[inaudible] [inaudible] additional investments to better protect the health and wellbeing of our constituents across america. Those of us who care about the future, and i think that is everyone of us, want in epa that has the resources that it needs to take common sense steps to combat the greatest threat that we face today, Climate Crisis. Every day we see the signs of the crisis, wildfires ravaging the land, polluting air filling our lungs, extreme heat, communities and much more. Here and around the world we repeatedly sound the alarm to reduce the emissions and a slow change for the health of the planet and our people. In 2023 the United States experienced 28 climate disasters. Let me say that again. 2023 looming United States experienced 28 climate disasters. For comparison, the u. S. Experienced only seven climate disasters in 2013. Only seven and 2013. In ten years the number of climate disasters has literally quadrupled. On top of that, the disasters the country experienced last year in 2023 cost american taxpayers a total of 93 billion, that is billion dollars with a b. To put that figure into perspective it is more than eight times the size of the epas proposed budget for 2025. Fortunately the proposed budgets would enable the epa to continue its work to address the Climate Crisis and reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions all while protecting Public Health data supporting. Would provide the funding it needs for the bipartisan infrastructure law as well as the Inflation Reduction Act. Directing the epa to tackle the Climate Change and address and grow the economy. Thanks to these, we have empowered to help build a Clean Energy Economy that has claimed millions of jobs across america lowering the Unemployment Rate to near record lows while also lowering energy and costs for households throughout america. Just last month, the administrator announced it would distribute some 27 billion for Clean Energy Projects through the Greenhouse GasReduction Fund and as you may recall the Greenhouse Gas. Thanks to the Greenhouse GasReduction Fund, homeowners throughout america will be able to make repairs and investments in order to make their homes more Energy Efficient and Business Owners will have access to the financing they need should they choose to d carbonite three buildings to install solar panels, just to name a few examples. And at the bipartisan infrastructure we invested in the work to clean up legacy pollution from contaminated superfund sites as well as to improve Solid Waste Management and recycling programs. One of many examples last year in northern delaware they received a Million Dollars from the bipartisan infrastructure hazardous chemicals and at that site to protect. Theres many more examples like that across the country. I look forward to continuing to work with you, we look forward to continuing to work with you to support for decades to come. The epa also as you know to develop and finalize rules formed by cuttingedge Scientific Research to remove dangerous pollutants from the water that we drink and the air that we breathe. The epas new climate in the regulation would result in billions of dollars in Public Health benefits across the country all while encouraging americas innovation to help industry meet stronger standards on these timelines and by releasing new rules to implement like the Toxic Substance Control Act the superfund law and Safe Drinking Water act. I think each of those happened in this room let me start out by saying you have a tough job i think we all have tough jobs, but also really important jobs and i think we are headed for the most part in the right direction thanks in no small part to your leadership during an especially challenging time in the nations history. We look forward to your testimony today and welcome you. Before we hear from you i want to hear from the Ranking Member. The chair started off the same way i would start. That is you can tell a lot about priorities of an administration by reviewing its budget and actions it takes. This is where the statements will diverge. Many of the concerns i will raise today are the same ones i raised last year and im frustrated not to have seen more course correction in the past years. If anything theyve accelerated the pace of the crippling unrealistic explorations with a total regulatory cost imposed by the biden epa. Chief among my concerns is a group of the regulations that make up the electric generating unit or power sector strategy. Your and hand with of the regulations is pretty clear impose new costly federal mandates and a short period of time to make continued investments. At this time its not just against cole but also natural gas in american manufacturing. By issuing the rule individually, the epa tried to hide the total cumulative cost to businesses the end of the American People of its power sector strategy. But the collecting potential harm is daunting and real. The agencys rules threaten the availability of reliable affordable electricity at the time when american pocketbooks are already being hit by inflation worsened by this administrations policies. During the rulemakings energy and reliability experts sounded the alarm about the damaging effects each could have on the grid. At the end of last year, the north American ElectricReliability Corporation identified the six power sector rules under development as having, quote, the potential to influence generators to seek deactivation despite the Resource Adequacy were operating reliability. They made attempts to claim the concern. Last year at the same time as the Good Neighbor rule the agency announced a joint memorandum of understanding with the department of energy to coordinate and to ensure reliability is not harmed by the regulatory actions. The epa touted how they would provide a robust and durable framework for continued interagency coordination consultations on reliability issues at a time of significant dynamism and the power sector. I do think the agency for responding to an oversight letter i sent asking about the memorandum of understanding. In that response, however, the epa stated that its held a total of three meetings and the regional transmission organizations and independent service operators. Three meetings, that said, in just over a year. The letter confirms this initiative is a little more than window dressing and not a genuine attempt to address the root of the selfcreated reliability problem. The demand for baseload power from data centers and forced transition is quickly rising and projected to balloon into the epa regulations would cause the baseload power supply to shutter. It is not Rocket Science to see the problem. Demand is going up and supply will be going down. The reliability is not the only area where the regulations are ignoring reality. I have repeatedly said we need the epa to finalize reasonable Drinking Water standards to protect from exposures. To develop the standards the epa ultimately released raised more questions. The agency has set extremely low parts per trillion standards that do not align with the levels other countries have said. It lacks robust support and doesnt fully consider the financial strains for compliance particularly rural and historically disadvantaged communities into they will only be worsened by the designation. They had a real opportunity here to set durable standards to remedy a real environmental concern. I would have been strongly supportive similar to the obama administrations Health Advisory level and addressing through other statutes would have mitigated weve had one and maybe two hearings that show concerns about this. They chose decisions based on the debate rather than a finalized sound and practical regulation. Foundational environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and clean water act are based on the principle of cooperative federalism. States lead in managing Environmental Protection and the borders while the epa provides support and only steps in when this data doesnt act but the biden epa hasnt followed the framework including in the socalled Good Neighbor rule that ive already mentioned. Despite repeatedly stopping this from going into effect, the epa hasnt recognized the failings of the rule quite the opposite actually because in january the agency chose to double down on the overreach and proposed to add five more states to its regulation. Recent actions by the regions present another troubling example of the disregard for states authority. After a year of closeddoor negotiations without even notifying the regulators, the epa announced a dissent decree with activists and environmentalist groups to impose total daily loads and West Virginia. Lastly, and you and i talked about this at the hearing before the appropriations committee. I am very concerned about the risk of waste, fraud and abuse as the epa manages the unprecedented 41. 5 billion and the democrats socalled Inflation Reduction Act. The epa announced plans to obligate Office Funding for its Largest Program the Greenhouse GasReduction Fund which amounts to 27 billion between now and at the end of september. I would note 27 billion is nearly three times the total amount of appropriations the epa receives each year. It is an astronomical sum of money. I fear they will make a lot of mistakes in the rush to get this money out. I will go off script here, the response last week was youre simply granting this money down to eight different entities across the country. That said to me they are the ones that are going to be responsible for the waste, fraud and abuse. I think it is the epa responsibility and we need adequate oversight by an Inspector General. With that, i will turn back to the chair. Administrator, welcome back to the public works committee. You are recognized to proceed with your statement when you are ready. Thank you chairman and Ranking Member cap of thailand members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear to discuss the vision laid out by the epas fiscal year 2025 budget request. For 100 Million People for cleaner and safer Drinking Water and weve worked hard to write many of the historic wrongs the communities faced for generations. Reducing elevated cancer risks for those living near these facilities by 96 . The epa is committed to protecting Public Health and of the environment for all American People. But more than just the Health Impacts we are undertaking my agency is also working hard to implement the historic laws passed in the past agenda. President biden not only directly in communities nationwide but its generated nearly 700 billion in funding for private sector manufacturing and Clean Energy Projects protecting the planet and enhancing our Global Competitiveness. I was pleased to join senator markey last august to speak about how the Inflation Reduction Act and the Reduction Fund is addressing Climate Change headon while unlocking billions of dollars in private sector investments to lower energy costs, improve Public Health and create good paying jobs. Together President Biden investing in the agenda and epa fiscal year 2025 budget request will continue to invest in environmental actions that would promote cleaner communities and produce economic benefits for years to come. Last august on my journey to justice to her i joined senator sullivan and alaska to spotlight the Environmental Justice concerns of alaska native tribes. We met with tribal leaders and heard first hand about the challenges facing the communities including Climate Impacts and adaptation, Food Insecurity and border infrastructure. Are there, he and i announced along with senator murkowski 50 million and funding from the president investing in america agenda that would help Fund Projects across the state. Upgrading the infrastructure fighting the Climate Crisis and advancing Environmental Justice. Millions of people across the country are still grappling regulatory tools and partnerships that promote Environmental Stewardship but reinforces market movement. Clean and safe water is the foundation for Healthy Communities and the thriving economy. The challenges to achieve in this scope and the effect pose risks to the nations supply and American People. The budget request includes a total of 101 million for two epa Grant Programs dedicated to remediating. For the clean contaminated land and water theres no shortage of work that needs to be done. We need your support. It continues in historic progress and advancements made by the administration and to advance our Vital Mission of protecting Public Health and the environment. Thank you for the opportunity to be here to submit testimony. Thank you for that statement and joining us today and taking on a really tough job and thanks to the family about three and half years ago we sat here in the front row. Its a sacrifice for them and their service. A couple of questions i want to lead off with. While congress is steadily adding to its responsibilities. It needs more people within the additional funding to fulfill the critically Important Mission which is reflected in the president s proposed budget. Heres my question. How it was additional funding the president has requested help this agency, your agency fulfill its mission to protect Public Health and the environment while growing the economy and jobs . Works thank you for the question, senator. It is critical in order to have a viable Strong Partnership with our state we need to be able to provide Technical Assistance demonstrate that partnership in our regions. More than 50 this budget will go toward regional staff to provide the Technical Assistance. But, we need resources to continue to deal with building our capabilities in the area of Emergency Response. Whether it be the wildfires in maui or the Train Derailment in east palestine. Where contingency disasters you have to respond to so we need to build our Emergency Response capability. We need to ensure the safety of chemicals that are needed to propel our electric vehicles, Semiconductor Industry continues to move forward. And listen, we went to continue to administer a congressionally directed spending assignments all across the country. Such as the 4 million to the city of wilmington first tour separation. With this resource you will continue to build that capability to not interrupt the economy but also provide technical ability so we can all compete at a federal and state level pickwick sort thank you. Next question through the Inflation Reduction Act in a bipartisan infrastructure much of which was authored in this room, this committee may distore historic investments to tackle the Climate Crisis make our communities more resilient at the same time. Epa fiscal year 2012 a budget bills on those historic investments and reaffirms the Administration Commitment to tackling Climate Change with the urgency the science demands by dedicating 3 billion to climate related programs heres my question. Administrator, how important are the investments provided by th