Transcripts For CSPAN EPA 20240706

Minister to reagan administrator reagan and collies, welcome to this hearing. I want to welcome the epa chief Financial Officer who is going to be a minister who is joining the administrator. Climate chaos is here. We are seeing the impact everywhere. The longer fire seasons, the more intensity the fires. The increased snowpacks and the impacts they have on the rivers and irrigation waters, the more Severe Weather events of the atmospheric rivers we have heard about on the west coast this year to warmer algae infested lakes across the country to dropped droughts and record shattering heat waves. Every part of the world is experiencing bees impacts and the damages the damage is staggering and is going to increase exponentially unless we act decisively. I believed to meet this moment, we have to accelerate our transition from fossil fuel energy to Renewable Energy and we have to tackle that crisis from the supplyside of fossil fuels as well as the demandside. This is why i adamantly opposed the biden administrations approval of fossil fuel projects. Not only does such approval slowly the transition in america but it undermines our moral authority in the world. It is hard to as the rest of the world to transition off of coal and other fossil fuels to renewables when we are continuing to approve one fossil fuel project after another. The world needs American Leadership and to lead, we have to have the power of our example. While i believe we are headed in the wrong direction in that regard, i do commend your agency for taking meaningful actions over the last several months. First, the carson truck submission rules cars and truck emission rules are critical to decreasing our carbon footprint. We cant make meaningful progress about a without addressing the weeks those emissions. Those proposals go along way towards aggressively pushing recent press report about epas plans about reducing emissions indicate a step in a result in the right direction. This latest rulemaking prioritizes the Energy Information administration forecasted by the year 2050, wind and solar will count for 56 of electricity generation, newly built gas plants will become stranded unless we have the most feasible new technology. The end date the Inflation Reduction Act these actions are commendable, common sense and should be finalized as quickly as possible. I am sure you are thinking about it every day. We are here to discuss the fiscal year 2024 but your report of epa which is 12. 4 it 12. 4 billion. This funding level would make up funding ground for epa after the four years the trump demonstrated in Administration Spent getting the gutting the agency. It builds upon the work we made to remedy environmental injustice, the work we have done over the years including a huge step up from 111 million to 125 million. I am impressed that the epa budget requests require is prioritizes Environmental Justice by requiring an additional 267 Million Dollars increase to tackle this challenge and i look forward to understand the ways you look to see how the funds are spent. You highlighted in this request that the epa is working with the Forest Service for prescribed burns. This is critical in oregon where Wire Wildfires are more devastating every year. The key is that we have to do the prescribed burns, which sometimes violates that standards. On the wildfire front, i was pleased to see agencies releasing which will close in less than a week after communities across my state and much of the western blanket and smoke was caused by historic wildfires. I created this program to support local efforts to prepare for hazards and i am looking forward to real results. Even with the increased of proposal in the budget, the epa budget is less then it needs to be because there is more than it needs that needs to be done. We are behind in building the agency workforce. The fy 2024 Staffing Levels are short of fiscal year 2009. We must make progress in highlighting hiring officials to meet the challenges of the climate. I look forward to talking more in depth about lasix. Plastics. In East Palestine and richmond, ohio, we had two disasters we are learning more about the problems plastics rick berg sense represents to human health and the ecosystems will stop ecosystems. So much more should be done about plastic pollution, to where it piles up and i appreciated your response to my april 5 level letter about the reports that epa has expedited approval about chemicals that reduces the of plastics. I appreciate your response and i will enter in the record my letter to you and your response. I am still concerned that the epa is failing to protect communities already overburdened by over pollution. The report by propublic eye and the guardianship light to a troubling approval process that the epa uses. While the april 21 strategy contains a testing requirement for new pyrolysis may increase the damage in an already burdened committees. In already burdened communities. I hope i hope that we are able to work with the epa to respect that according to analysis, the project would admit to point Million Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent admissions each year until at least 2052. Over the next 28 years, it will cause 9 billion in climaterelated damage and that is using a methodology that systematically minimizes the climate impact. Adding new emissions through pipeline expansions is incompatible with President Bidens pledge and it would undermine oregons efforts for a clean energy future. I am delighted that our ranking members here, lisa murkowski. Good morning. Welcome back to it committee to the committee. I am glad to discuss the budget request with you. I will start out by acknowledging thank you for the working relationship that uni have built you and i have built. Before i turn to alaska specific issues this morning, i must note my concern over the direction that i believe the agency is taking in regards to recent and planned National Regulatory actions, in particular, i believe the agency is engaging in a Regulatory Overreach with which the senate has expressed its disapproval all on. If press reports are true, epas rule will follow the same unfortunate pattern in these Broad National regulations often have a disproportionately affect on the state of alaska as we have had an opportunity to discuss. A very significant percentage of alaska is considered a wetland. The rule phase fails to consider alaska conditions like permafrost and will harm economic development. While i have serious concerns about how these negative policies will impact alaska, i will like to focus would like to focus on positive matters and i want to thank you, sincerely, for your and your agencys leadership on the issues on contaminated lands. This is an environmental injustice that we have to and discuss. It has been left without action for far too long but thanks to you and the support of collies here on the committee, we now have a new Grant Program within epa, to finally begin making a difference and remit he ate cream 88 remediate they were entitled to certain lands. We have worked to make good on that commitment but unfortunately, what happened over the words of years, where a contaminated land, lands that had been contaminated by our own federal government are conveyed to the native peta people in settlement for their lands. What they received is not only a of questionable value but in many times, the lands that they have received are making them sick. This was an injustice that must be corrected and we are making a difference here. The agencys fy 2024 request continues the landgrant at 20 million. I appreciate that. The epa step forward into the leadership role on bees contaminated lands. I dont mean to pit one department against the other but the fact of the matter is the department of interior has failed to be helpful on that issue. There were some key numbers on your team, and there were some others that put their shoulder into this and advanced this in a way that has been positive and remarkable and i want to make sure that others know that you deserve this public commendation now. These efforts are going to directly improve the health and wellbeing of so many communities and his work cannot be understated in its importance. I hope and i know administrator regan, there is more that you what i can do together you and i can do together to write the injustice in the native alaskan community so i am looking forward to finding Creative Solutions with you and i invite you to come to alaska at any time to meet some of these communities in with me. I want to turn into an issue that we have had an opportunity to discuss before and this is the agencies would hear certification programs. I get that this is a problem that you have inherited, but unfortunately, it is coming to a head for communities of fairbanks and north pole. The epa partially accepted and partially rejected the state of alaskas implementation plan. I believe the agency fundamentally misunderstands the role that its flawed what heater certification played in higher two point five emissions within the region. In february this year, the epa Inspector General released a report heavily criticizing the agencys handling of the what heater program. It states that the epa mismanagement has led to elevate emissions even though congress has provided almost 100 million for woodstove change outs over the last eight years through the target correct. I have worked hard on that. I have secured tens of millions of dollars for wood stone change outs through this grant, which should be a positive. I am frustrated by the ig r eport s findings. The epa has frustrated Congress Investment and intendant goals. I am calling on your agency to fix its handling of the wood heater certification and Testing Program and to internally provide whatever resources are needed to achieve that. To show my commitment, last year, we provided a 1 million increase for staffing and other efforts to help write the program right the program but it is not fair that my constituents in fairbanks and north face increase energy increased Energy Prices or Actual Energy and security due to potential Enforcement Actions that the agency may take against them for the agencys on mismanagement. I will be in fairbanks this weekend and this will be a hot topic there. I want to dust discuss with you the agencys billing of congressionally funded spending projects. I appreciate that the congress brought back significantly better workload i dont think that that excuses the agencys performance in executing these investments. Congress has provided Additional Resources for the agency to implement a revised program but i dont think more staffing alone will fix the problem. I think the agency has not made a significant enough priority. In fy 2022 and 2023, congress funded over 1000 cpa projects for the epa to manage and to my knowledge, only a small amount of percentage has been awarded. Congress looks to continue cbs projects cds projects in the future but the agency has to do better and to show you i will be a partner, i will work with you with any initiative you may have and any suggestions you think can improve the speed of processing. This delay impacts projects nationally but significantly in my state of alaska. I want to thank you for your help with several cds projects. I am somewhat be watered that critical water and Wastewater Infrastructure projects are lagging severely behind. I hope that you and your team will be able to explore ways in which cds projects can be awarded faster including any Creative Solutions that we can help secure in our bill. I know implementing this is an easy so i thank you for your work in all the Agency Personnel working on this and hopefully we can make these Success Stories that we know they should and could be. I have given you a lot in my opening statement. Note that these are issues that are important across the state of alaska. We have got a good working relationship and that is why i am comfortable raising these issues with you personally because i think we can make a real difference in the state of alaska and a real district difference across the country. It doesnt mean i will stop knocking on your door. We will Work Together and i look forward to the opportunity to be able to show you personally sound of the challenges we some of the challenges we are facing and what more we can be doing to address them. With that, thank you. Thank you and on behalf of the chairman, we recognize a minister to reagan. Admin. Regan i appreciate the opportunity to appear to you today to discuss the mission fiscal year 2024 budget request. In this request, we laid out a ambitious but transformative plant with the apa with a goal of building a prosperous nature while ensuring level dependence and entity security. President biden proposed fy 2024 request for epa proposed 21 billion for updating the Water Infrastructure, tackling Climate Crisis and rebuilding cold front actions Core Functions of epa. We have taken actions to cut small smog. We have taken strides to ensure our all people have clean water by proposing the first ever legal limit for pfas and investing money to improve led pipes. We awarded 2400 Clean School Buses for School Districts across the country. I am proud for the foundations we have laid. There is so much more work to do so that all of our children have safe and Healthy Places to live, learn, and play to build a strong and more sustainable economy and to advance American Innovation and ingenuity. Investing in epa is investing in america. Across the country, poor air quality affects millions of people, perpetuating Harmful Health and Economic Impacts. In fiscal year 2024, the agency will protect air quality by cutting emissions and pollutants. The president s budget improves includes 1. 4 billion to improve air quality and set standards for mobile and stationary sources. The epa builds on advancements in technology and reinforces the Market Movement for a cleaner Energy System that provides reliable and affordable and. A thriving economy also requires clean and safe water for everyone in the country. Many still lack access to healthy water. And suffer from the effects of lead pipes. America americas Water Systems faces new challenges. The budget proposes more than 4 billion to upgrade Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure nationwide with a focus on underserved communities. I had the privilege of traveling across the country. I have visited communities and seen firsthand environmental and Public Health challenges, many your of your constituents continue to experience. I have met with people who live with toxic wastes in the backyard and i have seen conditions that are unacceptable in the usa. From investing in our nations Climate Resilience to cleaning up contaminated land and water, there is no shortage of important work to be done. Senators of the committee, epa is up to the task. We are eager to work with all you to deliver with to federal americans. We need your support. Both the urgency and Economic Opportunity presented by Climate Change requiring that we lead leave no stone unturned. I must remind folks that we must keep moving forward. 2020 four will undoubtedly present a unique set of challenges and moving backwards, it is not a option. Reverting back to the fiscal year 2022 budget would force the agency to make difficult decisions. Epa would have to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from programs to protect communities all across america and impacting the ability to hire critical staff, including toxicologists and engineers and other that play a crucial role in protecting the people of this country. The epa may be forced to delay fixing the aging Water Infrastructure. In might well backbeat progress we have made on Environmental Justice stop President Biden justice. It will also allow us to address the Environmental Concerns of millions of americans and fundamentally improve peoples lives for the better. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and to submit this testimony for the record and i look forward to our partnership to can achieve these necessary goals and i welcome all questions. Thank you. Thank you very much and we will have seven minute rounds and i will as everyone to wrap up their questions before time run out time runs out so everyone has a chance to ask their insights. I will begin. I will begin by asking about the House Majority proposal to freeze funding to fy 2022 levels and a consequence that it would translate by nearly cut up by a billion 1 billion including a 600 million cut on a program that would improve water pipes. It seems like that is at odds with bipartisan support for Water Infrastructure. I wanted to see give you an opportunity to clarify what that house proposal would do. Admin. Regan thank you for the question and our job is fundamentally about keeping people safe to safeguard the very things we as americans hold dear, like the insurance that when children turn on the tap water, the water they drink will be clean. Or the air outside will be safe. If we were to roll back the budget to 2022 levels, it would force us to make very difficult decisions in terms of protecting the health and safety of all americans. It would also cut hundreds of millions of dollars from programs that impact the market. We understand there are pesticides and herbicides that need to make it to the market to give our farmers the tools they need to be successful to feed the country. There will be significant impacts on the epas ability to put significant products on the market to help this country be competitive from a Global Economic standpoint. More importantly, sacrifice the health and safety of some of our filler fellow citizens. Sen. Merkley if i could simplify the leadpipe issue, since that is a condition that affects the developing brains of our baby and children, what that proposal so seriously seriously cut the approval of lead pipes admin. Regan it would. Sen. Merkley in april 21, President Biden signed a executive order for a whole environmental approach to Environmental Justice and you have significant responsibilities under that order. It directs agencies to use science and data suit to make determinations about project can you share the most important tools that the epa gained during that executive order and how do you plan to use them . Admin. Regan thanks to the president s leadership, he made an Environmental Justice a pillar since day one. We thank you and others to create a new national program. We reorganize with the resources that we had. We put three offices together to focus on Environmental Justice and external civil rights. There are number of tools in the executive order that have been adopted by the white house that will be used across the federal family so we can ensure our regulations match with the direction of the white house and other agencies that are pursuing so we can protect everything a person in the country equally. We have made a lot of strides in Environmental Justice and i am proud of our record and the tools that we have at our proposal disposal but we have a federal family that is rolling in the same direction to ensure all people are protected. Sen. Merkley you proposed a significant increase in the Environmental Justice funding. Can you translate in a common language what that will mean for communities that have been burned it burdened by high levels of toxic chemicals . Admin. Regan it will be tremendous. I believe as a former state regulator, states know their committees right well and communities know them even better and many of the solutions committees have had for decades on helping to reduce pollution and remove themselves from the front lines need to be matched with funding. With the request we have asked, eight euros as more personnel to be out in the fields to engage we have asked for more personnel to be out in the fields to engage with the communities. In some cases, because of income and because of race, because of zip code, we are seeing an undue and unfair burden on our constituents, whether it is alabama or virginia. This is an issue that plagues the country and it is our job that every Single Person in this country has access to clean air and clean water. Sen. Merkley i am very pleased to see the proposal for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund or the green bank that the epa is starting to implement as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Oregon has ambition ambitious goals. We do not have a green bank in place. We commit to make sure that oregon and other states that dont have green banks will have access to the Greenhouse Fund . Admin. Regan absolutely. Sen. Merkley acute and thank you. We have built Environmental Justice into our very dna so we have some very concrete metrics that are attached to the 27 billion to be sure that disadvantage communities disadvantaged communities will have access to the capital. We plan to make awards under the National Clean Investment Fund and an additional 27 awards. We have about 6 billion to focus on 7 billion to focus on solar for all competition. We will have a seat at the table and have an opportunity to invest in this clean energy economy. Sen. Merkley do you want to explain the solar for all . [laughter] admin. Regan this is an opportunity to provide up to 60 grants, states, travel, government, music counties and nonprofit to expand specifically the number of low income and disadvantaged communities that are primed for investments in residential and community solar. Sen. Merkley perfect. Sen. Murkowski thank you. I mentioned in length in my comments my concern with regards to the Wood Heater Program and the certification and have suggested it is unacceptable that the communities of fairbanks and north pole are effectively going to bear this burden for actions where the agency has failed and the program has to be fixed. I think we recognized it has to be fixed and i think it has to be done at whatever expense necessary so i appreciate the engagement that you and your staff has led on this to right this. I am following this carefully but i understand that you recently responded to the Inspector General report. Can you tell me what steps to be epa the steps that epa is taking to improve standards . Admin. Regan we are taking the oig report seriously. We are strengthening our commitment to work with the alaska dec, Fairbanks North Star bureau and other people in the community. We are designing a Program Using 50 million in funding from ira from testing and other activities to address this. I want to let you know that this issue has my attention. We will continue to prioritize it. With the irf dollars and with Enforcement Discretion i believe we can resolve this issue. Sen. Murkowski i appreciate the commitment you have made to reform this program and making that a priority. You are from you have heard my thanks for epas leadership for the contaminated lands effort. I think you would agree with me that this is one of those situations, when we talk about environmental injustice, you can park this program here under that category. I will continue to be a zealous advocate for our alaska native communities in writing this. We have made Good Progress but i think we recognize that there is so much, so much that has to be done in this area. I would like your commitment at the agency will maintain its leadership role on the issue and continue to work with me on all avenues so we can move the needle on except contaminated lands. Admin. Regan absolutely, we are excited about the Inflation Reduction Act [no audio] that we can access through the environment and im excited about that. Thank you for the inclusion. I think we will leverage these resources. Sen. Murkowski that is excellent to hear and to know that you are looking for opportunities within ira. Look to have further conversation with you. I know we hoped to have a call before this meeting but perhaps we can do a followup. I thank you for that. I mentioned my concern on how the rollout or implementation of cdx project is coming through the agency and i have suggested and strongly encouraged epa to explore and expedite these project awards, whether it is any of these ideas, i am not convinced that funding for hiring more personnel is the sole solution and may not even be the most efficient. Know that i am ready willing and able to securing new authorities for the appropriations bill as needed so what i would like to hear from you this morning is whether you also are concerned about the execution and the process Going Forward and whether or not we need to speed up project awards and make it a top tier priority like i do. Admin. Regan yes, it is a top tier priority. I am concerned with the speed of getting these resources to these communities so we are looking at innovative ways to do so while maintaining or staying within those lines that would be sufficient for oversight. Many of these communities have never received this level of funding before. We are having to deploy a lot of Technical Assistance and new programs to be sure that they are prepared to receive these dollars and stay within the bounds of the law. With the phentermine dollars received last year with a 15 million received last year, a fresh rope approach to publishing like this to how to streamline this, sen. Murkowski i asked for an opportunity to have a followup meeting with your team and our Committee Staff to discuss some ideas on how we can really improve this, especially once outside of funding for staff. If you can commit to working on this. Admin. Regan i do. Sen. Murkowski everyone is talking about pfas and in alaska, we remain concerned and weak included 10 billion dollars in the bipartisan infrastructure law to tackle pfas . I think that is a good investment. When i talk to him communities in my state, they very much want to take on pfas but they are concerned about National Regulations and how they could potentially amount to new unfunded mandates. They also expressed the state and Remediation Technology is not as advanced as it should be. We have groups in alaska that i think our being innovative and working on cutting age pfas cutting edge pfas Remediation Technology. How are you concerned about the committees that have to reach these Drinking Water standards without further financial help from the government. Arbery and a good place with testing and remediation tech arbery with are we added a place with testing and remediation policies are we at a good place with testing and remediation policies . Admin. Regan of the 10 billion dollars for pfas, we know 5 billion is for small and disadvantaged Water Systems. We want to continue to match dollars with our traditional budget and in other places to may shift to make sure that small and disadvantaged communities are not left behind and we are investing in new testing methods to detect this. We are hoping costs will come down and we want to engage the communities that have innovative ideas for mitigation and detecting because we are in that research and Development Mode and all options should be considered. Admin. Regan hopefully sen. Murkowski hopefully we will have an opportunity to make some of these folks. To meet some of these folks. Sen. Merkley senator reid . Is you for joining us today and i am still reeling from the proposed House Republican budget which would substantially cut epa. From your letter, you indicated these are the lowest funding levels since 2013. In 2013, i was chairman of the committee. A lot has changed since 2020 2013 and a lot of new problems have emerged. One of the issues we have spoken about is the lead pipe challenge and making sure everyone has clean Drinking Water. The proposed republican budget with 620 million in the program would slash 620 million in the program. One area i think would also be hit is appropriate Staffing Levels so the epa could do a shop. Is that a concern you have . Admin. Regan it is a concern, whether it be stinking thinking through our enforcement to help communities, whether it is by pfas or chemical communities. The court has taken away so many tools from our farmers. We need the staff and resources to get new products on the market so farmers can have the tools they need. Sen. Reed also from your experience as a state lover regulator, you know one of the most frustrating things is to go to a Regulatory Agency because they are understaffed, underfunded and unable to respond to a request for ferment and everything else. That undercuts the faith in the institution. I am beginning to think more and more that this approach a budget cutting is not just about devaluing the institutions that are necessary to compete and succeed in this world. That might be more commentary than question. Any thoughts you have . Admin. Regan i think that is correct. I spent more time than any administration demonstrated with the agricultural committee. I did a meeting with ceos and executives from the Auto Industry and i met with ceos with the power industry. We have people working with their staff to make sure we are taking a vantage of the latest technologies and we have forged a relationship to keep the country globally competitive. Reduction in staff reduce the possibility for our economy to grow. Sen. Reed with respect to the lead pipe issue, that he talked about, i can empathize enough i cannot emphasize how important this issue is. Exposed lead to a child has extreme Cognitive Development and a lot of young people who are not fortunate to live in what the committees have been exposed to lead infected water and their ability to function is impaired for a lifetime so this is not just a issue of costbenefit analysis, it is also a moral imperative and i think we have to do much more in and cutting these moneys seems to be not just an infection an efficient but injecting a committed commitment we should have. Admin. Regan we have worked with every state in the country and developed a more robust inventory. We know we have 9 million late lead Service Lines in the country. We have to close this gap. There is no acceptable or safe level for lead exposure for children or anyone. Sen. Reed one of the problems we were able to pull together was the geographic programs of the epa and we were fortunate enough to create one that dealt with southern new england. One of the critical reasons is a problem that senator mccaskill doesnt have because alaska is very senator mccaskey senator murkowski doesnt have because alaska is very big unless we have a regional approach to issues of pollution, we can literally effectively up control the quality of water throughout rhode island. We have this program which is extremely effective. It is one of several programs throughout the u. S. And they are in severe jeopardy of being eliminated under , underfunded are understaffed. Four understaffed or understaffed. Can you speak to the importance of this . Admin. Regan i cant. There is an increase of 70,000 above 23 that we will like to help ensure. The program serves as a hub to enable restoration of coastal watershed of southeast new england. Detecting the water state the watershed help sustain the. Communities i would say that we recognize this Program Draws on a network of stakeholders and experts that seek out and support innovative actresses and complement the work all of us are doing to protect the watershed. It is important and a Great Organization and Great Program that does a lot of good work, not just for the ecosystem before the economy in the u. S. Sen. Reed thank you very much. Thank you mr. Chairman. Mr. , sugar, thank you for being in front of our committee and i appreciate your work and interest in alabama. Different give reference your reference to uniontown is something i appreciate. Additionally, we added that to a congresswomans work on a 1. 8 million revenue stream to fix this problem. We know and believe we have to upgrade and repair the systems and we look forward to working with you moving forward. Congress was disapproved a few weeks ago of the new role. I am grateful that alabama is currently sector from its impact by a federal court rule. Farmers wake up every day, they have enough on their plate. They should not have to worry that ponds or mud holes are on their land are federally regulated. The cost is hundreds of thousands of dollars for americans to comply our with everchanging regulations. Alabamians should indeed to pay a lawyer to find out if the ditch on their land is greg you federally regulated. When the epa calculated the cost benefits of the biting rule, biden rule admin. Regan thank you for the question. I would like to say that i have tried my best. I have met with more of the 10 situation than any Administrator Prior and i know the ambiguity isnt solely on epa. Multiple Supreme Court have weighed in on this, at least threefour administrations have tried to get this right. We have taken a look at what the courts have ruled prior. We attempted to put a rule in place that was much more durable legally sen. Britt do you think it had an Economic Impact . Admin. Regan i think everything we do can have a plus or minus Economic Impact which is why we provoke work so hard to make impact other administrations have failed to have. Sen. Britt you signed off on that. Do you agree on that assessment . Admin. Regan your question in terms of uncertainty of the Economic Impact is one that we i would not say reject the premise of the question but the Economic Assessment that we do is based on our legal assessment , of what the law requires and what we put in place so that farmers do have the certainty to comply with the will. Rule. We worked with the secretary at usda to be sure that we implement the rule, we leverage resources across the federal family so we believe the Economic Impact would be positive because we thought that the farmers and farming communities would have uncertainty. Sen. Britt there are economic and impacts and many of those have been negative. In alabama alone, sbc says over 64,000 Small Businesses have been impacted by that and that is 165,000 employees. I am of the belief that our foresters and farmers have tended to their land upon generations and they depend of the fruitful list the fruitfulness of the land to continue to do their job and i believe Food Security is national security. We cannot feed our clove ourselves workload ourselves, nothing else matters. I noticed a pattern of concern from people coming to my office and discussing the epa and many have feared the epa is regulate password science can support. Alabamians. That epa regulations are more predicted based on the Green New Deal ideology than that of the science and technology before us. With pfas, the current epa proposal stretches the limits of what can be consistently tested. Complying with the levels propose would divert millions of dollars from needed infrastructure upgrades and the term i continue to hear from peoples bankruptcy from people is bankruptcy. And of course, theres pesticides. Your agency eliminated the use of a pesticide for soybeans and other crops. You said you agreed with ust usda on the signs of this testified testified pesticide and others have ruled that there are safe uses of the product. Since then, there has been blamed that has been shifted on the ninth circuit court. I understand the ban was consisted consistent with the platform of the Democratic Party in 2020. I am asking you what i dont understand, do you think there are good uses for this, and if so, how can we get back to utilizing them . Admin. Regan i think the secretary and i are working closely together and number two, we believe in shared science. But the secretary has said what the secretary has said is that the u. S. Da has its perspectives and epa has it but i have to show up in front of the judge and when the ninth circuit set the bar so high, the epa had a burden of proof that historically had never been placed before. We had to make a decision to follow the law. There is a way to follow the law and the science. Sen. Britt what about the 11 safe uses . Can epa find allow find a way to allow growers to use those . Admin. Regan what the epa has done and will continue to do is to meet the bar that the ninth circuit has set. We can talk science for days and we can get to some agreement on the impact science but i think when the courts give you a mandate sen. Britt has epa appealed the mandate . Admin. Regan epa presented the best case it could. Sen. Britt you have not appealed . Admin. Regan the courts in its writing expressed serious frustrations with Agency Decisions in the past and expressed serious frustrations on where we were on endangered species and the like. You can only tempt fate for so many times and what i pledged to do is to respect the letter of the law. Sen. Britt i hope you consider appealing that and helping farmers use a weight to make use of the 11 safe ways to use it. Thank you. Feels like everyone has heard me say this one million times so but it matters. As we continue our progress to return to regular order, this hearing provides an of the critical opportunity to look up why it is so important to families that we work in a timely, bipartisan way to pass our funding bills and make sure we are actually providing the research necessary to keep people safe. Safety is about more than how strong our military is. Family wants to know families want to know if they have clean air and clean water. Fishers and farmers want to know the ecosystem they rely on, that our economy relies on, is not being harmed by dangerous chemicals and committees want to know we are making meaningful progress to cut emissions and fight the expensive, existential threat that is the Climate Crisis Climate Crisis. If we want to make sure people in the country is safe, we need to make sure they are not breathing smog are being exposed to chemicals like pfas. We are learning how serious a threat pfas is to Public Health so i hope and expressed the committee will do whatever it can. Pfas are everywhere. We need to make sure we are coming down on pollution and not cutting down on funding the epa needs to protect kids. I am glad we are here to talk about the Critical Issues in vetting affecting our environment and families. Thank you for being here. Im going to talk about specific recovery and extent and salmon and steelhead recovery remains a urgent undertaking. Epas programs play an Important Role in Habitat Restoration for those endangered species. An omnibus included funding for those programs. I am glad to hear that the first Task Force Meeting is taking place tomorrow but can you give us an update on the work the epa is doing to stand up both facilities and what research may be necessary to better coordinate restoration protection . Admin. Regan i was to thank you for your leadership on that and we have been a partner for a long time. I Deputy Assistant visited 20 million, 17 million of that is immediately going to the Strategic Initiative lead cooperative agreements we have fort save shellfish, habitat and stormwater projects in washington. For our tribal projects, a commission is working to finalize the plans for each tribes. Each tribe. He planned to announce a second round of funding we plan to announce a second round of funding. We have a rfa to support climate and resilient projects. There are a number of resources and strategies put in place to be sure that our partnership is strong. Sen. Murray i appreciate that. House republicans last week voted for a deep cut to Discretionary Spending over the next 10 years. Can you talk about how those deep cuts would undermine epas ability to respond and address pfas contamination . Admin. Regan we know that pfas is a visceral issue that we are having to address. We cannot ignore the science. We have put in place a pfas roadmap. We have 10 million to address pfas but that is not enough. Many of our small communities are struggling with this issue so we are working strategically with the resources we have on r d, partnering with federal family to determine the safe levels on how to relate this forever chemical. As we do such, we are leveraging billions of dollars in the bipartisan infrastructure law to ensure disadvantaged communities and rule Water Systems have access to resources so they can keep pace with regulations. It is our job to keep people safe and we recognize there are technologies on the market and we are trying to work on a path so we canthats what were doinn behalf of the american people. The budget would significantly set us back. The budget cuts on pfa asked, lead, would significantly set us back. We need to continue to move forward because there is so much more work that needs to be done. Getting tools out there herbicides and pesticides for our Farming Community. Thank you. I was pleased to see the recent notice of funding opportunity for the Clean School Bus Grant Program that we established in the bipartisan infrastructure law and i was glad you were in Washington State last october to highlight this and the difference its going to make. Its going to help improve the lives of kids and communities across the country. During the application phase how is the epa going to work to make sure our underserved communities including those on the prioritized School District list are competitive in this program . We have been doing that from day one. 99 of the grants have gone to rural, disadvantaged, or low income families. Some of my best visits around electric school buses have been in rural communities. Prices like kansas where the batteries are serving as backup capacity for the Rural Electric cooperative. The communities are being strategic in how we use this Technology Beyond the Yellow School buses. Thank you. Senator fischer . Thank you mr. Chairman. I was glad to see that the epa issued an Emergency Fuel waiver last week to allow ethan 15 to be sold the summer. It helps families save money at the gas pump, it is better work the environment and it boosts our Nations Energy security. While the Emergency Fuel waiver is a good thing, i believe we need a permanent fix and i have a bipartisan bill for that. It ensures nationwide permanent access to e15. Will you commit to working with me to get this bill out there and hopefully enacted so we can ensure that we have the e15 for our consumers and drew years . The president has pledged that biofuels would play a part in this economy as we move forward so i look forward to partnering with you and your staff with Technical Assistance to make sure that we can make e15 more accessible. Thank you. I would like to also discuss a proposed rule on reporting requirements for emissions from animal waste. In 2019 when epa proposed the current exemption for animal waste emissions, the National Association that represents state Emergency Response commissions, tribal Emergency Response commissions and local Emergency Planning committees was supported by this narrow exemption. In a letter they stated these reports are of no particular value to First Responders and they are generally a nord ignored because they do not relate to any particular event. The epa has requested an additional 8. 4 million for state and local prevention and preparedness under your authorities. Do you believe that is a good use for epa resources to require reporting of animal air waste emissions or manure smells the local Emergency Planning commissions have stated are of no particular value . 9 i would say we are responding to a couple of things, the first is we have had states request we take another look because technology has evolved. A number of communities on the ground have requested this. This is not a rulemaking, this is our desire to reevaluate how this plays into the broader decisionmaking at the state and federal level. Have you reached out to all states to the department of Environmental Quality for example . Or are you basically hearing just from the states that want to have a new look at it . Let me circle back to see if we have heard from all 50 states on this. I can follow up with you on that. That would be great. I think there are just as many states who would take an opposite view on it and as you said earlier to one of the questions that my colleagues asked, its important to follow the science on it and make sure that we are promoting factbased policies that have a tremendous impact on each individual state depending on their situations. The bipartisan infrastructure law which i supported, it made historic investments in Water Infrastructure and in many cases targeted those resources toward the disadvantaged communities. The law continued to defer to states on how to define disadvantaged communities for many programs including those state Revolving Funds. This flexibility to tailor resources toward an individual state needs i believe is definitely a benefit and not a flaw of the state Revolving Funds. I have heard concerns and also confusion on how epa is overseeing these programs or how you might oversee them in the future. I think some of the confusion is , it has grown because of various memos that have been put out and guidance from the epa and administrative executive orders for example, the justice 40 Initiative States a goal of providing 40 of the benefits of federal investment toward the disadvantaged communities. Can you tell me just how the justice 40 initiative squares with explicit statutory considerations such as in distributing the state Revolving Funds . For example, does epa have their own Disadvantaged Community definition . Do you require 40 of the states to meet that definition if you do have that . In terms of the way you framed it with the state Revolving Loan fund, by law 49 of those resources go to disadvantaged communities. I think we were quick out of the gates to partner with our states, the state regulators so i understand the importance of that. There were people who had doubts but i can say that working with the senator of West Virginia, some of the Southern States were the first to redefine disadvantaged communities so we could get the money out the door. I believe the justice 40 is perfectly aligned with the traditional construct of this program and i was pleased that many are states brought their definitions up to speed. These definitions look different in different states because of different makeup and lots of other issues, but i believe our states have a Critical Role display role to play. 85 of the increase in our budget goes to states and tribes. Our states are very strong partners with this agency and im very proud of that. Thank you. I what to thank you for being here administrator i want to talk to you broadly about the program there are 17 active sites in montana in the process of being cleaned up. Your budget says 22 of the population lives within 3 three miles of a superfund site. Last congress we Work Together to provide epa one of the largest funding increases to accelerate and expand the work the Superfund Program. You talk about moving forward not backwards. However your budget request is only 25 of the 23 allocation. I have been in democrat and republican administrations and both tend to play games. We dont play games with superfund sites. There was a lot of funding made available through a process called the bipartisan infrastructure plan and regular appropriations. We did that to address problems quicker not to reduce annual appropriations. Can you explain how you can justify 75 decrease from last year because we havent had a 75 decrease in superfund demand . Thank you for the question. Absolutely i agree that we dont need to move backwards and dont need to play any games. The budget for this year is based on the transition of the Traditional Program to the superfund tax receipt program. This is based on treasury forecasts that a collection of 2. 5 billion in superfund tax receipts would be achieved in 2023 which would be available for use in our 2024 Superfund Program. We shifted from Traditional Program so you are going to get it from self funding methods . The tax that you guys applied to superfund sites . Yes. Your overall top dollar that you are going to spend ons refund clean up this year is going to be as high or higher than last year . Predictions would say its going to be higher which is why in this budget we are asking for a few more staff so we can keep going. I appreciate that and we will hold you accountable to it. I want to talk specifically about waste and place for superfund sites. I can tell you a lot of folks in montana communities are concerns concerned about waste in place remedies. I discussed this issue with you last time and sent you a detailed letter outlining my concerns about this remedy. I did not get a response. Were going to start again. Can you tell me how Community Members concerned about waste in place remedies can raise concerns with your agencies and receive honest answers, answers that dont come from the corporation that is responsible for the waste in place in the first place . We should definitely get you a response in a much quicker time, i will circle the staff and we will do that. I didnt even get a response. Point taken. Community engagement, we have beefed up our Community Engagement. We need to be on the ground in these communities. We will get to that point in a second on the Community Engagement. Tell me how short of Community Engagement that if i am a concerned citizen i can get an answer from the epa when senior u. S. Senator could not get an answer. Number one, i will check with my staff but i believe we have been on the ground and we have beefed up our opportunities. These are specific remedies on a casebycase basis. I agree with you, people need to feel confident. If they havent bought income you can do your job. Agree with that. Tell me how the remedies are going to be viable . We have to explain wheres the sites coming from . We have some of the best scientists and remedial experts in the world. Does include feedback from universities . Absolutely. Neutral parties to verify the science . Neutral parties yes. We dont take everybodys advice 100 because we are the experts. Does it include test walls being drilled and flood mitigation being planned for . The answer from my Vantage Point is it should be and i believe it is. We have to do all of these things to ensure that when you store waste in place for hundreds of years that it is safer every community. This is in the middle of a prairie. Most superfund sites are around water. I want to talk about Community Engagement especially as butte comes about. There was a Community Meeting where residents had the opportunity to express concerns about a lack of progress and effectively cleaning up the community. The readout from that meeting could not be clearer. Folks in butte are frustrated with the process. That is being kind and i say frustrated. I will be blunt, you need to fix it, you need to make sure this agency is listening to folks on the ground. If it is happening in butte, it is happening everywhere. I could read you the news report from that meeting in butte and there was nobody that stepped up and patted the epa on the back and said you guys were doing a good job. If there was, it was never reported. This is been going on a long time. View wired this country and copper. You have butte who is an incredibly resilient community, they are sick and tired of being jacked around. I need your commitment that you will do your people under you, the people in the communities, the people in the region are going to do their best not only to listen but to react to what they are hearing. Can i get that . Absolutely and our people came back from that meeting the first of may with feedback taken to heart. We are prepared to engage and we are engaging. This has been going on for a while, a long time, before i got here and even longer. I dont think the epa has done a good job of listening to people for any time. There are two ways to listen. You can listen and ignore or listen and take the feedback and try to do something positive for the community. Thats what i want you to do. I am proud of the staff. Before the 5 billion from the infrastructure law which we appreciate, this program was underfunded just like every other program. Our ability to do outreach and tend to all of the sites we are way over but im going to tell you something, the Forest Service came in and talked about underfunding, we fix that. We are moving forward not backwards. I agree with you. It is nice to see you in a different venue. I know you have been asked this question, but i wanted to reemphasize the issue that on the cds funding delay, we have heard a lot of complaints at home, you informed folks they will be able to get they cant move forward with their financing without the assurances and timely funding. Our office was notified that the fy23 Community Recipients of cds did receive instructions to assist them in planning and preparing for their application process. Im glad to see this is moving much faster than the fy 2022. What is the status . Has a single fy 2022 cds funding possibility, have any of those dollars gone out yet . The percentage is much smaller than i would like and any of us would like. Has any of it gone out . Yes we have a number that is bigger than zero that has gone out. The number is 25. 25 awards, 117 applications, only 30 of those applications were complete. 25 of the 30 have gone out the door. What we saw in the beginning was epa was significantly unprepared for this. Many of these recipients we have had to go above and beyond to provide Technical Assistance because theyve never received this level of federal dollars before. To keep everyone and compliance, we have doubled down on her Technical Assistance. Again 30 completed applications, 25 went out the door. We recognize we need to do better. Good i assume by putting up the guidance or instructions a little bit earlier this year youre moving in that direction. You mentioned under resourced but i would point out that epa received 10 billion dollars and 40 billion in additional funding through the inflation reduction backed. Surely that has to have impact in our ability to work through this project and others. We have been hiring since we got some of those dollars and in some cases, where the at cross pollination opportunities for the staff members. We received significant resources focused on specific projects. We put people forward to complete those tasks and where we can leverage staff, we are. I want to talk about the epa modeling that shows direct and dramatic decline in coalfired power over the next 17 years based on the Inflation Reduction Act. It is 43 more coal retirements than epa rejected originally without the law. This is not account for the upcoming rule which i would like to find out where that is. Or the rules that you have issued in the last few months whether its new standards on wastewater from coal plants or mercury emissions. We talked numerous times about this issue of what the impact of some of this is to our state, my state of West Virginia. Are you want to update your modeling once you put out your new Clean Power Plan and other rules . Will you continue to update this so we can see what the real impacts would be . Have you looked at those in the terms of the Economic Impact and job impact in certain areas . Where are you on updating in terms of as you are ruling out rolling out more stringent requirements through your regulations . As we look at our powerplant regulation which should be coming, it will have the corresponding modeling and costbenefit analysis with that rule. I would love to have my team come to sit down with yours to walk through all of the modeling and the costbenefit analysis but those rules that are currently out and after we finish with interagency review on the powerplant rule, do the same thing with that regulation as well. Is the costbenefit analysis include the number of jobs lost and what the impact would be to the community . The costbenefit analysis and all of our rules are very complex and im sure you can tease out a number of things in that analysis. What i would like to do is have my team spend some time with you on all of the impacts, positive and textual potential adverse impact on any of the rules we put down. Let me ask you about the classics well applications for individual projects, thats the state privacy applications for the ccs technology. Michael egan i are very interested in making sure we are moving forward on not just the technology and i know your state regulator has done, you have privacy dont you . Has done a lot. At the epa, you have 70 individual permit applications for classics injection wells but i dont know that any have been permitted. Louisiana just got there classics state privacy application, i think West Virginia is very much in the queue. What actions have the epa taken to make sure classics permits are prioritized and done in a primary priority manner . They said the time they can move their applications through much quicker and have had successful applications meet success whereas the ones that are still at epa are languishing. How do you account for that and what is your plan to make sure those move quicker . The classics well Application Program is absolutely a priority. The president is indicated that ccs is something that this administration supports. We have learned a lot of lessons from states like dakota. We just approved louisiana and louisiana will serve as a model for all of the states plan to move forward with. We have a productive relationship with the state of West Virginia and that application is moving forward. We are making sure all states are submitting similar applications so we can put them forward on an expedited timeline. I hope that they would move quicker, i think the state privacy issue is critical to move forward to clear environment to capturing and sequestering and utilizing the carbon. Sandra peterson . Senator peters . The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was established in 2009 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of freshwater in the world great lakes. The great lakes are not only in our dna but they are a critical resource for Drinking Water. Also in terms of Economic Growth and job creation, they are incredibly important. Since 2010, it is provided 2. 9 billion to support over 6000 projects throughout the great lakes including 762 million for 880 projects in my state of michigan. It has been a catalyst without question for unprecedented federal Agency Coordination through the Interagency Task force and the Regional Working Group which is led by the epa. The resources have been used to Fund Projects to restore and improve Water Quality, to project protect native habitat and protect and control native species. My question for you as chair of the great lakes Interagency Task force, can you say how the task force selects the best combination of projects to improve Water Quality as well as accelerate the protection and restoration of the great lakes . Thank you for your leadership on this issue. This initiative was allocated 1 billion under bipartisan infrastructure law in fy22. In our budget for 2024, we are requesting the same level we requested in 23 because we want to keep up the critical work, keep the momentum. On the task force, are Great Lakes National Program Office chairs one of the Regional Working Groups which consists of representatives from 16 federal partners. We are seeing a lot of partnership and excitement especially with the inclusion infusion of capital. We take the lead on the planning and budgeting which is done two years in advance to help plan for the president s budget so we believe that we have a lot of momentum, a lot of participation and the resources to tackle this issue. Pfas contamination has devastated many communities in michigan as well as across the country and for far too long, pfas contamination is not just an environmental threat but a danger to Public Health and it devastates local economies. We have to do everything we can to address the impact of these toxic chemicals and thats why want to say i was pleased to see the epa done designate two of the most notorious compounds as Hazardous Substances under the Superfund Program last year. I was pleased to see last months announcement that the epa is considering expanding the list of pfas that are designated as hazardous under the superfund. My question for you is can you speak to the importance of classifying pfas under superfund as well as what the epa plans are to ensure that state agencies and affected communities are part of these cleanup decisions being made . Absolutely as the former state regulator of North Carolina the role that the state and federal governments have is so important. Many of our state agencies have the delegated authority to implement on clean air and lean water statutes. Having the state local and federal cooperation is extremely important. Not just on the implementation side but definitely the planning side. We have taken important steps in proposing to designate two pfas. It is our job to prevent this forever chemical from entering and polluting but also if it does, we have to clean it up. We are excited about where we are in the interagency process. Weve worked handinhand with the usda and department of defense and we believe we are making significant progress not just setting Drinking Water standards but setting the cleanup standards as well. I appreciate that two of those substances were part of your action but as you know, pfas encompasses hundreds of different variations of that chemical and we would assume that they also present significant hazards as being part of that family. Can you commit to establishing National Primary Drinking Water regulations for additional types of pfas as soon as possible or give us some idea of how you plan to progress on dealing with the broader issue of a very large family of dangerous chemicals . Absolutely i can commit to this which is we have designated six, we have 29 additional on our radar. As we get the science and the data in we will continue to work across our federal family especially cdc and others to determine the health impacts. We will continue to move forward designating these dangerous chemical compounds and regulating them accordingly. I appreciate that effort, its a big job. Federal Research Efforts have also been fragmented at various federal agencies. Some have struggled to address the full scope of the problems of pfas. Thats why i introduced the federal pfas Research Evaluation act cosponsored by a Bipartisan Group of senators to direct a study by the National Academies of science, engineering, and medicine to inform decisions by the federal government, state government, industry and other stakeholders as to how we deal with these complex substances. Can you speak to the importance of having a more comprehensive federal Research Approach to better inform pfas mitigation efforts and ultimately to help families and First Responders and our environment that are all impacted by the substances . It is absolutely imperative that we have Additional Research into this chemical compound and the technologies that will deter this from entering our bodies. Thats why we asked for 170 million in the budget 2024 so we can keep pace with the research and development being done with our federal family counterparts as well as what is happening in academia and state level. We need to get a handle on this science and health impacts. Were going to work across the federal family state and local agencies to be sure we are competitive and the 170 million that we are requesting will go a long way. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Recently, good to see you thank you for being here. Recently, the congress voted on a bipartisan basis to overturn the lotus rule then shortly thereafter a judge issued a preliminary injunction that affects 24 states including my state of north dakota staying the new rule. Given that it is every in front of the Supreme Court and is likely to provide clarity on what the epa authority is over states and landowners in regard to regulating the waters of the u. S. , doesnt it make sense to put a nationwide pause on your lotus rule until the Supreme Court has ruled in the case . Where we see in those 26 states 24. There is an active stay and we will be implement in lotus under the regime where the states that dont have estate in place will continue to move forward. I engage significantly with our Agricultural Industry and i appreciate you you have been to our state and you have seen the concerns about the lotus rule. Yes we have attempted to take those concerns, match them with the laws that we are required to follow and we codified a number of exclusions and exemptions that we are proud of that many of the Community Asked us to do. In the states where that state is in place and we go back to 2015, those exemptions and exclusions are not as clear and available to our Farming Community but we will continue to work around that. I think the case will provide some clarity and the questions that we have. Good news is we will not be starting from scratch. We will be starting with a rule that we put in place that some states have stayed, we will take the case, just rule and able to move forward and we will not be starting from two years behind. The Previous Administration lotus rule we felt compelled to move forward and engage with our Agricultural Community to try to put a durable rule in place that will provide some certainty and codified many of these exclusions and exemptions. The current rule doesnt do that and you recognize that the congress on a bipartisan basis voted against the rule. I acknowledge that for three or four a ministrations, multiple courts have weighed in. Nobody has ever been pleased with lotus and i recognize that. We did our level best to learn from all of what we have seen in the past to put forward a durable rule and we find ourselves where we are. We are very concerned about texting private property rights. I also want to ask you about the rule the epa existing regulatory rule then your own study indicates the rule you have in place prior to issuing the numeral the new rule has mercury levels below level of concern from a Public Health standpoint. That is your own study determination. Why are you proposing new rules that put additional burdens and costs on electric plants when we very much need that electricity . When we took a look at the necessary aspect of that rule, we came to the conclusion that there needed to be further reductions of mercury to protect humans health. We also took a look at and i believe that many of the power sector industry would agree that the control technologies that exist to control mercury to the levels that we would like to see to protect Public Health exist in a costeffective way. Many of them have various aspects of those technologies on their plans. We believe that in following the law, following the science in a costeffective way we could continue to drive mercury emissions down to protect Public Health. Your own study shows we are already doing that and now you are adding additional regulation and cost to an industry that is working to capture and store co2 which you know we are doing in our state. That new technology, the industry is undertaking investment to capture those emissions and now with co2 which is very expensive. You are adding Regulatory Burden at a time when there investing and working to provide base electricity to the grid which is needed and capture co2 as well. You need to keep that in mind. You now are looking at late night coal and other coal and trying to apply the exact same standards to both when they are very different. We need you to work with our industry to make these investments to capture the very emissions that you want to see captured and stored. You have to work with the industry if you want that to happen. Youre absolutely right in terms of having to work with the industry. I think we are doing a fairly good job of that and any of the examples you have cited, north dakota is doing a good job in pursuing some of those advanced technologies. I think we are saying from a similar shade music sheet of music which is that many of these have a lot of benefits to drive the pollution down. We would like for you to pursue some of these costeffective technologies like ccs, advanced mercury scrubbing technologies to ensure that the industry is keeping pace at a unified level. We are already capturing millions of tons of co2 but we need help and go tory certainty to keep doing that and more of it. Thats why we have worked really hard and spoken with the industry at length. This is why we are putting all of our rules out together. The industry has asked these to be bundled so that they can look at all the impacts, the potential benefits from investing in technologies and make those longerterm investments. What the epa has done is that we will get these rules together and thats what we have done. Great to see you and your team. I want to thank you and your team for keeping me and my team regularly apprised of the progress on the implementation of the Greenhouse Gas adduction fund. As you know, this is been something i have worked on for well over a decade starting with my time in the house of representatives. We introduced the National Climate bank legislation. We are pleased to see the president embrace and now we are in the work of implementation which is critical to be successful. Thank you for those consultations. I want to affirm that we are on the same page with respect to the goals to achieve Greenhouse Gas emissions that were targeted for this particular fund. To ensure it as a Multiplier Effect. The idea is that this will be matched by other private sector and other funds so we will have a five time Multiplier Effect that will sustain ensure sustainability. This is not a pot of money for Grant Funding that we turn around and its all gone. More importantly that we make sure the funds are invested to help underserved communities as a transition to clean energy economy. I want to make sure those are programs you are committed to. Absolutely. But for you and others, we would not have this significant opportunity 27 billion is a lot of money. Its not a lot of money and we need to have that Multiplier Effect to be sure we are putting programs in place that can be leveraged by those who invest. We also want to make sure that every Single Person in this country benefits from it. We share those goals and we have enjoyed the conversations with your team. Our project is better because of those conversations. My view is that this can be most effective by creating at most a few national no networks that have to be national in scope. That include existing green banks but also cdf i and other lenders. We want to make sure it has that ability to coordinate because we need to be able to come to you a couple of years from now and say how are we doing in terms of rain has gas Emission Reductions goal . How are we doing in terms of meeting our goal of ensuring low income communities are participating in the transition and i think that is much better achieved by having at least a National Network that is coordinating all of this. Another thank you because for years, maryland worked to try to get the epa to adopt the air production Good Neighbor rule because we received lots of air pollution from other states into our air and the bay. Thank you for having moved forward on that. Let me talk about the backwater Wastewater Infrastructure. The maryland senators and our congressional delegation from baltimore objected to the proposal to transfer some of the wastewater from the East Palestine derailment through the back river plant in baltimore. Im glad that that plan did not go forward. The reason we objected as you know is that because back river plant has had a history of problems, chronic problems and we did not want to take any additional risk that more pollution would enter our waterways as a result of that contaminated water. The funds in the bipartisan infrastructure bill for the Revolving Fund are important. Just ask for your commitment today that you work with us on back river. That has had a series of problems and we want to make sure we work in partnership with you and your team to correct them. Absolutely you have my commitment. Our team has been paying close attention to that. You have our commitment. Thank you. It is an ongoing project. Let me now turn to the Chesapeake Bay and the epa program. I am very gratified to see that the administration requested the full authorization of 92 million. This has been an ongoing priority for our region and i would argue very important for the country as well as the nations largest you worry. I am also pleased with the proposed settlement of the lawsuit that is brought to ensure enforcement of the goals to clean up the bay. We are falling short of the targets. We had a plan to try to achieve the reductions in what we call the total maxim daily load by 2025. We are not hitting that target everyone sees that. It is vital that we establish aggressive pollution reduction targets and dates. I think that this proposed settlement which i expect will be finalized shortly will help accomplish that and would you comment on why this is important . This is a multiple state, the Chesapeake Bay its watershed encompasses multiple state. There is no secret that we have been concerned about coming down the susquehanna river. Can you talk about the epa commitment to making sure that the settlement is enforced assuming it goes forward . Absolutely. I proudly serve as the current chair of the Chesapeake Bay executive council. I look forward to engaging this multiple state body. Once the settlement is achieved and hopefully we will get the resources we are requesting, i believe we can effectively execute on the settlement but also enhance our engagement with our Agriculture Community and others who work in shipping in a negative way to the Chesapeake Bay. We also had a meeting where we need to recalibrate the 2025 goals. I am committed. I am chairing this executive council, i am committed to recalibrating 2025 goals and i am committed to bringing us all together to ensure that we restore the health and vibrancy of the Chesapeake Bay. Thank you, music to my ears. It requires resources but it also requires a political commitment from the federal government thank you. Thank you. We will try to do a speed round in which i have several questions that you can feel free to give short answers to. Then we are dashing to the boat that is currently underway. Can i have your assurance that any permitting reform that you support will not allow higher levels of toxins to be released and frontline communities . Yes. Thank you. Does that include the permitting of any new socalled chemical recycling facilities vent off significant toxins that might increase pollution and frontline communities . The way you will see both of those is our Technical Advice to the legislation obviously we will weigh in as mightily as we can we know we need to see permitting reform but in the Technical Advice we provide to congress we will be sure to flag those things because they are important to us. I will be paying close attention to these issues. Do i have your support in figuring out how we allow prescribed fires while also being very strong regarding generalized pm 2. 5 pollution . Yes. Let me turn this over to my colleague from alaska. Thank you. I know that senator cap about capito had raised the issues about the wells for carbon six sequestration. It is something that alaska is very interested in. We have a strong commitment to responsible stewardship and geological storage potential. We look at this with real opportunity. I have expressed some concern again about the pace of processing the individual permits. I want to know that you also view the agency class six Wells Program as an administration priority. I do, yes. Great we look forward to working with you on that. The epa is moving forward with new standards on light and medium duty vehicles and heavy duty truck emissions. A pretty aggressive timeline in fact it is even more aggressive than President Bidens stated goal that the epas going to make up a large percentage of the cars sold 2030. We know this is going to make a significant increase in minerals needed to supply the evs. Did the epa conduct a Needs Assessment and the amount of minerals required if these rules go into effect . We are very cognizant of the need and the broader femoral federal family approach to and roles, domestic manufacturing, and the tax incentives and the like. Our rules are technology standards. We have a limited scope we are allowed to look at but you can rest assured that the broader federal family goals resulting from ira will be taken moving forward. We not only need the minerals, but we will have to do more to promote some efficiencies and deal with the permitting issue, something we are all talking about here on a bipartisan basis. Lastly and this should be the easy one is i appreciate the progress we have made on our alaska specific issues. I would like to again encourage that we have set quarterly calls with senior staff from the agency. We call it the all things alaska call. We have had these agreements with Previous Administrations and i would like your commitment to have your team meet with mine on a quarterly basis. Absolutely. Thank you. If there are no other statements, the hearing of record be open until close of business may 17, 2023. Youve covered a range of topics in this hearing and im sure there will be followup austins. Followup questions. Thank you for your service to our country and with that, this hearing is adjourned. Thank you. 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