Coast is experiencing now with harvey and about to hit with another hurricane in the florida coast. First of all, on behalf of the committee, i want to express my sincere sorrow to everyone impacted by the storm. Harvey is one of the worst National Disasters the United States has ever faced and is still too early to tell the full extent of the devastations that has displaced thousands of people. Members of this committee on both sides of the aisle represent constituents experiencing loss and destruction from the storm and our thoughts and prayers are with these families as they begin to rebuild their lives from this national tragedy. During the storm and in the aftermath, epa continues to play a Critical Role in the federal response to harvey. While epa is still in the midst of initial response efforts, its work has only just begun. We look forward to monitoring the agencys response to the disaster and learn the full extent of the Environmental Impact and challenges that lie ahead. The loss and destruction of Hurricane Harvey make todays hearing even more important. The committee has the opportunity to learn about ways to strengthen the epa, including highlighting unimplemented recommendations that may improve epas ability to protect the environment and human health during the Recovery Efforts or future natural disasters. And i go back and reflect on what were about to face in florida. And puerto rico and the disasters that are looming there. The constitution provides congress with the authority to conduct oversight of the executive branch and in partnership with the Government Accountability office and office of Inspector General, we root out waste, fraud and abuse. Make ways to improve epa. And after these recommendations are issued, gao and oig work with the agency to ensure that the epa acts on their findings. Today the committee will learn that even when epa agrees with recommendations, it may take years to implement them and some are never fully adopted by the agency. As a result, many of the open recommendations span multiple administrations, some dating as far back as the bush administration. While epa adopts recommendations at a rate around the federal government average, there are still unimplemented recommendations in many critical areas of the agency. According to the oigs most recent semi annual report to congress, released in may 2017, epa has the potential to save 103. 3 million by implementing recommendations. The semi annual report, some 43 open recommendations with the past two completion dates and 56 with due dates set in the future. The gao will testify that epa has implemented 191 of the 318 recommendations made since 2007 with 127 recommendations still unimplemented. They have highlighted deficiencies, including Information Security posture, Work Force Management and grant administration. For example, epa oig recently conducted an audit focusing on flaws related to the Security Posture during 2015 and 2016. The oig reported think lack an understanding of which contract does the epa have significant Information Security responsibilities or raising questions about the agencys network integrity. The oig recommended the epa develop a process for identifying these contractors. The epa is not expected to implement this recommendation until 2018. Gao and oig have uncovered waste and mismanagement in the grant programs. This is particularly troubling, because grants comprise almost after of the budget. About 4 billion annually. In 2016, gao found that epas grand monitoring practice may impact the agencys ability to efficiently monitor results and increase administrative costs. Additionally, in 2017, the epa did not have the information needed to manage resources effectively. Gao recommendations range from standardized in the formative grant recipient Progress Report reports. All 12 recommendations in these two reports remain unimplemented. These are just some of the reason reports and audits conducts. We will discuss more of them today. Theyve done excellent work to highlight the problems within epa and find solutions to solve these issues. Im grateful for your work. I want to add with things looming in florida and with the trajectori tragedies in texas, we better not find out the epa has dawdled on anything to cause any harm. We know there a a great deal of Water Pollution thats out there. We are concerned about the increase in zika mosquitos in texas. We dont know if some of that has to do with issues with Water Management and other things been the jurisdiction of the epa. We will keep a close watch on all those and see if theres any errors that have occurred in weaknesses or anything causing these problems. So i thank our witnesses for dedication and work to ensure that epa is carrying out its mission. I want to recognize Alfredo Gomez, our witness from gao. A houston native who has two fef ne nephews serving in the Fire Department. We appreciate their service and sacrifice during Hurricane Harvey. I turn to my colleague from florida. Mr. Chairman, thank you for con vo convening this hearing today. The hearing subject while important pales in comparison of the true oversight needed in of the Environmental Protection agency. Epa is and always has been a critical partner to our states and communities back home. Most of what epa does is to support our communities back home in cleaning up polluted sites, helping protect the air we breathe and the water we drink. And i thank them for their work. But President Trump and admin straight pruitt have a different vision. They have have been acting to weaken support that comes through the epa. It is particularly troubling that epa admin straight or pruitt has not appeared before the Commerce Committee to date. This committee has direct oversight of the epa and its unprecedented and unacceptable that the administrator has not appeared before the committee. Now, the importance of the epa is particularly clear as texas learns more about the scope and extent of the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. Theres nothing like a Disaster Response that demonstrates how critical toxi critical toxic super fund it. As a floridian i know all too well the devastation that massive hurricanes can bring to homes, businesses and communities. The recovery from such a storm is long, expensive and challenging and our thoughts are with the residents of puerto rico and the Virgin Island and floridians as thaeyre in the path of a another dangerous storm in Hurricane Irma. Hurricane harvey slammed into the gulf coast as a category four. So far it has left at least 60 people dead and billions of dollars in damage and the death toll recovery is likely to continue to rise in the coming weeks. Ranking member of the subcommittee on health, jay green, he represents the city of houston and has seen much of his district flooded. Our thoughts are with him and his constituents at this time. Mr. Gomez, i want to recognize you for being here today for what is surely a difficult time for skpu yoyou and your family. The epa has been a key agency responding to harvey. For this reason this hearing should be a timely and important step in exploring how to strengthen the agency as it supports local responders and begins to assess the possible Environmental Impact of the flooding, tox iic releases. But this is devoted to a much less significant topic. The scope of environmental risk caused by this ongoing crisis while still coming into focus are considerable. People are evacuating through dir di dirty floodwaters. There have also been reports of fires at chemical facilities. Additional reports have suggested possible damage to leaking gas tanks at fuel facilities which if true may pose Environmental Concerns that the epa will need to address. Im particularly concern bd reports of flooding sites and what damage they may have caused. According to epa, 13 of the 41 former and current toxic waste sites in harvey impacted areas have flooded and may have experienced some damage. Additionally the city of houston contains approximately 450 petro chemical plants. News reports indicate these plants have contributed to 74 incidents of excess air pollution since harvey hit emitting more than 1 Million Pounds of Hazardous Substances into the air. Our local communities need the expert of the epa, but the Trump Administration has been working overtime to weaken epas ability to help that. And now its really showing at a time of disaster. The storm also raises ongoing concerns of Drinking Water safety. According to epa 4,500 Drinking Water systems are potentially damaged by floodwaters. After Hurricane Katrina professional staff were on the ground to help. This committee should consider oversight hearings in texas in the near term. But todays hearing rather than focusing on the big picture examines implemented recommendations for epa. At a time when the real issue is the desimation of the epa professional work force proposed by President Trump and administrator pruitt. Yet we respond to the grave environmental and Human Health Risk of Hurricane Harvey and other catastrophes at this time, but the overall epa has never been more important. Mr. Chair than, im deeply troubled by the direction of the agency under the Trump Administration and i implore you and my republican colleagues to conduct true oversight of the damage being done to our bed rock Environmental Protections built through decades of bipartisan work. We need to do it before deep and lasting damage is inflicted across america. The trump epa is waging an aggressive role back of environmental and Human Health Protections through repealing or delaying rule making and attacking fundamental science. The Trump Administration proposed extreme budget cuts that cut to the heart of our local communities and threatened the health and environment of americans in every state. Trump budget would slash epas budget by nearly 2. 6 billion, reduce the professional work force there by over 3,000 employees and the damage will be done to our air quality, diesel admission reduction, laead safey and it goes on and on. There is favoritism towards certain businesses. This is not acceptable. This is what needs oversight. The ongoing crisis unfolding on the gulf coast demonstrates the dangerous of the Trump Administrations extreme assault on Environmental Protection. Mr. Chairman, we want to work with you to make sure the epa implements the work force and contractor recommendations but if were serious about ensuring that the agency is able to protect human health and the environment, then we must Work Together to conduct true oversight. The fundamental damage being done to this agency and our neighbors back home. Thank you. Thank you. I recognize the chairman, mr. Walker. I thank the gentleman. Just in response to my friend from florida, our committee staff, the oversight committee, has worked dill jeigently throut the last several weeks in Clear Communication with the agencies involved in the hurricane. This hearing was put together before harvey had a name. So we will do our oversight, continue to at the appropriate time. I anticipate there will be a delegation and well go and hold hearings. Or do appropriate review. Im one when theres an emergency going on, tries to stay out of the way of the First Responders and let them do their job. And so at the right time well do that. And we will have administrator pruitt before our committee sooner rather than later. I share frustration that theres been a long delay in getting some of these positions filled. Partly by our friends in the senate, but the time has come for these agency heads to come to our committee and they will. Now, as to this hearing, i appreciate subcommittee chairman murphy having this and his opening comments. We care deeply about whats happened in texas. We care deeply about whats about to happen in florida. My own district is on fire. Much destruction going on there. All these things matter. You want to talk about air quality . We could use your support on some of our forestry legislation to reduce the fuel loads so we dont poison people with fires and destroy wautersheds. We know these Recovery Efforts will continue for years. Recovering from any disaster whether its Hurricane Harvey or irma or destructive wildfires burning out of control in the west requires coordination at every level of the government and the epa is a critical part of. That challenges facing the epa are significant but i hope the Agency Seizes upon the lesson its learned in response to previous natural disasters such as hurricanes katrina and sandy. Todays hearing is the first opportunity to hear from the office and the Government Accountability office regarding any outstanding recommendations that if implemented could enable the agency to better achieve or do its job better. Well also examine some of the areas of concern that have been identified and commented upon by the oig and the gao but whose recommendations remain unimplemented by the epa. We should be miendful that many of the recommendations span multiple administrations and therefore represent longstanding challenges for the agency. For example, weve learned the epa has failed to complete an agency wide workload analysis in more than 20 years. Similarly both oig and gao have consistently identified issues that generate serious concerns as to whether epa has knowledge of or adequately monitors the activities of its contractors and grant recipients despite the significant portion of the agencys annual bud yet thats awarded to third parties. Addressing these issues will increase prans pairible that americans want to help the environment for themselves and their communities and id like to thank alan larsen and Alfredo Gomez from the gao for providing testimony and to expand upon their organizations findings. Id also like to thank mr. Gomezs nephews who i understand are serving the houston Fire Department. Thank you for their work as First Responders who bravely have assisted so many of their fellow citizens during Hurricane Harvey. Im looking forward to productive discussion this morning regarding actions epa can take which will enable the agency to better accomplish its core mission. I recognize Ranking Member mr. Pallone for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Its been a week and a half since Hurricane Harvey hit texas. As the scope of the environmental disaster only begins to become known thousands remain displaced, their homes and businesses flooded. I know firsthand the devastation caused by such National Disasters. In 2012 my district was hit hard by hurricane sandy. I never have seen worst damage area in our area for the lifetime. Homes flooded, businesses lost. Our nation is now experiencing historic levels of destruction and loss on the gulf coast in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Our fellow members of congress including five members of the texas delegation are working hard with federal state and local officials and First Responders to help those affected by the storm and as the cleanup continues many brave environmental and Human Health Risks exist. In the days since hur harvey came a shore, weve seen mass releases of toxic pollute ants into the air and flooded Super Fund Sites. Im deeply concerned of the potential risk to rue mhuman he. This committee must work to understand the impact some of these facilities may have on Public Health. The Trump Administration recently delayed amendments to the Risk Management program which included safety requirements for companies who store large quantities of dangerous chemicals. The Environmental Issues resulting from the hurricane also underscore the need for robust implementation of the Emergency Planning and community right to know act. Communities have the right to know important details about the type and amount of harmful chemicals released in their neighborhoods. All of these risks underscore the need for a strong and capable epa.