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 aggressivelyeport abous 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 to alaska specc 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 GasReduction 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 CleanInvestment 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 CrisisClimate 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 BusGrant 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 this is a closed captioning test. This is a closed captioning test. This is a closed captioning test. This is a closed captioning test. This is a closed captioning test. This is a closed captioning test. This is a closed captioning test. This is a closed captioning test. Ric cooperative. The communities are being strategic in how we use this Technology Beyond the Yellow School buses. 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 do you require 40 of the States Project to meet that definition if you do have that . I can answer it in terms of the way youve framed it with the state Revolving Loan store. 49 of the resources go to disadvantaged communities. And i think we were quick out of the gate to partner with our states. I understand the importance of that. And listen, there were people who have doubts, but i can say, working with seven of senator kavanaugh in virginia, and our Southern States to revamp their definitions of disadvantaged communities so we can get this out the door much quicker than needed. I believe that justice is perfectly aligned, the traditional construct of this program. That many of our states have their definitions up to speed, these definitions look different at different states, because of different makeups, and loss of other issues. But i believe that our states have a Critical Role to play. The last thing ill say, thats true with this budget request. 85 of the increase in our budget goes to states and. Our states are very strong partners with this agency, im struck very proud of that. Thank you mister chairman. Senator tester. Thank you mister chairman. I want to thank you for being here. Administrator, i would like to talk to you broadly about the program. 1300 sites nationally that are in the process of being cleaned up. Your budget says nationally, 22 of our population lives within three miles of a superfund site, you talk about how suspect foul and impactful the work of the program is to help families and children who grew up in these areas. In the last congress, we worked together, members of this committee, a bipartisan way to provide epa, one of the largest funding increases for any federal agency. Largely to accelerate and expand the work of the Superfund Programming. In your Opening Statement you talk about moving forward, not moving backward. However, your budget request for the coming fiscal year is only 25 of the allocation. Now look, i sat on this committee for a while. Ive chaired a few committees, and ive been a democrat and republican administrations. And they both tend to play games. The truth is, we dont play games with superfund sites. There was a lot of funding made available through a process called the bipartisan infrastructure plan, and a regular appropriations. We did that to address superfund problems quicker. Can you explain to me how the you can justify a 75 decrease from last year. Because we havent had a 75 decrease in super fund demand. Set it, thank you for the question. Absolutely, i agree with you that we dont need to move backwards, and we dont need to play any games. The budget for this year is based on the transition, and the traditional program, to the super fund program. This is based on treasury forecast that a collection of 2. 5 billion in superfund tax would be achieved in 2023. Which would be available for use in our 2024 super fund program. So we shifted from a traditional program, that would ask for these let me ask you to this way. So you are going to get it from self funding methods as what youre saying. That you guys apply to a superfund sites. Yes. Your overall top dollar figure that youre gonna spend on superfund cleanup this next year, its gonna be as high, or higher than what you spent last year . Predictions would say that it behind what we said last year, which is why this budget were asking for more staff, so we can keep going. I appreciate that. Were gonna hold you accountable to it. Okay. Ministry regan i want to talk about waste and superfund sites. We have a lot in montana. I can tell you a lot of folks in these communities across the state are really concerned about waste and place meant remedies. Last year you testified before this committee, i discuss this issue with you. I sent you a detailed letter outlining my concerns about this remedy. Guess what, i didnt get a response. So, were gonna start again. Okay . Can you tell me how Community Members concerned about waste and place remedies can raise concerns with your agencies, and receive honest answers . And answers that dont come from the corporation thats responsible for the waste and place in the first place . Number one, we should definitely get you that response in a much quicker time. We will do that, all circled the time. Even response period. Not only in quicker time, i dont get. One point taken. Community engagement, we have beefed up our Community Engagement. We are at epa need to be on the ground, in these communities, walking through gotta. And were gonna get to that point in a second on Community Engagement. Tell me how, short of Community Engagement, that if im a concerned citizen about waste in place, i can actually get an answer from the epa when the senior u. S. Senator couldnt get an answer from the epa . Number one, ill check with my staff, but i believe we have been on the ground, and i believe weve beefed up our Community Engagement opportunities. Because we wanted to be able to explain the science, the specific science. These are specific remedies on a case by case basis. Listen, i believe with you, i bully people need to feel confident. If theyre not bought in, you cant do your job. I agree with that. Okay . I agree with that. Tell me how the epa remedies of waste in place will be viable over the long haul. We stand by science in waste and place. Number two so where is the science coming from . While number one, it is from the program, the super fund program. We have some of the best we have some of the best scientists, and the best remedial experts in the world. Does it include feedback from universities . It absolutely does. It includes feedback both parties to verify the sides . Neutral parties, stakeholders. We take all this information, in and, no we dont take everybodys advice 100 , because where the experts. Does the verification include things like test wells are being drilled and sampling thats being done . How flood mitigation is being planned for . Let me get back to you, because the answer, from my vantage point, is it should be, and i believe it is. But if we have to do all of these things to ensure that when you store waste in place for hundreds of years that it is safe for every community. By the way, this isnt in the middle of a prairie with no water. Most of these are on water. Absolutely. Now i want to talk about Community Engagement. Specifically as butte comes about, the beaut superfund site. Two nights ago, there was a community meeting, where residents of butte have the opportunity to lack of progress and effectively cleaning up the community. Folks butte are frustrated with the process. And that is being kind when i say just frustrated. Ill be blunt, mr. Minister, 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. Im gonna tell, you i could read you the news report from that meeting in butte, there was nobody that stepped up to patty on the back and tell you guys you are doing a good job. If they did, it was never reported. Quite frankly, this is been going on a long time man. I mean butte wired this country and copper, it created one of the largest, if not the largest superfund sites in the country. And you got putin, who is an incredibly resilient community, they are really sick and tired of being jacked around. And so i need your commitment, that we will do, you will do your people under you will do, the people in the communities, the people in the regions, theyre gonna do their best. Not only to listen, but to react to what they are hearing. Can i get that . Absolutely. Absolutely, our people came back from that seething, that meeting in the 1st of may, with that feedback taken to heart. So we are prepared to engage. And we are engaging senator. I just want to tell, you this has been going on for a while. Like a long time, like before i got here, even longer. And i dont think the epa has done a good job of listening to people for any time in that period. I theres two ways to listen. You can listen and ignore, or listening take the feedback and try to do something positive for the community. Thats what i want you to do. Let me just in defense of the staff, im proud of my staff. Let me say, before the five billion dollars from the bipartisan infrastructure law, which we really appreciate from you all, this program was underfunded just like every other program. And so our ability to do outreach, and all, and tenth all the superfund fight we are way over. But im just gonna tell you something. The Forest Service came in and talk about underfunding, we fix that. We move forward, were not moving backward. I agree with you. Senator capital. Senator chairman, thank you senator regan, its nice to see you at a different venue. We usually see each other on. I want to, i know youve been asked this question. But i wanted to reemphasize that the issue that on the cds funding delay, we have heard a lot of complaints at home, you inform folks that they will be able to get a certain amount quickly in the water projects area, and they cant move forward with their financing without the assurances and timeliness of the fund. And so we heard our officers notified that the fy 23 community recipients, they did receive instructions for planning in preparing for the application process. Im glad to see this is moving much faster than the fy 2022. What is the status, has a single fy 22 ctf funded possibility, has any of those dollars gone out yet . Well senator, the percentage is much smaller than i would like, that any of us would like. Has any gone out . A percentage . So a percentage bigger than zero . Yes, we have a number thats bigger than zero that is gone out. Whats the number . 25. 25, 117 applications, only 30 of those applications were complete. 25 of that 30 have gone out the door. What we saw, number one in the beginning was that epa was significantly under reasonable sourced and under prepared for this. Number two, many of these recipients, weve had to go above and beyond and provide Technical Assistance to. Because they never received this level of federal dollars before. So to keep everyone in compliance, weve doubled down on our Technical Assistance. So again, 30 completed applications, 25 of those went out the door. But we recognize that we need to do better. Okay, good. I assume by putting out the guidance, or the instructions a little bit earlier this year, youre moving in that direction. You just mentioned under resourced, but i want to point out that the epa receives ten billion dollars, more than 10 million in fy 23, more than 40 billion in additional funding through the Inflation Reduction Act. Certainly that has to have impacts on your ability to move through all of these, what we are just talking about, and other projects like senator castro was talking about. You know, we have been hiring since we got those dollars. In some cases were looking at cross pollinate an opportunities for those staff members. But again, we receive significant resources, focused on specific projects. And so we put people forward to complete those tasks, and where we can leverage that, we are. I want to talk to you about the epa modeling that shows the direct, a direct and very dramatic decline in coal fired power in the next several years, based on the Inflation Reduction Act. Its 43 more coal retirement and epa projected before the law. This does not account for the epas of cutting clean power two point oh role, 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. You know i have talked numerous times about this issue, about what the impacts of some of this is to our state. My state, West Virginia. So are you going to update your modeling once you put out your, your new clean power plant . And other rules where you continue to update this . So we can see what the real impacts are going to be . Have you looked at what those would be in terms of Economic Impacts, and job impacts in certain areas . Obviously that is going to impact my state a lot. So where are you on updating, in terms of how youre rolling out new and more stringent requirements through your regulation . Well as we look at our powerpoint, our power plant regulation, which should be coming in the coming weeks, it will have the corresponding modeling in costbenefit analysis with that role. I would love to have my team common sit down with yours to walk through all of the modeling, and all of the costbenefit analysis. But those rules that are currently out, and after we finish with inter Agency Review on the power plant rule, well do the same thing with that regulation as well. Does a costbenefit analysis include the number of jobs that would be lost, and what the impact that would be to our community . Let me get back to you on the costbenefit analysis in all of our roles, theyre very complex. Im sure you can tease out a number of things and that analysis. So what i would like to do is have my team spent some time with you on all of the impacts, positive and potential adverse impacts for any of these categories on the rules we put out. Let me ask you about the application for individual a state primacy application for the cc u. S. Technology. I know my colleague here to my left, senator hoeven and i are very interested in making sure were moving forward on not just technology, and i know your state regulator has done, because you have primacy dont you . I know youve done a lot, you have epa, you have 70 individuals permit applications for injection wells. But i dont know that any of them have actually been permitted. Louisiana just got their classic state privacy application, i think West Virginia is very much in the queue here. What measures is the epa taking to make sure classic sequestration permits are prioritized, and are done in a timely manner. How do you account for, i know north dakota, we had their state regulator before our committee, they said the time that they could move their application through much quicker, and ive actually had successful applications that have meant success. Whereas the ones that are still epa are lost languishing. I have to account for that, and what is your plan that those move quicker . Well, are well Application Program is absolutely a priority. I think the president has indicated that this is something the administration supports. Weve learned a lot of lessons from states like north dakota. We have just approved louisiana, and louisiana actually will serve as a model for all of the states that we plan to move forward with. We have a very productive relationship with the governor of West Virginia, at the state of West Virginia on their classics well application. That application is going to process. We have uniformity across all of our regions, to be sure all of our states are submitting similar applications, so we can put them on the next. Thank you mister chair. I know im out, i hope they would move quicker, i think the state privacy issue is absolutely critical to move forward to cleaner environments, to capturing and sequestering utilizing the department. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you senator capito, senator peters. Thank you mister chairman. Its good to see you here today sounded chairman ragan. The great lakes restoration initiatives was established, as you know, in 2009 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of freshwater in the world, the great lakes. As michiganders, the great lakes are not only in our dna, but theyre Critical Resources for Drinking Water. In fact 40 Million People drink water out of the great lakes. But also in terms of Economic Growth and job creation, they are incredibly important. Since 2010, the g l i has required over 2. 9 billion dollars to fund over 6000 projects throughout the great lakes region. Including 700 and 62 million for 880 product projects in my state of michigan. This has been a catalyst question for unprecedented federal agency, coordination, through the Inter Agency Task force. And the regional working group, which is led by the epa. G L R Resources have unleashed thousands of prague checks to restore and improve water quality. To protect native how the habitat, and control invasive species, as well as other environmental problems we face. My question for you sir, as chair of the great lakes inner agency task force, can you speak to how the task force through its regional working groups the best combinations of programs and projects to help improve water quality, as well as accelerate the protection and restoration . Thank you senator for that. Thank you for your leadership. You know, this initiative was allocated a billion dollars under bipartisan infrastructure law in the fiscal year 2022. Our budget for 2024, we are requesting the same level that we requested in 2023. Because we want to keep up the critical work, keep the momentum. On the task force, our Great Lakes NationalProgram Office chaired a regional working group. Which consists of representatives from 16 federal partners. Were seeing a lot of partnership, for seeing a lot of excitement, especially with the diffusion of capital. We take the lead on the jaelle are i planning and budgeting, which is down two years in advance to help plan for the president s budget. We believe we have a lot of momentum, we have a lot of participation. We have the resources to tackle this issue. Great, wonderful. Pfas extermination has in michigan as well as across the country. For far too long. Pfas devastates local economies, and we need to do everything we can to address these toxic chemicals. Thats why i want to first offside that im pleased to see the of the most notorious pfas pfas, as how other substances under the Superfund Program last year. I was also pleased to see last months announcement that epa is considering expanding the list of pfas that are designated as hazardous under the superfund. So my question for you sir, is can you speak to the importance of classifying pfas under superfund, as well as what the epas plans are to ensure that state agencies, and effective communities are actually part of these cleanup decisions are being made . Absolutely, i can say as a former state regulator of north carolina, the relationship that states in the federal government have is so important. Many of our state agencies have the delegated authority to implement on clean air and clean water statutes. Having that state, local, federal cooperation is extremely important. Not just on the implementation side, but on the planning side. We have taken important steps in proposing to designate to pfas. We believe its not only our job to prevent this forever chemicals from entering and polluting, but also if it does, we have to clean it up. Were proud of where we are. We for tanden hand with the department of defense as well. Not just setting Drinking Water standards, but to the point youre making, setting clean air standards as well. I appreciate that, again, i appreciate the 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. My question for you is, can you commit to establishing National PrimaryDrinking 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 saying this. Weve designated six, we have 29 additional on our radar. As we get the science, and as we get the data in, we will continue to work across our federal family, especially the cdc and others, to determine a health impact. We will continue to move forward, designating these dangerous chemical compounds, and regulating them accordingly. Good, good. I appreciate that effort. Its a big job. We appreciate your focus on it. Next question, federal Research Efforts have often been fragmented at various federal agencies. They have struggled to address really the full scope of the problems of pfas. Thats why i introduced the federal pfas Research Evaluation act. It is cosponsored by a Bipartisan Group of senators to direct a study by the National Academies of science, engineering, and medicine to help inform decisions by the federal government, state government, industry, and other stakeholders as to how we deal with these complex substances. My question for you is, would you please, or 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 . Its absolutely imperative. That we have Additional Research into the chemical compound, into the technology. This will deter this from entering our bodies. Thats where weve asked for 100 70 million in the budget for 2024. So that we can keep pace with the research and development being done with our federal found family counterpart. As well as whats happening in academia, and at the state level. We need to get a handle on the science, and the health impacts. We are going to work across the federal family, state and local agencies as well. To be sure that we are competitive. And 100 and 70 million that we are requesting for the budget will go a long way. Thank you minister, thank you. Thank you chairman. Senator hoeven. Thank you mister chairman. Recently the congress, its good to see you mr. Regan. Thank you for being here. Recently on a bipartisan basis to overturn a lotus role, put forward by the biden administration. Shortly thereafter, a judge issued a preliminary junction that affects 24 states, including my state of north dakota. Staying the new rule. So given that sack versus epa is in front of the Supreme Court, and likely to support clarity as to what epas authority is, overstates, and landowners and regarding to regulating waters in the u. S. , does it make sense to put a nationwide pause on your lotus rule . And tell, until the Supreme Court has ruled in the case . What weve seen in the 26 or so states 24. There is an act to stay. And we will be implementing lotus under the 2015 regime, where the states that dont have a stay in place well continue to move forward. We do believe that, number one, i engage significantly with our agricultural industry. I appreciate you while youve been in our state, you see your concerns about the lotus role. Yes i have. And what we attempt to do was take those concerns, match them with the law that we are required to follow, and codified a number of exclusions and exemptions that we were really proud of, that many of the Community Asked us to do. Unfortunately, in the states where that stay is in place, and we go back to 2016, those exemptions, and exclusions, theyre not as clear and available to our community. But will continue to work around that. I think the case will provide some clarity in all of the questions that we have. The good news is, we wont be starting from scratch. We will be starting with a rule that we put in place, that some states have said well take the sack a case, will adjust the rule. We wont be starting from two years behind. We want to say the previous administrations lotus role was vacated. We felt compelled to move forward, and engage with our Agricultural Community to put a durable rule in place that will provide certainty, and codified many of these exclusions and exemptions that we are attempting to move forward with. The current rule doesnt do that, and you recognize and acknowledge that the congress, on a bipartisan basis, voted against the ruling. You do acknowledge that . I acknowledge that for three or four administrations, multiple courts have weighed in, the Supreme Court has weighed in. No one has ever been pleased with lotus, and i recognize that. I will say, we did our level best to learn from all of what weve seen in the past. To put forward a doable rule. We find ourselves where we are. Sasha should provide clarity, but were very concerned about protecting private property rights. I also want to ask you about the nats rule. The existing rule, and your own study indicates that the rule you have prior to these new gnats rule. Hows the Mercury Missions below levels of concern. Released from a Public Health standpoint. Thats your own study. Your own determination. So why are you proposing new rules to put additional urgent caution on electric plants, when we very much need that electricity. I think when we take 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 human health. And we also took a look at, and i believe many of the power sector industry would agree. The control technologies that exist to control mercury to the levels that we would like to see to protect Public Health exists in a very costeffective way. Many of them already have various aspects of those technologies on their plants. We believe in following law, and following scientific costeffective way, we can continue to drive mercury emissions down to protect Public Health. The whole point is your own study shows that were already doing that, and now youre adding additional regulation and cost to an electric industry that is working to capture and store co2, which you know we are doing in our state. That new technology, whether its been socks, knocks, mercury, now co2, the industry is undertaking investment to capture those emissions and address them, and now with co2, which is very expensive. So youre adding a Regulatory Burden at a time when they are investing in working mightily to provide electricity to the grid, which is very much needed, and capture co2 as well. You need to keep that in mind. Im gonna give you another example. You now are looking at and submit to nicole, in trying to apply the exact same standards above, when theyre very different. So we need you to work with our industry to make these investments, to capture the emissions that you want to see. Like co2 that you want to see captured. You need to work with the industry, if you want that to happen. Youre absolutely right, in terms of having to work with the industry. Which you know, i think were doing a fairly good job of that. I think many of the examples you cited, north dakota is doing a good job in pursuing some of those advanced technologies, like ccs, and other technologies. I think you and i are singing a same a similar sheet of music. Which is these technologies that are already being deployed in many of our states, they have a lot of coal benefits, which prove we can drive this pollution down. We have some of the industry that are lagging behind, not performing as well as some of the utilities in your state. We would like for them to pursue some of these Cost Effective technologies, like ccs, like advanced mercury scrubbing technologies. To ensure the industry is keeping pace at a unified level. Were already capturing millions of tons of co2. And, but we need help in regulatory certainty in order to keep doing that, and do more of it. And that is why weve worked really hard, and this is something that ive spoken with the industry about at length for the last year and a half, two years. This is why we are putting all of our rules out together. The industry has asked for these to be bundled, so that they can look at all of the impact, the potential cobenefits from investing in technology, and make those longer term investments. What this epa has done and pledged is that we will put these rules out together. Thats what we have done. Thank you administrator. Senator van hollen. Thank you mister chairman, and Ranking Member cassidy. Mister administrator, great to see you and your team here today. Let me start with a thank you. I want to thank you and your team for keeping me and my team regularly apprized of progress on the implementation of the Greenhouse GasReduction Fund. As you know, this has been something ive worked on for well over a decade. Starting during my time in the house of representatives, with what was then called the green bank. Senator markey and i then introduce the National Climate bank legislation. Its been called a clean energy accelerator, were pleased to see the president raise it. Now obviously, we are the work of implementation. Which is absolutely critical that it be successful. So thank you for those consultations. I just want to affirm that we are on the same page with respect to the goals. Number one, achieve the Greenhouse Gas emissions that we are allocated, targeted for this particular fund. Number two, two assured has a multiple effect. The idea is this will be matched by private sector and other funds, so that we have up to five times a multiplier fact. That would ensure sustainability, which is another key factor. Its not a pocket of money for Grant Funding that we turn around and one day and its all gone. Fourth, and importantly, we make sure that the funds are invested to help underserved communities as part of this transition to clean energy economy. I just want your shirt to those remain principles are committed to. Absolutely. I want to thank you and take this time to thank you for your team. Without you guys we wouldnt have the significant opportunity. 27 billion dollars is a lot of money. In the full scheme of things its not a lot of money. We need to have that multiplier fact, we need to be sure that we are putting programs in place that can be leveraged by those who invest as their day jobs. We also want to be sure that every Single Person in this country benefits from it. So we share those goals. Our product is better because of those conversations. I appreciate that. As you know, my view is that this can be most effective by creating, you know, at most, a few National Networks that have to be national in scope. That include, you know, existing green banks, but also including cdfi and other lenders. We want to make sure that it has that ability to coordinate. Because we do want to be able to come to you a couple years from now, and say hey, how are we doing in terms of our Greenhouse GasEmission Reduction goal . How are we doing in terms of meeting our goal in sharing their practice i think that is much better achieved by having, at least a National Network thats coordinating all this. But, me just another thank you, because for years, maryland worked to try and get the epa to adopt the air pollution Good Neighbor role. Because we receive a lot of air pollution from other states into our, air and into the bay. So i thank you for having move forward on that. When we talk briefly about the back river Wastewater Infrastructure. As you know, the maryland senators, and our congressional delegation of baltimore objected to the proposal to transport, transfer some of the wastewater from the East Palestine derailment through the back river. And im glad the plant did not go forward. The recently objected, as you, know your team knows. Because that river planets had a history of problems, chronic problems. We dont want to take a risk that more pollution would enter our waterways as a result of that water from palestine. That said we are continuing to work on the back river. And obviously the funds in the bipartisan infrastructure bill for the Revolving Fund is important. But just ask for your commitment today, mister administrator, that you will work with us on back river. Because that has had a series of problems, and we want to make sure that we work in partnership with you and your team to correct them. Absolutely. Our team has been paying close attention. Ive talked to about that particular facility. You have our commitment. Thank, you its an ongoing project, as you know. Let me now turn to the Chesapeake Bay, and the epa program. Very gratified to see that the administration requested the full authorization of 92 million. This has been an ongoing and urgent priority for our region. And i would argue, very important for the country as well as the nations largest estuary. I am also pleased with the current proposed settlement. To the lawsuit that was brought to ensure enforcement of the goals. To clean up the bay. As you know, unfortunately, we are falling short of our targets. We had a plan to try and achieve reductions of what we call the total, maximum, daily load. By 2025. We are, we are not hitting that target, everyone sees that. It is vital that we reestablish aggressive pollution reduction targets. I do think that this proposed settlement, which i expect will be finalized shortly, it will help accomplish that. But if you could comment on why this is important, this is a multi state, the Chesapeake Bay obviously, its watershed encompasses multiple states, including pennsylvania. There is no secret that we have been very concerned about pollution coming down that river. Part of the settlement is designed to address that through greater enforcement. Can you talk about epas commitment to making sure that this settlement is enforced . Assuming it goes forward. Absolutely, ill say that, i proudly served as a current chair, and i have been enjoying, and looking forward to engaging the multi state body. You know, once the settlement is achieved, and hopefully we will get the resources we request in this budget. I believe we can effectively execute on the side moment. And also enhance our engagement. And others who are contributing in a negative way to the Chesapeake Bay. We also had a meeting where we needed to recalibrate those 2025 goals. Im committed. Im carrying this executive council. Im committed to recalibrate the 2025 goals. Im committed to bringing us all together to ensure that we restore the health and vibrancy of the Chesapeake Bay. Mister administrator, thank you, music to my ears. It requires resources, yes, but also requires a political equipment from the epa. Thank you mister chairman. You. Were gonna try to speed around here, i have set of questions that you can feel free to get very short answers to. Senator murkowski has a couple as well. And then more dashing to the vote that is currently underway. So here we go. Can i have your shirts that any permitting reforms that you support will not allow higher levels of toxins to be released and frontline communities . Yes. Thank you. Does that include the renewal of any chemical recycling facilities, that lead off a significant toxins that might increase pollution in frontline communities . The whale see both of those is our Technical Advice to the legislation. Obviously well weigh in as mightily as we can. We need to see permanent reform. But in that advice we give to congress, will flag those things. Because theyre important to us. Ill be paying close attention to these issues. Do i have your support in figuring out how we allow these described fires, while also being very strong in regarding generalize e. M. 2. 5 pollution. We can do both. Thank, you all have more questions for the record. Let me turn this over to my colleague from alaska. Thank you mister chairman. Administrator reagan, i know that senator capito has discussed with you, or raise the issue about epa 6 12 program for carbon sequestration. It is something that alaska is obviously very interested in. We have a strong commitment to responsible stewardship. And we have geological storage potential. So we look at this with real opportunity. I am, i have expressed concern again about the case of processing the individual permit. I just want to know that you also view the agency classic swells program at the administration a priority . I do, yes. We look for to working with you on that. Very quickly, we know that epa is moving forward with a new standard on both light and medium duty vehicles, and heavy duty truck emissions. The pretty aggressive timeline, some facts even more aggressive then President Biden stated goal, that they will make up 50 of new cars by 2030. We all recognize that these goals are going to require increase in minerals needed to supply the electric vehicles. Did the epa conduct a Needs Assessment on the amount of minerals that would be required if these go forward into effect . We are very cognizant of the need, very cognizant of the broader federal family approach to minerals, to domestic manufacturing. In the tax incentives in the likes. Our rules, our technology standards, we have a limited scope that we are allowed to look at. But rest assured, the broader federal family goals resulting from iraq and bill retain into consideration as we move forward. I think we recognize we not only need the minerals, but we are gonna have to deal with to promote efficiencies. Something were all talking about here on a bipartisan basis. Lastly, this is the easy one, its i appreciate the progress that we have made on our 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. Weve had disagreements with previous administrations. And i was like your commitment to have your team meet with wine on a quarterly basis. Absolutely. With that, mister chairman, thank you very much. Thank you, if there are no other statements, the hearing record will be open until closer business on may 17th, 2023. Administrator reagan, you have covered a huge range of topics in this hearing. Im sure there will be a few more, and some followup questions. Thank you for your service to our quiet country. And with that, this hearing is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, cspan has provided complete coverage from the halls of congress. Party briefings, and committee meetings, cspan gives you a front row seat on how issues are debated and decided, with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Two irs whistleblowers testify today on Ongoing Investigation live coverage from the House Oversight committee starts at one pm eastern. You can also watch on your mobile app, cspan now. Or online at cspan. Org. Healthy democracy doesnt just look like this, it looks like this. Where americans can see democracy at work, where are truly informed, a republic thrives. Get informed, straight from the sources. On cspan. On, unbiased, word for word. From the nations capital, to wherever you are. You get the opinion that matters the most, this is what democracy looks like. Cspan, powered by cable. The u. S. Supreme court