Law, government power and cutvidual ready, and also individual liberty, and also conservation. To discuss, i am pleased to be joined by administrator wheeler. We will offer some opening remarks and then i will have some questions. Too, as youwest and can see on our event page and our youtube page. Ask questions on twitter at hashtag aeicleanairandwater. First, some opening remarks. Administrator wheeler, welcome. Admin. Wheeler thank you, adam, for that great introduction. I fort to thank ae inviting me to be here today. Earlier this month, i provided reflections on the last 50 years of the Environmental Protection agency and laid out our plan for its future at the nixon library. Today, i would like to explain, based on what we have accomplished over the past four years, how we are going to get to this future. It is incontrovertible that today the environment is in better shape under President Trump than we found it. Since 2017, air pollution in this country has fallen 7 . Last year, epa delisted 27 superfund sites, the most in a single year since 2001, and we will delist 27 more sites this year. Epa has helped finance more than 40 billion dollars in clean Water Infrastructure, supporting 7,100 high priority projects and 27,000 jobs during President Trumps first term. The trump epa has recovered more criminal and Civil Penalties for enforcement in our first term them the Obamabiden Administration did in their first term. These successes are big deal, and great news in terms of Americas Health and wellbeing. But like most great news, you rarely read about it in newspapers or watch it on news channels. In fact, the news media purposely underreports any good news from this administration. Just last week we announced the second largest civil action under the Clean Air Act. The Trump Administration has now collected more in civil and criminal penalties than the Obamabiden Administration did in its first term, but no press outlets reported this fact, because it doesnt fit the press narrative. A big deal was made when President Trump left the paris climate accords, which would have treated the u. S. Economy unfairly. Yet, the u. S. Has seen a 15 reduction in energyrelated Carbon Dioxide emissions since 2005. During this time, the u. S. Cut its Greenhouse Gas emissions, measured in tons, more than britain, france, germany, italy and canada combined. China, meanwhile, has increased their emissions by over 50 since 2005. Just at epa, the Trump Administration in its first term has taken four concrete actions to reduce Greenhouse Gases. First, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, or ace rule, which will cut overall Carbon Emissions from the u. S. Power sector by 34 from 2005 levels by 2030. Second, our safe vehicles rule will reduce emissions compared to the Previous Administrations standards, which allowed companies to comply through purchasing credits related to actions that didnt really impact emissions. Or by paying fines. We proposed in your role to reduce emissions from aircraft that represents the first time the u. S. Has ever adopted emission standards for aviation. New then your roles rules making it easier and less expensive for Natural Gas Companies to capture fugitive methane emissions from natural gas infrastructure. As john adams once said, facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. Its unfortunate, but there is a lot of evidence that during the Previous Administration especially in its second term an overweening focus on Climate Change took the form of virtuesignaling in foreign capitals. This behavior came at the expense of running the agency and ensuring a better environment for all americans. Aside from their attempt at the waters of the United States rule, they almost solely focused on Climate Change at the expense of other environmental indicators. Let me explain. We have done more in the first four years of the Trump Administration to improve the environment than probably any administration except perhaps during the very first years of epa. I would argue that the Trump Administration has epitomized and carried out, more than any other administration, the core mission of the epa, which is to protect human health and the environment. We have finalized at least 8 major rulemakings before the end of this term the navigable waters rule, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, the safe rule, the first 10 tsca assessments, the ccr and elg rules, the lead and copper rule, the ozone naaqs, and pm naaqs will all be finalized by the end of this year. All of these regulations will improve the environment. At the same time, we inherited the largest backlog of unfinished Agency Business in our history. During the final four years of the Obama Administration, an enormous backlog of unprocessed permits of all kinds was built up. For example, at the beginning of the administration, we inherited a backlog of 700 state implementation plans, also known as sips, under the Clean Air Act. We have taken action on over 500 of these submittals. States and cities need sips approved so they can focus on cleaning up their environment. When sips languish at epa for approval, environmental work may not be getting done, and approval of sips can help reduce air pollution. When cities and counties fall out of attainment, companies t or move their facilities to other places rather than wait for air quality levels to improve. One of the main causes of urban decline in places like detroit, chicago and cleveland in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s was the inability of businesses to get new permits. The backlog of sips at the agency has been one of the indivisible but real causes of environmental injustice in this country over the past decades. Any location that was out of air attainment could not make it back into attainment unless sips were first processed and then a plan carried out. Many of these backlogged plans sat for years, in limbo, neither approved nor rejected for a variety of reasons including , because they are deficient and could not be approved. But instead of approving these plans or disapproving them and developing new ones, prior administrations just left them to sit, sometimes for decades. We discovered applications that were filed in the 1990s and unprocessed, in places like the San Joaquin Valley in california, and in arizona. In 2018 we approved a sip that was filed by wyoming in 1987, and we discovered an unprocessed sip for nevada from october 1975, 45 years ago. Concerning water pollution, the backlog of National Pollutant discharge elimination system, or npdes permits, which regulates point sources of pollution in u. S. Waters, has been reduced 32 from 2017. Regarding superfund cleanups, we see a similar story. Too Many Americans have lived near superfund sites for too long. Thankfully, cleaning up these sites has been a major focus of the Trump Administration. In President Trumps first three years in office, we completed full or partial deletion of 55 sites from the npl, including 27 last year, the most in a year since 2001. Of the 27 sites deleted last year 14 sites had been on the National Priority list since the 1980s. Seven since the we have 1990s. Maintained last years accelerated pace and will have completed the deletion process for another 27 full or partial sites by the end of this fiscal year. This will bring the total number of full or partial deletions in President Trumps first term to at least 82 sites. This is equal to the 8year total of the prior administration. So it is worth repeating the Trump Administration in its first four years has matched the amount of superfund sites delisted by the Obamabiden Administration in its eight years in office. And many of the sites delisted this year had been on the npl for more than 30 years. A full or partial deletion of a site tells local communities and the broader public that important work has been done and the site, if appropriate, is eligible for brownfields funding and can be freed of the stigma of being a superfund site. When you reflect on how many of the most polluted and hazardous sites epa has responsibility for are in some of the most disadvantaged communities in this country, you start to realize how important a mission epa has been given by congress. When we clean up polluted sites quickly and return them to the surrounding communities for an improved use, epa is strengthening our country where it needs to be strongest, that our foundation. At our foundation. There are many other examples of our working down of this backlog. The pfas family of chemicals have been around since at least the 1950s, and no administration ever took them long. In 2019, we took the historic step of creating a pfas action plan that uses all our Program Offices to deal with this emerging chemical of concern. The action plan outlines more than 20 key focus areas that include both short and longterm goals, and it is the agencys first multiprogram, National Research and Risk Communication plan. Concerning lead and copper pipes, and Obamabiden Administration claimed to have worked on it for eight years with nothing to show. They even had a wakeup call in flint, michigan in 2014 but still did nothing. We will finalize our lead and copper rule in the next several weeks which, for the first time ever, will call for the testing of lead in all schools and daycare centers. We delivered a final rule in april 2019 strengthening asbestos regulation for the first time in over 30 years. This rule closed a dangerous loophole that could have allowed contaminated floor tiles, building materials, and insulation to return to the u. S. Marketplace without epa review. We have completely eliminated the backlog of epa actions on the states list of impaired waters, marking the first time in a decade that this backlog has been eliminated. Since january of 2017, the epa has approved more than 7,000 tmdls or total maximum daily load plans, to restore polluted waters. A 25 increase from the preceding three and a half years. The backlog of actions on state priority tmdls has fallen dramatically from over 100 in to just a single state priority 2017, tmdl in july of this year. Thats more than a 99 decrease to the backlog. And were doing so while approving a higher percentage of state Water Quality standards than at any point during the last administration. Yet, despite our significant efforts to update water standards, some states are actively trying to derail one of the nations most successful watershed partnerships by bringing a frivolous and divisive lawsuit over the Chesapeake Bay tmdls. The historic progress in restoring the Chesapeake Bay in the past decade is evidence of how strong partnerships with states can create better environmental outcomes. So, its unfortunate that some downstream states choose politics over progress in an Election Year and sued epa over a position developed by the Obama Administration a few years ago position that i agree with. , a on a more positive note, we are supporting American Energy by reducing the underground injection control, or uic class 2 permit backlog by 70 from 2018. We cut the length of time to process a uic class 2 permit to less than 150 days, down from an 500 days in the past. In january of 2017, the backlog of new chemicals under review for greater than 90 days had grown to over 500. As of today, the number of chemicals epa has under review for over 90 days is less than 200, a 60 decrease, and the agency has completed over 2,900 new chemical submissions since the beginning of this administration. And when it comes to enforcement, we have reversed the decline in the epa criminal program that began in 2011 by bringing on new agents. In 2019, the number of new criminal case openings increased new criminal cases opened increased for the First Time Since 2013, with a 48 increase since 2017 in the number of environmental criminal cases opened by the epa. It turns out delivering for American Communities also means there are things we are not doing. We are not weaponizing enforcement or using it for social engineering. We are simply using our enforcement and compliance tools to solve environmental problems like nonattainment, protect drinking water, reduce lead exposure, and revitalize communities. And these accomplishments cannot have happened without the hard work of our career employees. By implementing the lean Management System across the agency in 2017, we freed up many of the bureaucratic obstacles that have plagued this agency for so long. This is a lot of information and detail, but it is only by being honest about the past that we can ensure for a Better Future for the communities in this country that have been left behind. Because it goes without saying that america is a nation made up , of communities, and communities are the foundation of our nation, not the other way around. This is an issue at the core of our countrys fight for Environmental Justice. After my speech at the nixon library, i was criticized by some in the press on our Environmental Justice record. The Trump Administration has done more to elevate Environmental Justice than any president since george h. W. Bush created the program. First, we elevated Environmental Justice out of the Enforcement Office, and into the administrators office. Being stuck in enforcement relegated Environmental Justice to be considered after the fact, instead of at the beginning of our policies and rulemakings. Second, the Opportunity Zone tax credits created by the trump tax reform of 2017 has done more to help Environmental Justice communities with their environmental problems than all the ej grants of the past many years. Third, americas Water Infrastructure act, which was signed into law by President Trump in 2018, codified the office of Environmental Justice within epa for the first time. We are incorporating Environmental Justice through our Program Offices and improving ej communities at a pace not seen before. Just look at our superfund sites. In north birmingham, alabama, the community that is the site of the infamous bombing in 1963 that killed four girls attending the 16th street baptist church, we have cleaned up 480 properties and removed more than 60,000 tons of soil contaminated with lead, arsenic and other heavy metals. At the uss lead site in east chicago, indiana, were cleaning 671e have cleaned up Residential Properties and removed contaminated soil from about 95 of the calumet neighborhood, allowing the city to redevelop vacant lots. At the Southside Chattanooga lead site in chattanooga, tennessee, weve cleaned up lead contamination in eight historically black, lowincome residential neighborhoods, parks, schools, playgrounds, and daycares and added the site to , the National Priorities list. In pueblo, colorados lowincome bessemer neighborhood, epa accelerated the cleanup of residential and commercial 1900 properties polluted with lead and arsenic by a smelter which closed almost a century ago. The decision accelerated the cleanups completion by almost seven years. And in atlanta, georgia, in only two short years since a doctoral student raised awareness of lead levels in the citys westside neighborhoods, epa has already removed contaminated soil from over 140 properties. When i visited the site last year, i got to see firsthand the work epa was doing to get sampling and cleanup underway to protect the health and safety of those living in the English Avenue and vine city communities, which are among the citys poorest. On water with