air pollution in the denver metro area and the generations of children have grown up around the polluting entity. Ive seen it impact my clinic where i treat countless children, who suffered from asthma because of the harmful omissions. I was encouraged to see the epa award funding to institutions that are doing research to address the Environmental Impacts of Energy Transitions in underserved communities. Some of these projects, even address the situation from which is living directly across from petroleum refineries. So what is the epa hoping to learn from the research being done at these universities and how do you see it affecting the important work that you all do . Thank you for that question and i think that the research will help you two things. The first is, we see constantly , the juxtaposition of people having to choose between employment and breathing air and living. So it is very tough and as we think about the transitions to clean her economy, we have to think about the communities that are there, that we dont want left behind. What we hope to learn, the first is understanding the total Economic Impact to these communities while also asking some of the facilities to pursue cleaner technologies at the end of the day. The pa focus is on advanced technologies, that reduce emissions. If refineries and other constituencies can find the technology that allows for them to move forward and keep communities safe, that is priority number one. The intersection of that is cost and the question becomes, if the refinery cannot find a costeffective way to protect a community, what happens then . We are doing a lot of research to make sure that we are working with the industry and community, so that they transition together and no one is left behind. I appreciate that balance, which is something district like mine strive for every day, making sure we are protecting communities and knowing the impacts on pocketbooks are real. The research of the epa conducts is successful, what you recommend Congress Look into, to authorize programs that might uplift the results of these projects . I think that we have a broader administration program, looking at communities that are transitioning, that we are participating in. That involves the doe and usda, and others. I think collectively we will have some reporting that will come back to congress, that demonstrates we can responsibly either at controls to protect communities or transition in a way that we dont leave anyone behind. I will ask congress to be on the lookout for these results. These are very good, solid results, that are coming from multiple agencies. We are working together on that. I appreciate that work and certainly i will be on the lookout for those results. Switching gears, i want to talk about west nile virus. In colorado, we are unfortunately leading the nation in the number of cases reported. We tend to that, most years and i recently lead a bipartisan effort asking for a federal response, for the uptake of cases, which may be worse next season, depending on our water situation. The reason i want to talk about west nile virus is because of the role stormwater if the structure has, whether it is ineffective or lacking in playing into the cases. Weve had a very wet year in colorado, which we appreciate in the west, given that we are usually in a drought. But because of that, stormWater Infrastructure hasnt been able to keep up with the process, and amount of water we have gotten in a efficient manner. The law authorizes creation of centers for stormwater control and structure technologies. The last appropriations bill, i was hoping for an update on where you are withstanding these up . We are excited about the centers and we recognize stormwater controls are key to west nile and so many other issues. I think that money is flowing through the process and in this case, we are setting up centers and we also have state funds, that receive resources annually. And as the state applies for these billions of dollars, we are judging their projects based on solutions, on the ground, which is one that we are close to looking at. There are two categories, there are state funds that come annually, the epa doles out, where we are really grading the states and exactly what problems they are solving. But we also have resources that we are actively working to stand up. I appreciate it, thank you. I recognize mr. Asea for five minutes of questions. Thank you for being here and for your service to our beautiful country. I want to start by capturing something you said earlier, and having a discussion around that. He said essentially that the mission is to protect the environment, but also to protect Economic Development and that they are not necessarily mutually exclusive and your charter is to maximize both of the missions. Would it be fair to include in the mat, the premise that National Security should also be a primary mission of merit. We have in my district, i represent a north l. A. County district which people here los angeles they dont think of the trade in our district. Wideopen desert. We have in the middle of my district, one of the most critical National Security assets in our country called plant 42. This is where we are currently building the next generation stealth bomber, the be 21. It is about 30 of the f 35 production that is done at plant 42. The next Generation Air dominance of the vehicle is there. It is taking close to a century to build this and to replicate this plant 42 anywhere else in the country, the Carbon Footprint of rebuilding that would be massively prohibitive. To the environment, but also economically. The work force is all there. In the country. The Carbon Footprint of rebuilding that would be massively prohibitive to the environment. Particularly economically. The workforce is all there. You have a new, proposed rule that basically changes the way these businesses operate. Its part government facility would also part industry facility. And this Clean Air Act changes basically changing the practice of measuring emissions for future growth opportunities. Once they bring in a new piece of hardware the legacy way of compliance was to look at the average omissions that new hardware, that new facility would put out. The rule change that you have proposed is actually two, instead of taking the average omissions as a projection for offsets for that facility which isnt rational. Its kind of arbitrary and capricious to say, in order to put a piece of equipment here im requiring an offset to the highest omission output rather than the average of that service life. I would like for you to touch on this. I have local elected officials in palmdale and lancaster. By the way, many of them are democrats and conservationists, which i am. I want to protect our environment and protect our planet. But their hair is on fire about this. By the way, hair on fire has a Carbon Footprint as well. All fires. They are fearful of losing the Economic Development. Im fearful of that. But also the National Security indications of threatening these crown jewels of our nations security right now within the dod. Can you talk to what the scientific rationale was for going to a worstcase admission mindset rather than an average admission for new Development Projects or assets being put into these facilities . Yes. You are referring to our rule which we hope to finalize soon. We have taken a lot of comment on that proposal. I will say that when i propose rules of this magnitude i do consult across multiple agencies. Less process and more of the rationale for how your landing on this. We see in the next rules that we have lost a lot of people unprotected. What does that mean . Unprotected . Adverse impact across the country in ways that escaped our previous rules. So when we look at this we looked at how we could design this role in the most protective mannerr while also recognizing that the state implementation planning process is a process where you can build in compliance flexibilities. We have flexibilitys to give waivers for plan 42 . There is flexibility, the ee state will have flexibility to implement the plan that they work on with the federal government to ensure that they can comply with this rule in a way that takes into consideration, number one, the population surround the and d number two, National Security as well. Thats very important. When we say you want to protect everyone i dont want to disagree with the statement. The assets being developed are meant to protect the entire country and our allies from this very real china threat and diss incentivizing these programs from growing and expanding is very dangerous to original human being in this country and around the globe. With that, i encourage you to look at this again and figure out how we can actually support protecting the environment and National Security because they are not mutually exclusive in this case. Your compromising our nations security with this rule that is currently written. Thank you. I now recognize ms. Lee for five minutes of questioning. Thank you, administrator reagan, for honoring this committees invitation to be here today. As the first black woman to represent pennsylvania and congress i recognize the weight of responsibility on your shoulders as the epas first black leader. You are tasked with leading an agency that works to address and combat environmental racism and the lingering effect of redlining. Its had an effect on the quality of air and water in our communities. Yesterday the secretary of i before this committee and i discussed with her the Amazing Things going on in my district and the abundant opportunities the future holds for clean, Renewable Energy economy in the region. Today i look forward to discussing with you the opportunities we have and must take to rectify the mistakes of the past that separated, stifled, and at times utterly destroyed environments and communities that have been prominently populated by black and brown individuals. Im not okay with communities like the one im from in western pennsylvania being sacrificial lambs in the name of continued fossil fuel exploration. Having a good job in a Strong Economy does not mean we have to an to every piece of environmental policy we have fought for for decades. Clean water and air are priceless and precious gifts that far too many people in our country have not been afforded. You can tell how long youre likely to live, whether your children should expect to develop asthma or copd, or if the water flowing through your pipes will poison you all based on the zip code you live in. Why should communities be defined by five digits that are often beyond ones control . We all deserve to have air that we can breathe and water we can drink that will not end our lives prematurely. We all deserve leaders who will fight for the marginalized and the vulnerable in our society to ensure we can all enjoy our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and this pursuit of happiness. That said, how is the epa ensuring that communities are better equipped to advocate and protect themselves from environmental polluters . Thank you for that. I agree with you that zip code doesnt matter, race shouldnt o matter, how much money in your pocket shouldnt matter. We have stood up and entire National Program office to be sure that every single leader across the epas coordinating and ensuring that everyone has a fair seat at the table. This touches on the question that i just post, which is why we do it differently. We have seen that has not been protective of certain communities across the country. R i believe that we can do both at the same time. The way that you do that is me bringing the community and, having conversations, and having them as a part of the solution. We are also setting up Technical Centers all across the country. 10 million and 17 centers all across the country to partner with communities. Solutions dont start at the top and we dont pretend to have all the solutions in the communities. Its high time that we get these federal dollars to these communities that have had the solutions for decades. Part of that is through the 3 billion of the Environmental Justice climate resources that come. But its also part of justice 40. So we have the metrics built in place to ensure that communities are involved. We set up a National Office. Everything that we do is through the lens of equity and inclusion. Thank you. Last year you completed your journey to justice towards spotlighting Environmental Justice communities across the nations that have far too long been neglected or ignored. As you may be well aware, may be existing pipeline in areas of color. I like the remediation and research and development for this committee to support research and development into reducing methane emissions from abandoned mines across the country. How is the epa using research and development into modeling to mitigate the omission impacts to communities that have historically worn the worst outcomes for energy resources. As we have looked at the new proposed Technology Standard to control methane emissions we actually had industry come to the table and say, we are losing product and poisoning our people in our communities. We believe theres a technological solution and we believe that there are technologies that exist today but will exist in the future that we have not quite fought through. So we are working on a very flexible regulation that takes into consideration technological advancement. But we have the ngos at the table and the industry at the table. In concert with our regulations we are matching that with these Historic Resources that will allow for localized solutions, federal regulations, and all of this partnership. Thats my time. Thank you for your time today. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you, administrator for your time with us today. You have been very candid in your responses and i appreciate that. I want to follow up on the questioning that my colleague, mr. Williams, talked about before crossing the chasm as well as the security implications for my colleague, mr. Garcia. Its my understanding that the epa is in the process of finalizing regulations that are ultimately going to rapidly increase the sale of both passenger electrical vehicles as well as medium and heavy duty electric vehicles for everything from delivery vans to longhaul trucks. A june report by the u. S. Chamber of commerce found that the epas regulatory analysis of its proposed powerplant rule ignores massive amounts of electricity demand resulting from epas own ev and hydrogen mandates. In this report, and im not sure if you have seen it were not, the chamber of commerce says the epa is ignoring 371 terawatt hours of electricity resulting from its own rules and that this is equivalent to almost 9 of the nationwide demand, or 1. 5 times the electricity used each year in the state of california. Its easy for administrators to claim that a proposed rule doesnt cost anything if it ignores the realworld cost that is required to comply with it but thats not the reality. I understand that even good ideas, depending on the timing and how they are implemented, can have unintended consequences. Thats a tough position that you are in. How do we implement advanced technologies while also protecting National Security . Is it fair to say that these proposed rules will add significant demand to our electrical grid . Its sort of frustrating to hear that when i have sat in front of utility ceos that are talking about the new demand that will come and what we need to work on as reliability and affordability. I sit with my staff, who do their proposed rules for cars, trucks, and power plants. They are working for hours to ensure that these things Work Together. We recognize that demand shifts. There are new technologies out there. The utility providers will have a new constituency while another constituency is sunsetting. I think the Business Models that the private sector is ab looking at, both on the transportation side and utility side, are speaking to one another. We are taking these things into consideration. Again, i think we have had a number of conversations on reliability, cost, and affordability. What we have done is proposed rule. We have received over 12,000 or 11,000 comments. I have been in conversations with utility ceos since the proposals. All of these things should recognize that the Comment Period and end with the final rule that doesnt do what you describe, do something thats more in harmony with the economy, protecting the planet,n and where technology is going. See you do think that to the epas aggressive timelines, with those in mind, that the nations power grid can keep up with what you are pushing on them in a fairly short period of time . What we are doing in real time is analyzing the comments h and the data that we are receiving from the industry, from the great managers, from technology providers, and making sure we are all working with the same data. Then we can determine whether or not the timelines align or if the assumptions are correct. We have taken a lot of comment. We are combing through the data and having a lot of conversations. Proposals are never perfect. You put out proposals to seek comment. The good thing is the epas listening. By the way, we do not want to jeopardize this countrys global competitiveness. We dont want to rely on china. We want to figure out how we can corner the market with these technologies and these rules and provide longterm certainty for these longterm investments. I hope youre right. But as we have seen, even this week, ford was in the process of doing a big plant in michigan that was going to do batteries but that was in conjunction with the chinese manufacturer and investments. They have now put the brakes on that. Theres a lot of concern that we are pushing at a pace that our own Auto Industry cannot keep up with. Would you agree with that assessment . I would say we are in conversations. Our Auto Industry spends 3 million and 4 billion about how we ought are going to electrify america. Then we also see the realities of the data they provide. There is reconciliation of what is truth versus what is advertisement and what we are capable of doing. We are carefully looking at the facts versus the commercials. I would say that what we have proposed is reasonable. But we are going to take that data in. And the final rule should actually reflect what the Auto Industry can do and with the power sector can do. I would ask, as you make those assessments, that you do weigh all of the costs and impacts. Not some of the ones that are selected to make the case. I appreciate your time. I yelled back. Thank you. I recognize miss mcclellan for five minutes of questioning. Thank you, chair, and thank you administrator regan for being here and your work to protect human health and Environmental Justice in our e communities across the country. It is my fundamental belief that everyone, regardless of zip code, socioeconomic status, race, deserve to drink clean water and breathe clean air. The work that the epa and the Biden Harris Administration are doing for Environmental Justice is critically important. T. Business community has always had a seat at the table. Utility ceos and their lobbyists and lawyers have always had a seat at the table. Who has not always had a seat at the table are the people in the communities where power plants go, where pipelines go, where often they destroy communities. They destroy historically black or indigenous communities. Or they are concentrated in communities where people dont have a voice. They have an overabundance of pollutants. And not surprisingly they end up with some of the worst health outcomes. I represent a lot of those communities, like Charles City County or hopewell. Which as you know, has a number of chemical plants that have repeated violations and epa rules. And you and i have exchanged correspondence around that. I want to follow up on a representative lees question of how epa is empowering communities that are affected by repeated toxic Chemical Exposure or an overabundance of projects in their area that leads to more pollutants. If theres anything else you would like to add to your answer, or more importantly, tell us how congress can help, you do your r job to give these voices communities a voice and a seat at the table. Thank you for that. I can say that congress has done an excellent job in the Inflation Reduction Act, awarding 3 billion for Environmental Justice projects. That is one way money is talking and will actually bring people to the table with resources and technical capabilities to not just be at the table, but participate in the conversations. Listen, i have said from day one that epa will use its full Enforcement Authority where we see people cheating and violating in communities that are to porsche partly disproportionately impacted. I have also done a journey to justice toward tyler for the nation that in 2023 we still have communities that have a lack of access to clean Drinking Water disproportionately impacted by p. M. 2. 5 and other pollutants. We are designing our policies and regulations through that lens of Environmental Justice. We are using our enforcement and designing programs to be sure that communities, like the one you just laid out, will have access to that 3 billion so that they can Fund Solutions that are on the ground. Thank you for that. Earlier this year i led a letter to the epa in support of protective mercury and air toxic standards for powerplant emissions. Along with a few of my colleagues on this committee i sent a letter calling for strong and transparent under the toxic substances rule. I look forward to updates from you on this. And with a Government Shutdown or longterm continuing resolution on the horizon im interested in hearing about the impacts either would have on the epas ability to provide assistance to those communities that need it most. Can you talk about the impact that a continuing resolution would have on your work detecting this communities . It continues to make our communities vulnerable if we dont have the personnel on the job focused on Community Outreach, ensuring that these communities are competitive for grants and have a seat at the table as we think through how to design regulations. It continues to disproportionately impact those who are already burdened. A shutdown doesnt do our economy any good or any of us any good. But it especially, disproportionately harms those were on the front lines of pollution. Thank you, i agree wholeheartedly and want to thank you for your work, giving these communities that have, over the years, and over the past century, been overburdened by pollution in the name of energy and making sure you are helping to give these communities a voice and a seat at the table going forward, as well as addressing the disproportionate impact that environmental policy and industrial policy decisions have had on those communities. Thank you very much. Thank you. I yelled back. The gentleman from tennessee , who is quite the nuclear expert, is recognize. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Administrator, i actually did want to come back specifically. Ive been at a nuclear event. I left and i came back. I wanted to extend my sincere thanks to you and the folks at epa. For over 12 years i have worked very hard in the cleanup area to represent oak ridge reservation. We have worked very hard. And ive heard your comments about how you have worked so well with the department of energy to getting new disposals. We needed a disposal cell. We could not have gotten that completed without the help of our local and state partners in the department of energy. And if you will recall, sir, you were kind enough to take my call quite some time back and your agency finally signed off on that. You actually send people to the groundbreaking that we did a couple of months ago. My sincere thanks for that. Our entire community in oak ridge will benefit from that and Legacy Environmental cleanup can continue. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I would like to say that your call, our conversation, your partnership, we would not have gotten it done without that effective communication. So i appreciate your leadership on that. Thank you, sir. If i may, mr. Administrator, i have a question from our homebuilders. Weve heard from them, despite epa and the announcement, that the confirming rule was effective upon publication in the federal register. Most are still unable to process requested approved jurisdictional determinations. N our constituents are reporting that the core Field Office Staff is still waiting for guidance on implementing these recent rules from the epa and headquarters. Unfortunately, the rule did not define key regulatory terms. These include relatively permanent and a continuous surface connection. Two concepts of federal jurisdiction under the ruling. The agencys failure to provide a clear definition of these two terms is paralyzing districts from beginning the federal wetlands permitting process. We are in the midst of a Housing Affordability crisis across the nation due to inflation. The cost of homes are skyrocketing. My question, administrator reagan,us how is the agency sta interpreting key terms, like relatively permanent, and interpreting continuous surface connection in the field . And when will the definitions be shared with the public . Thank you for your response. I will get back to you with the exact data on interpretive guides. What i will say, we have been working closely with the court to walk with the same time. We are working on how we can do this interpretation in a legally safeway while responding directly to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court spoke. They gave a very precise ruling. We are now trying to put a rule in place that response directly to that. We are trying to respond directly to the Supreme Court while also working with the court on some very timely issues and reconciling that process. Directly on jurisdictional determinations. Its my understanding that we are doing a pretty good job of getting some of these out while trying to respond to the Supreme Court. Yes sir. Thank you for your response and my thanks for all of the work you have done with us in oak ridge. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I will yield back. You are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to know how you are thinking about carbon co2 pipelines and regulation, which there seems to be a lot of them going up in changing some of the frameworks. I hope you will clarify for me. If i was to apply to build a natural gas pipeline the permitting for that process would be largely independent, entirely dependent of the permitting of downstream usage. Someone installing a boiler, gas turbine, the combustion source. My first question, if somebody is applying for ep review of a co2 pipeline will that permit be independent of the permitting of the injection where the co2 h is going to be stored . Right now, what we are seeing actually occur, is the epa go through the permitting process. Which is squarely in our court. I think we have, in our proposed 111 rule, Carbon Capture technology is one of the technologies of choice. As we think through the comments and finalize that rule there is a larger conversation just looking at permitting efficiencies across the government. We just dont own the whole pipeline permitting process. Eq im sorry to interrupt. The reason that i asked that first question is because the only reason we are building the co2 pipelines is because we want to permanently sequester the co2. Which is a function of both the pipeline operating and the injection site being permanent. As you review these permits, to what degree are you requiring, throughout the entire piece of infrastructure, that the co2 is permanently stored . It depends on when the applicant provides the permit. We have applicants right now who are looking for title vi wells. Ve obviously when you go to the pipeline permitting process our role in that is a water certification process. So we would have to have the project in hand and work on a real timeline. Doe, epa, army corps, we are working through streamlining our permitting process to the hypothetical. The entry point by which this project starts really does matter. Some are starting at class six and some may start with another permitting process that may start outside of our agency. We are trying to get our arms wrapped around that has a government and working with the private sector to ensure we are all working on the same sheet of music. Okay. Let me try this another way. If i submitted a permit that said i have a high degree of certainty that half of the co2 i put down is going to leak oute 10 years from now with that permit be approved . It just doesnt happen that way. What would happen is someone would put in a permit for a class six well and demonstrate that carbon would not leak into the ground and have an impact on Water Quality or safety issues. That is the way the permit comes into epa. I just cant be the grand master of ccs projects because congress hasnt given me that authority. Okay. But there are pipelines being built that they are going through. What im trying to get my head around, and by the way weve sent a long list of questions and hopefully we can clarify this with your staff. What im trying to get my head around is if i build a site that has a permanent pollution risk, maybe some manufacturing site with the disposal issue. I say this as someone who used to build a lot of power plants. I would often have obligations to place some permanent amount in escrow for permanent liabilities. We are now sitting here saying, we are going to build these assets that are obligating ourselves to store co2 underground not for the life of this asset or company but for geological time. If, you as the epa administrator, are providing these permits that are essentially making a promise over geological time who bears the liability if there is a leak . There are two ways to look un at this. The first is the epa can improve these class six well storage permits. We are also going through a process where the stakes are asking for that delegated authority. There is an accountability measure built in both the federal and state process to hold the depositor of that carbon or whatever it is. They have the accountability to ensure that it will not impact the environment or Public Health. The accountability they have to meet certain thresholds in order to receive the permits. Im out of time. Lets continue the conversation. Weve got way too many examples of that risk being some he to bankrupts out of the risk and all the sudden the risk is borne by the community, and i know that you have been a strong advocate for protecting those communities. As i sit here its not clear to me that we arent just putting that risk on future generations. Some of that is built into our Statutory Authority but we can talk further. The gentleman yields back. I recognize myself for five minutes. Mr. Reagan, we are glad that you are here. Mr. Kasten is a pretty good straight man, by the way. In december of 2022 texas filed its application to take the primary responsibility for the permitting of geological facilities as class six injection wells. Let me give you side know about district 14 in texas. We have the largest Carbon Capture Storage Facility in the country in port arthur, texas. While epa staff has stated that they are able to apply lessons to learn from louisianas recently approved application to this texas application, the final louisiana role has not been published in the federal register for comment. Are you aware of that . Yes, i am. Okay. So could you give us a timeline for the privacy application region a Decision Point and hopefully being published in the federal register . Can you give us a timeline for that . Would it be within a year . What i would say is as recently as august texas has submitted the materials for the class six application. So youll have it by the end of the year. So we are looking at the completeness of that application. Let me let my staff get back to you on the steps and the timeline. But let me just say this. What i have pledged to the president of this administration is class six playing a significant role in leveraging and using Ccs Technology to combat the Climate Crisis. At epa we want to move as quickly as possible but we want to be sure that the states have followed all the rules to do that so we can protect our committees as well. Im glad you told the president that. But he also committed to congress that you are taking steps to speed up the time frame to two years. Would you commit to two years here today . Whatever we have committed no to on the record and whatever my staff is committed to, we can commit to. I think there are Lessons Learned from both West Virginia and louisiana that will help us meet the mark that we have committed to. We are quickly approaching a year of no action. If we hit the twoyear timeframe lets be clear, the state of texas would agree, as of august, the state of texas is saying that they have turned in their applications. The application hasnt been at epa for a year. The state of texas, as of august, is saying that we have now turned in a completed class sixen well application. We will have that discussion. Did you learn any lessons from the louisiana permit that would help you expedite this process . Absolutely. We have learned some best practices. We have learned ways we can more efficiently engage communities and bridge the gap between the state outreach and Community Outreach to build trust in this process. This is a sensitive issue for lots of people. I definitely think that we have learned efficiencies. From the outside looking in it looks to us like the epa is waiting to complete the review and finished the louisiana process before it goes onto the texas process. I was hoping that you goal could walk and chew gum at the same time. But thats not the case. Obviously its my home state so im interested in it. In your discussion with congresswoman salinas i forget what she was asking about. You mentioned the fact that the epa watches the market to keep the u. S. Competitive. I dont know if you remember that exchange. Yes. Okay. Now we move on to regulations for businesses where you have Greenhouse Gas reporting. You had that discussion with the congresswoman some time after you had that with congresswoman salinas. When you talk about Greenhouse Gas reporting, do you, and that is since, consider the cost that will be imposed on those businesses . We do. Weve had a Greenhouse Gas reporting program in place for 15 years that the larger it meters participate in. I believe the question was posed , the center that focus on a voluntary program where corporate interests have come in and asked us for Technical Advice on how to quantify the Greenhouse Gas emissions. So if you consider the cost where you want the u. S. Market to be competitive, rightfully so, we mentioned china earlier. And i saw in your comments. What matrix do you use to compare those costs to the marketplace, number one. And number two, is there a separate part of the epa that does that . Who does that . Basically, what we do is we look at the goals we set for Emission Reductions based on Economic Vitality and technological availability. And that is u. S. Versus china . Yes. Its looking globally. How can we look at Cost Effective technologies . As we know Many Companies are international companies. I spent a lot of time talking to ceos about this and spent a lot of time with governor gordon in wyoming and the governor of north dakota. We want to position ourselves to export these technologies to countries like china and india as we compete globally to reduce carbon emissions. The epa does take all of this into consideration. Led to hear that. I want to make one more final comment. Our grid needs to be resilient and growing. The permitting needs to be fast. There is a push for a lot of electric vehicles. Back in the day when something got ahead of Something Else we used to say we were putting the cart before the horse. You remember that . I do. It looks today like we might be putting the evs before the horse. We have to be careful. I will yield back. Before i do i want to say mr. Mullen of california is recognized the next for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, administrator, for being with us today. I wont belabor the point you made and others have made about the Critical Role that the epa plays in the urgent fight to address Climate Change. In my district in california we know firsthand how quickly we need to act on climate. Earlier this year we saw unprecedented atmospheric rivers causingng devastating flooding in my district in the San Francisco bay area. The White House National climate advisor told Bloomberg News this week the effects of a lapse in appropriations from a Government Shutdown would be seismic and cascade not just through the federal government but into the real economy. Into our ability to support communities and protect them. Bloomberg goes on to note that regulators may have to stop working on regulations, limiting pollution from car and powerplant emissions. Administrator, could you reiterate for us how a shutdown could impede the rulemaking process, particularly with respect to pollution control members and other critical regulations that directly affect Climate Change . I can assure you that a Government Shutdown would be detrimental to nd any work being done. Regulations that would help us stay globally competitive and ut take advantage of technologies that we want to corner the market on, or regulations to protect the most vulnerable communities, our children, from horrible pollutants as well. We are doing critical work to stay ahead of these wildfires ve that we are seeing all across the country. And we have to be in a position where our staff is doing the research to stay ahead so we can alert our communities of the Adverse Health impacts that come from the smoke. We are also trying to respond to the drought situation that we are seeing from climate impacts as well. What you do is reduce our ability to respond to these climate impacts. You slow our ability to regulate emerging contaminants and you prevent us from protecting Public Health. By the way, i would say that those inspectors that are on the job to ensure that our Water Infrastructure is following the rules so that we have safe Drinking Water, those inspectors will be relegated to their homes if we have a shutdown. Thank you for that. Switching gears just a bit. In june i introduced hr 4296. The Annotation Program which would help low income homeowners , manufactured home committees, and Affordable Housing providers protect their homes from the disastrous effects of Climate Change. As part of such a program various agencies including the epa would have a role to play in setting standards and guidance for communities on how to make property more resilient and adaptive to a changing world. In your testimony you mentioned the epas research in this area helping communities improve the resilience to floods and wildfires. You mentioned how the agency is studying Natural Solutions to coastal resilience, such as using native seagrass to store carbon. Could you share a bit more about the research the epa is doing in this regard . And also talk about how you are coordinating on this research with other agencies to the extent that you are. We are looking at a whole government approach. I would argue, whether its seagrass or the plethora of crops that im constantly talking with the secretary to talk about carbon, or what helps us filter pollution, we are looking at all of the above approach to sequester carbon and filter pollution through natural opportunities. I would like to say that as we look at the Natural Solutions we can do a lot of them through volunteer programs and market based incentive programs that dont have a heavy regulatory associated with them. This is an all hands on deck approach. We want to be pragmatic. We want to be on the front leg, really ready for the race. Working with the dod, eot, commerce all across the board to make sure we are deploying nt every seal tool we have. We appreciate the answer. I yield back. The chair now recognizes myself for five minutes. Administrator reagan, i want to let you know that we have all been bouncing around. We have several committees going on. But i have been following you, watching and listening to your answers. I want to tell you, you do give thorough answers as people are talking to you and i appreciate that. A lot of times we see people with binders and they are sitting there flipping back and forth just to try to figure out what the answer is, the canned answer. I want to go into two different areas real quick. Because the epa is purchasing millions of dollars worth of advanced combat equipment. And i heard this earlier on a slightly different question. A lot of this includes night vision. Why does the epa need military equipment . I will give the same answer i gave before. I need to really look into this particular issue and the reasoning behind our enforcement are making these purchases. I would like to give an honest answer so i will get back to you on that. s you are not going to war . Right . Listen, there is no one to go to war against. I believe that our permitted and regulated constituency of partners are trying to do these things together. How are americans supposed to feel about an agency . A lot of us feel like our rights are always trampled on. Especially when youre stocking up on weapons. I would love to have some sort of detailed answer into that. Especially if there is a war on the horizon for the epa. Absolutely. Another area that i want to quickly go into, my background is trucking. I have been in the private sector for over 30 years and this is my first term in congress. I have practically spent my entire life in the Trucking Industry building a Trucking Company with my wife. You have proposed a new rule r thats going to impose more burdens on the commercial Trucking Industry. If you have your way these new emission standards are going to make new trucks even more expensive. Our truck prices have gone up astronomically over the past decade. A lot of times what you do to us has such an adverse effect because the new emission rules that we have out there are shutting down trucks left and right. Im sure that you have seen them down the interstate. And a lot of times its over a sensor that we can get replaced thats causing a huge burden in making trucks even more expensive. And its hurting trucking overall. With 98 of the Trucking Companies out there, 10 trucks or less, 95 or three trucks or less. You understand the hardship, the Economic Hardship that these types of regulations are putting on truckers . Especially with small businesses. Listen, i appreciate the Trucking Industry and keeping our economy going. We have proposed rule. I will say that i have met with the American Trucking association and Engine Manufacturers since that proposal. We have received thousands of comments. We are combing through that. The points that you are making are pragmatic and rational. We are listening to those. What we are trying to think through is whether or not this proposal really addresses the full suite of technologies that are available, have the appropriate information in vi terms of costs associated, and time frames looking at to make some of these transitions. All of that is up for discussion in the Comment Period right now. I elunderstand that. But what do you say to truckers that are trying to compete . We have high fuel prices, high insurance. What you say to them . High prices on everything. They are the people that are moving the products up and down the road. Frankly, we feel like the washington bureaucracy lives in fantasyland. I would say that we are listening. We have made a proposal based on estimates in technology and information. A crude way of saying it is we have done things academically and now its time to test those theories with actuality and implementation. We have people sitting at the table from your industry and others that are saying, listen, your assumptions may be a little aggressive or off. Or the technologies may not be available as quickly as you think. We are listening to that and taking it into consideration. I will be honest with you. In my career i have seen where the Trucking Industry has made great strides. And even fuel economy. All of a sudden the epa comes out with several. And that rule will increase the amount of oil that we use in our trucks per truck and to decrease the oil change intervals. And to decrease the fuel an mileage you get out of those trucks. And decrease the life of the engine. It seems like i dont know who the epa talks to or listens to. Its certainly not the Trucking Companies out there trying to make a living. With that i will yield back. The chair recognizes mr. Frost from florida for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Administrator, thank you for being here today. My district includes the small Rural Community of bit flow. Its an example of a community that has been long forgotten about by government. Both federal and local. Because of Illegal Dumping and abandoned gas stations toxic chemicals have leaked into the groundwater. Most folks in this community cant afford deep wells or Water Filtration systems tiso people dont understand or know. Its something we are trying to help them fix. We are out there chatting with residents and they are scared. They dont know what the quality of the water is that they are drinking. As a result they have a higher rate of cancer, brain diseases, et cetera. Its not just that. The community are lacks real infrastructure, social programs, the environmentalist issues on top of that. They have exacerbated drug addiction as well. Being out there is difficult. Its a difficult situation. Suicide, overdose, et cetera. I had a great conversation with regional administrator get all. He talked about taking a tour, which we are hoping to get on the schedule soon. The communitys with the greatest needs are often times the ones without the resources, connections, or know how of securing the funding needed to take care of these problems. Administrator, how does the epau make sure that its grants, like the clean water and Drinking Water grants, reach small communities with limited experience with the federal grant making process . Thank you for your it leadership and i appreciate your questioning. Theres a couple of things. Thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law we have some resources that we can put to use to provide Technical Assistance to these communities so that they are in a Competitive Position to receive these resources. I would like to say two things. The first is, we have gone back and looked at our traditional funding at the state level. To see where the governors are spending their money. We have added criteria in these evaluations to ensure that communities, like the one you just listed, have a seat at the table and can be competitive for these resources and the decisions are made arbitrarily. Right now theres a more competitive opportunity for communities like yours to be seen and heard. There is 15 billion in Water Infrastructure resources coming to the epa to funnel to those communities. A the other thing i would say, 40 of those resources, by law, have to go to communities that are disadvantaged or lower income, or lack the of the structure to provide for their communities. The community that you just mentioned is a prime target. And the third is, again, we have really ramped up our reach. In addition to the Technical Assistance you now have regional administrators, like region four, that will come and spend time to listen to the community and help them think through how to work through the system to get those resources. Weve got a holistic approach. What can our office to ahead of the meeting to make sure we are in the best place to have a productive visit . We will get some photos and show them around. But what can we do to prepare to have some real resources . I definitely think they are office should ask for a meeting, which i will make sure happens. I think that the understanding of the community make up, the infrastructure makeup, the unique challenges that this community faces. If we understand that before we get to the meeting we are better ve prepared to provide answers. I think a preliminary meeting would be advisable. Listen, what we are learning is so many communities have been left behind. They have so many different challenges. There isnt a onesizefitsall. The best way we can be prepared is with the arm of information. What what a Government Shutdown for communities like mine across the country having to live with a drinkable water, cancercausing water . What would a Government Shutdown for those communitys . We can have meetings like the one you said we are going to have. We can have our regional experts go down there and talk to how to solve these solutions. We can send inspectors down to ensure that the water that they are drinking is safe. We cant look at those billions of dollars that are dedicated to small, Rural Communities to combat emerging contaminants. We cannot do this work. Communities will be left behind if the government shuts down. But those communitiess that are already disproportionately impacted will be for the left behind pick thank you, mr. Administrator , for being here today. I yelled back. The chair recognizes for time five minutes. Thank you for holding this hearing. Administrator regan, thank you for your excellent leadership at epa. We appreciate it. Scientific integrity essential to the ps mission to protect Public Health and the environment. I applaud your efforts to prioritize and rebuild scientific integrity at the agency after disastrous political interference from the last administration. Scientific integrity is something that i have focused on during my time in congress by offering and fighting. Going forward i believe its crucial that we continue working together to strengthen and improve policies across the federal government. I was excited to see the office of science and Technology Policy release a framework for federal scientific in january. Administrator regan, can you provide an update the progress the epa has made in building and implementing an updated scientific integrity policy . We are excited about it. Under this Administration Science has had a seat at the table and we are listening. It has really invigorated our employees. We are actually hoping that we will have a new policy as a result of leadership you demonstrated by this winter. New guidance, a new way of instilling confidence that science, not politics, is leading the way. Thank you. Administrator, can you speak to the role of the epas Scientific Integrity Office and provide advice to employees and address potential issues before they become fullfledged violations of the agencys scientific policy . We take it very seriously. Im excited to see cooperation at all levels within the agency to be sure that we are not prohibiting the best available science to move forward. We are also responding to the oigs recommendations of how we can do that better. Personally, ive had a number of conversations with our Inspector General on how we can really follow the guidance that he has given us. I will say that im very proud of the scientific integrity process at epa. Its something that is taken serious by all of our leaders. I think we are seeing the agency make significant strides in this area. Underfoot. Wonderful. How important is it for epa employees to bring complaints to and seek advice from epa Scientific Integrity Office . All of our employees must know that their work will be done and received in good faith and not face any kind of retribution. We want to follow the science and the law. That is our mission and our goal. In order to get the best products out of our employees they have to feel safe, comfortable, and believe that they are going to be listened to and this administration is doing that. Thank you. Earlier i made it a goal to bring a lot of attention to Water Infrastructure. That network, our hidden infrastructure, is incredibly important to our communities and our way of life. Certainly to the businesses that require sound water. As we did many tours along the eastern seaboard one of the discoveries that was repeated over and over was the lack of Human Interest in issues like those that are required to maintain our water supplies. Very terrific responsibilities. They failed because there was a attention brought to that area of infrastructure. Yesterday i was thrilled to see the epa announcement for 20 million in Grant Funding for developing Career Opportunities in the water sector. The water workforce is central to protecting public and Environmental Health, from our pipes, ponds, rivers, lakes, everything in dire need of restoration. And the need for human infrastructure buildup. The sector is facing unprecedented staff shortages. Administrator regan, can you speak to the current lead of the water sector and how these grants will help bolster the next generation and attract Young Professionals that we require to careers in water . First of all, i want to say thank you for your leadership. With this 50 billion we are now investing in Water Infrastructure so that personnel can have something they are proud to manage. Some of these crippling facilities will now be revived and will need a very good skill set to manage. We are spending these resources because we have spent time on the ground with mayors and utility operators understanding that there is a huge workforce gap. Its about instilling pride, bringing back educated, well resourced individuals to run these facilities and ensure that their communities are receiving good quality Drinking Water. We have connected those dots and are investing in infrastructure and people. I believe that now we are on track to give more people clean Drinking Water. Im very encouraged by the ve hidden infrastructure getting attention and focus. Thank you for your leadership. New york 20 is always open to a repeat visit. You have always been ahead and we thank you for that. With that, mr. Chair, yelled back. I want to thank the administrator for joining us today and the members for the questions. The record will remain open for 10 days for additional comments and. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guard you guide you to newsworthy stories. En you hit play on select videos this timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. Scroll through and spend a few minutes on cspans points of interest. Cspan student cam documentary competition is back, celebrating 20 years with this years theme looking forward while considering the past. We are asking middle and High School Students to create a five to six minute video addressing one of these questions. In the next 20 years what is the most important change you would like to see in america . Over the past 20 years what has been the most important change in america . As we do each year, we are giving away 100,000 in total prizes with the grand prize of 5000 and every teacher who has udents participating in this years competition can share a portion of an additional 50,000. The competition deadline is friday, january 19, 2024. For more information visit our website. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. 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