Wheeler testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee on the agencys 2021 budget request. Several members asked about the epas efforts to regulate what are called forever chemicals. Congresswoman Betty Mccollum opened the hearing. Good morning. This hearing will come to order. Today is the day that were going to do the interior environment subcommittee and examine the president s fiscal year 2021 budget request for the Environmental Protection agency. Joining with us this morning is administrator Andrew Wheeler and david blum. Welcome to both of you. For fiscal year 2021, the president s request of 6. 66 billion for the epa is a 27 cut below fy 2020, an active level of 9. 06 billion. This request from the president seeks to undo all the progress we were able to achieve on a broad bipartisan basis in the fy 2020. For example, request eliminates the 39 million in new funding we provided to the epa to address pfas. Requests Clean Energy Funding grants by 47 . Thats a 409 million cut below fy2020. The request also slashes 870 million from the 3 billion we invested in fy2020 to rebuild our nations crumbling Water Infrastructure. I recently held a listening session at st. Paul where the minnesota pollution Patrol Agency testified that they would lose 56 of the federal funding and approximately 75 fulltime staff if these cuts were to go through. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency also outlined how proposed cuts to the clean water grants act air pollution monitoring brown fields clean up would harm our communities back home. And clean water action said the budget would be, and i quote, an absolute catastrophe for clean water. And i directly heard from our counties and our cities about concerns this budget that the president proposed in failing to address pfas pollution or to provide the necessary federal leadership on recycling. These cuts, especially on pfas pollution would be truly devastating to be enacted. But unfortunately, this budget will not be enacted. Congress will reject these cuts once again just like we did the last three years. So, rather than spend time talking about a request that will not be enacted, today i intend to focus on how the agency plans to implement the recently enacted fy2020 appropriations and how the agency plans to work with congress as we craft an fy2021 bill. Administrator wheeler, last year you spoke about leaving the agency stronger than you found it, particularly when it comes to epas work force. However its my understanding that the epa never reached its staffing target for 2019 and that current Staffing Levels continue to be well below the 2020 staffing target. I plan to ask you about the plans to make up the lost ground and rebuild the epa work force. The agency has behaved in a very confrontational way with the unions. Last july rather than negotiate a good contract in good faith, the epa totally unilaterally impose aid new contract on its employees. In december, the epa agreed to return to the bargaining table. I hope the leadership will negotiate in good faith to achieve a fair outcome. Theres also been a great deal of interest on enforcement practices and policies at the epa. For the past decade theres been a steady decline on Funding Resources available to the epa for compliance and work force. Weve also seen a steady decline over the same period in the you number of compliance and enforcement actions. Experts both unside and outside the epa tell us the two are directly related. Thats because epas enforcement budget is entirely used to pay for compliance and enforcement personnel. Fewer people doing work means fewer facilities being inspected, fewer violations being detected, and fewer cases being brought forth. Im extremely proud though last year we were able to find the dollars to reverse this trend of flat funding or declining compliance. In the fy2020 agreement you were provided 24 million increase for compliance and enforcement. This was the first increase in nearly a decade. However, the additional enforcement dollars are not automatically translate into better environmental outcomes. The epa needs to have the right strategies and policies in place to achieve objectives. I hope to explore this further with you during the course of todays hearing. The administrations steady stream of irresponsible efforts to roll back health and climate protections weakens the agencys ability to fulfill its mission. Your proposal to undermine the mercury and air toxic is universally opposed by Public Health groups and the power sector. Your proposal to roll back Greenhouse Gas standards for cars will cost consumers billions of dollars and impede progress to address climate change. Your repeated efforts to rig science to use said health carebased standards means more cancers, more birth defects, and more preventable deaths. I and many of my colleagues have questions for you about these things. Finally, i want to touch briefly on the relationship between the epa and this committee. Historically speaking theres a long tradition of commodity between the executive branch and appropriations branch. In the past weve been able to Work Together constructively even when weve strongly disagreed on matters. The epa had gotten away from that tradition in the past few years and i hope and i continue to hope things will continue to improve and become even better, especially compared to your immediate predecessor. We havent gotten back to where we used to be and where i think we need to be. Today i hope we have an honest and frank discussion and do it in a way that brings us together to serve the American People to, protect their health, their air, their water. I would like to yield to the Ranking Member, mr. Joyce, for his opening remarks. Thank you for yielding, chair mccollum and for holding todays important hearing on the Environmental Protection agencys fiscal year 2021 budget request. I would like to welcome mr. Wheeler and mr. Blum to the committee. Appreciate the time youre joining us. At some point in time i might leave or mr. Stuart and other members. We unfortunately have other hearings to take place in. Theres only four of us on this side and then three of us are on another subcommittee altogether thats meeting today. So, dont take any offense if were getting up and moving. This december epa will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Since 1970, land mark legislation like the clean air act, clean water act, and Toxic Substances Control Act to create a healthier environment for all americans. Epa continued to uphold its mission to protect the environment. Last year, epa deleted all or part of sites. Weve also seen criteria air pollutants decline. Youve led the Agency Efforts to protect Drinking Water resources from emerging contaminants and tackle the nations growing Water Infrastructure backlog. Amid this work you identified agency inefficiencies and reduced regulatory burdens to spur growth. Overall epas budget request is 6. 658 billion which is 2. 4 billion or 26 below the level. Today we look forward to hearing from you about how the request allows the agency to build upon prior year successes and advance regulatory reforms while continuing to address human health challenges. First and foremost, im thrilled to see the administration recognize the importance of the great lakes in the fiscal year 2020 request. The great lakes are one of the United States greatest Natural Resources providing 1. 5 million jobs, supplying 90 of the nations fresh surface water, supporting over 3,500 species of plants and animals, and generating 62 billion in wages every year. We have fought for sustained robust funding to mitigate the toxic substances so we can protect and preserve the lakes for future generations. Not only does the request include the 320 million equal to the fiscal year 2020 level for the great lakes restoration initiative, but it includes new Grant Funding to research, grant, and respond to the lakes biggest threat. In addition to supporting the great lakes restoration initiative, i was pleased to see that the request prioritizes funding to improve aging Water Infrastructure and counter water contamination. Nearly a third of the requests or 2 billion is provided for the Drinking Water state Revolving Loan funds. The Water Infrastructure finance and act program can be leveraged to spur billions of dollars in Infrastructure Investments and create jobs in every state. The request includes over 115 million for additional grants to help communities, states and tribes make Infrastructure Improvements to Water Systems and address con tam nants in Drinking Water. To accelerate the pace of clean ups and redevelop sites for economic development, specifically to build on the accomplishments of 2019, the request includes 482 million for Superfund Remedial Program to tackle 13 plus sites. Despite prioritizing funds for Water Infrastructure and clean up programs, i suspect im joined by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in disagreeing with several proposed cuts in the budget. To remain good stewards of environmental resources, we must ensure that the agency and partners have the necessary resources and tools at their disposal to do so. The budget proposes reducing or terminating other geographic programs, rural water Technical Assistance grants, beach protection grants, and several other important categorical grants. Community states and tribes rely on the funds to protect the citizens and federal mandates. I look forward to hearing about the strides the epa has taken, key to protecting the health and well being of our nations citizens. Our colleagues and i look forward to working with you over the coming months to address these concerns and priorities and to move the budget that provides the epa with necessary resources to continue protecting our environmental resources. We appreciate you taking the time to be here today to discuss the budget request. Thank you again and i look forward to your testimony. With that, chair mccollum, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Joyce. Mr. Wheeler, you have five minutes to present what you would like to share with the committee. We do have your full statement, and it will be entered into the record. So, welcome, mr. Wheeler. Thank you and good morning chair mccollum, Ranking Member joyce. Joining me today is the epas acting chief financial officer. The year 2020 marks the 50 year creation of the epa. I think we all can agree how far weve come over that time. Today the u. S. Is a Global Leader with respect to clean air and access to safe Drinking Water and we are currently cleaning up contaminated lands at the fastest pace in over a decade. We released the 2019 review highlighting Agency Accomplishments and environmental progress under president trump. I encourage everyone to read the full report and request that this report be entered into the record. Thank you. The Trump Administration is proving that Environmental Protection and historic Economic Growth can go hand in hand. Because we know that Environmental Issues disproportionately impact children and low income and minority communities, we are taking strong actions to protect these populations. Through the federal lead action plan and the new cross cutting lead and Healthy Schools initiatives, epa will continue coordinating with the federal, state, tribal, and Community Partners to reduce childhood lead exposure and protect the most vulnerable among us. For the first time in nearly 20 years, epa issued new tighter standers for lead dust in homes in child care facilities across the country. For the first time in nearly three decades, epa proposed revision to the lead and copper, elevated levels of lead in Drinking Water and will focus work on the most impacted areas of the country. The budget requests also includes Additional Resources to allow epa to continue implimting the pfas action plan. Last month epa proposed regulatory, proposed to close the loophole that allows new ewes of products that include certain chemicals to be imported into our country. These mark key milestones in epas extensive efforts to implement the plan. To assist states in rebuilding aging Water Infrastructure, the budget request includes 2 billion to continue to utilize the twostate revolving funds. For every federal dollar contributed to date, communities have received over 3 in investments in return. Additionally the 25 million is expected to deliver more than 2 billion in direct credit assistance, spurring over 4 billion in total Infrastructure Investments. When it comes to reducing air pollution, the agency is both improving the state Implementation Plan process and reducing the backlog. Epa has redesignated 36 areas around the country into attainment lifting major regulatory burdens off local communities. In 2019, epa acted on over 360 sips, 165 of which were backlogged. And just last week, florida reached attainment putting the entire state into compliance. These achievements not only improve Public Health but also support greater Economic Growth both of which are priorities for president trump. When it comes to enforcing the nations environmental laws, epa is significantly increasing compliance. In 2019, we received voluntary disclosures at over 1,900 facilities, more than double 2016. The agency is also deterring noncompliance by stepping up criminal cases which have increased in all categories for the First Time Since 2011. Administrative, civil, and criminal fines were among the highest in the last decade, totaling over 470 million. Finally epa is cleaning up some of the nations largest most complex contaminated sites and returning them to productive use. In 2019 epa deleted super fund sites, the largest number of sites deleted from the National Priority list since 2001. Through superfund enforcement tools, epa compelled clean up and redevelopment at over 160 sites and also commitments to reduce, treat, or eliminate a total of 374 Million Pounds of pollution. No less than 18 million specifically targeted to support opportunity zones and spur greater investment in economically distressed areas. Last year epa selected 149 different communities to receive brown field grants totaling more than 64 million. 108 of those were in opportunity zones supporting Environmental Justice for all americans. As epa celebrates its 50th anniversary, we can proudly say that americans today have significantly cleaner air, land, and water. We are continuing this progress and ensuring that all americans no matter where they live can share in it. Thank you, and i look forward to answering your questions. Thank you very much. Theres many hearings going on so i want to commend my colleagues on my side of the aisle over here for trying to accommodate everyone. So im going to hold everyone to the five minutes and let you know when you have a minute left, mr. Quigley, and well start with you. I greatly appreciate that, madam chairman. I appreciate im chairing a meeting in about ten minutes. Thank you for being here. My office asked you for a breakdown by Program Office and spending in fte for region five in the last five years. Your congressional relation staff told me that such data is not available. So, let me ask mr. Blum, can the cfos generate this data . Well look into it and see what information we can provide to you. Well, we ask this is fulltime equivalent. Somebodys cutting the checks, right . Somebodys got to know whos working there and how many folks youve paid in the last five years. Yes, sir, we do collect the fte information. Youre looking for the fte information for the last five years . For region five and under by Program Office. Yes, sir. Well ill go back and well pull that information together and provide it to your staff. If you could provide to the whole committee, we would certainly appreciate that. That would be a good idea. Weve requested it as well. It doesnt seem like it would be such a mystery. Mr. Wheeler, your predecessor, the epa Inspector General report issued last may, nearly a year ago, found that mr. Pruett had spent more than 985,000 on travel in a 10month period. The ig found a litany of possible ethical violations by mr. Pruett and the around the clock security and actions are needed to strengthen controls over epas travel and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. They identified 124,000 of taxpayer dollars that could be recovered from mr. Pruett for inappropriate travel. Two questions have we that 124,000, has it been recovered at this point in time . No, there were a number of errors in that report. That was even though it was broken down to the specific sense the ig told me at the time it was a rough estimate. But they ignored the fact that actually they attributed half the cost to the administrator and half the cost to the protective detail ignoring the fact that the protective detail was required to fly with the administrator wherever the airplane happens to be. So they ignored that part of the law. That number should be cut in half. They didnt specify what authority we would have to recoup that money plus the fact that the administrator at the fact was there was a Security Risk that was put in place for his travel. All this predated me before i joined the agency, but theres a number of errors in that report. Looking into it, our general counsel looked into it, and found theres no justification given the time frame, let me understand. Youre thinking the dollar figure may be half that and your question whether you have the authority to go after any of that money. Then who does if in any agency someone spends money inappropriately. If it were to happen again and someone in your agency, does anyone have the authority to go after money inappropriately spent . Our cfo reviewed every questioned expense and recommended no amount should be recovered from the former administrator. Epa has already taken immediate steps to implement corrective actions. Weve implemented controls above and beyond what is required by the travel regulations. For example, any trip taken by an administrator, over 5,000 must be improved and reviewed by the chief financial officer. We put new controls into place, but the dollar amount that the ig identified was not justified in the report. Okay. Lets say its half that. Lets say its a quarter that. Do you have the authority to go after it . If not, does that mean that someone can cheat the United States out of dollars and all you can do is Tell Congress we dont have the authority to go after, the numbers maybe a little high . No, the Inspector General errored in the report as far as whether or not he was justifying in taking first class travel. So, it was approved by several people at the time including the security detail who approved the need for him to travel first class. So, there was no abuse of and i apologize just given the short time frame, if nothing was wrong about all this, why did you have to put corrective action in place . We took further corrective action in place above and beyond what is required just to ensure the American Public there is no misuse of funds and there will be no misuse of funds. We went above and beyond what the law requires. As opposed to going after the money that was already inappropriately used. I thank the chair for her indulgence. Thank you so much. Theres no there was no finding there was no justifiable funding that it was misused because it was approved at the time the travel was taken. Mr. Joyce. Thank you chair mccollum. I defer to mr. Stuart. Thank you. Very gracious for your time. We have as mr. Joyce said, some of us have two, three, even four subcommittees and other full committees going on right now. So im going to balance it. I do appreciate you giving me time to talk to mr. Wheeler and mr. Blum. Thank you for being here. Mr. Wheeler, you have a tough job. Its very partisan. Its very controversial in our society today. Its very technical. And some of the questions and things you deal with take, you know, an awful lot of effort, so thank you for doing that. Im going to hit two things very, very quickly and then come to my primary question. First, thank you for wotus and for this rolling back some of the previous regulations that he kno had enormous effects out west. Were grateful for that. Second thing very quickly is rins. As i think you know theres no economic benefit from the production. Theyve gone up Something Like 400 in the last year. They effect a couple refinerys in my district, small refineries that has enormous influence. Can you give me hope very quickly on rins and your awareness of that and if theres something we can do to reduce the pressure on those . Theyve gone up in the last couple of weeks because of the 10th circuit decision. We are working through the issues in the Court Decision trying to decide the right path forward. Do you expect to appeal that decision . Were still working on that with our attorneys and epa as well as attorneys at the department of justice. A decision has to be made by next week so, we will be announcing shortly and hopefully that announcement will help quell the markets. In short of that is there anything else you can do . Were looking at other avenues to provide stability in the program and to try to make sure that we dont have the wild fluctuations in the price market. But we are looking into that. Well, look, theres just great benefit for american citizens when we keep the price of energy, especially for people on fixed incomes, Social Security and veterans and others. If we can keep the price of energy down, thats helpful to them and rins is a real issue for them. This is a bit of an eclectic issue, and perhaps something you didnt expect. Im a farmer and rancher, or i was when i had a life. They bring an issue to me an issue thats important. In regards to pesticides they have to be registered with the epa before they can be marketed and used. Weve experienced a significant number of the bile pesticides that are being applied for which is a positive thing. Its something thats good for everyone. But we dont think you have the ability to deal with these increases and applications based on the fact of how long it takes to see them approved. Give me a sense of whether again this is important to you and whether you are moving towards accelerating some of these approval processes for the biopesticides. It is very important and were working specifically in biope biopesticides, also called pibs with usda. Usda is in charge of the public facing website thats been created on approval of these biopesticides. And i think were working very diligently and we should be able to meet the deadlines that we have. We do have a number of pesticides that have to be reviewed by 2022. But we are going through each of them. But we want to make sure that we get them right because at the end of the day we want to make sure that the pesticides that we approve are safe for the environment and safe for public consumption. Yeah, and all of us do recognize you cant shortchange this. Its not something you want to skip any steps and rush it. And there would be no reason for that. But it seems to me that there is theres a delay that is longer than that and isnt explained only by that explanation. Do you agree we could do better in accelerating these or is this just the way it is and we need to anticipate its going to take this amount of time. We do have a plan in place to get them approved by the deadline of 2022 and we hope to meet that deadline. Again, if we run into issues or concerns about any particular pesticide we want to make sure we get the decision right. We dont want to approve a pesticide that ends up being harmful to the environment or harmful to people. Understand. I have 7 seconds. Okay. Thank you. Please do. Mr. Joyce, thank you. Mrs. Mccollum. Thank you. I yield back. This time were going to recognize ms. Wassermancoleman. Thank you madam chairman and thank you very much for being here today. A couple of things mr. Wheeler. First of all want to make note of the fact that last year we increased the appropriations for Environmental Justice programs by 47 . We know what those funds should be used for. We dont know whether or not youve used them. So, i would very much like to have an accounting from you to the committee on how that program, how those funds were used in this cycle. I want to raise a concern that now theres a proposal to cut the programs by 71 . I would also like to know if you could supply us with information how you plan to accomplish the things you think are important with such a dramatic cut to the funds. I want to talk to you about the clean air clean car rules. My understands is there is a draft and that its not nearly done yet. It has 111 instances of the phrase where key analysis is missing. Its their allegations that people who are professionals work being the department are being discouraged from adding their concerns with regard to what is proposed and their concerns that theres a fear of retaliation to those individuals. Its also my understanding that just this week the epas Inspector General was asked to investigate reports that political officials may be trying to keep the career experts from weighing in on these issues. I need to ask you, will you commit to ensure that, a, all comments that are relevant to this proposal by the individuals who are career experts is considered and sent forward to the white house, and b, that there will be no retaliation against anyone who tries to do so . First of all, im happy to provide that information to you. We elevate to the administrators office. We took it out of the Enforcement Office so its more prominent throughout the agency now. Were using programs such as opportunity zones. I really want you to send us those. Thank you. I would like you to answer the question. Nobodys going to be retaliated at all for any issues they bring forward. Its important to note na tthat last time the cafe was update bid the obama administration, it was made early in the administration to give the primary lead to nitsa. I know there are some people who are working on this that feel like to have a second seat in this rule making process that its not as prominent as it was before. But we are taking all the comments from the career staff. Right now were in the middle of the inner Agency Review process. Its inappropriate to send every comment to omb because sometimes comments from different staff contradict each other. But all the comments are being weighed. Everybodys concerns are being taken into account. Thank you. And no ones going to be retaliated against because they disagree. Thank you. Last but not least is the mercury and air toxic standards. Prior to announcing the proposed rule, my understanding is the epa did not conduct an analysis of the potential impacts of this action or update the agencys prior analysis. So, we need to ensure that epa completes this study to better understand the benefits and the costs of this proposed action to Public Health and our environment which is generally not supported among many agencies and interests. I would like to know will you commit now to having epa commit such an analysis before we have a final rule. We havent analyzed the rule and we dont believe theres any change to equipment im sorry, did you say we have not. We have analyzed the regulation, and we do not believe there will be changes in the equipment and no reduction in the mercury control equipment thats been installed on the power plants. Well, finally in making whatever adjustments you think are necessary, will that in any way result in there being more mercury or other toxic agents in the environment . No, we dont believe there will be at all. In addition to the regulation that was remanded back to us by the Supreme Court at the same time we did the Technology Review, another Technology Review, we have determined that the technologies in place need to stay in place. We dont expect anything to be taken off line. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you madam chair. Thank you. So, the tech nothing will be turned off. You can have technologies in place, but a company can turn them off . We dont believe anything will be turned off. You dont believe or you know . That is what our Analysis Shows is that because of our Technology Review that technology thats currently installed will remain in place and will remain on. Most of the technologies are not just to reduce mercury. They also reduce other pollutants. Thank you very much, madam chair. Thank you for being with us here today. I know you mentioned pfas in your opening remarks but i want to take it a little bit further. If chemicals are present in house hold sewage or waste water, they end up in waste Water Treatment plans where they concentrate during the production of biosolids so biosolids end up being nutrient organic materials that have been applied to land as fertilizer. Theres no standards for pfas concentrations in biosolids and application can lead to contamination in land and crops and water if its used on agricultural land. So, were already having this problem in maine. We have one dairy farmer who treated his land with biosolids for years without knowledge it was contaminated with pfas. His milks tested ten times the epa guidelines so hes unable to sell his milk and basically his livelihood is ruining. What is he doing at this moment in time to understand pfas in biosolids . Were looking at pfas as far as community is concerned including biosolids. We last year entered into partnership with usda on this issue. We also made available over 5 million in new research money, specifically targeted to agriculture uses and agriculture problems around pfas. So, yours was i believe the secondary ri that had this issue. Theres another dairy out west and im blanking on whether it was arizona its new mexico. Its right next to an air force base. New mexico and i talked to the governor of new mexico about that. So, we are looking into that. Weve partnered with us da to try to address this. There are over 600 pfas chemicals in commerce. Theres over 1,200 in commerce over the past years. We have the foremost researchers in the world at the ep a working on the chemicals. All the you cant treat all the chemicals the same. Its different tests for detecting them in the Water Systems. Its different they have Different Health impacts on people in the environment. And its also different clean up technologies depending on the short chain or the long chain. So, we are doing Research Across the entire spectrum. And part of that research were going to break away from this hearing and get you live to the white house. Vice president pence and members of the Coronavirus Task force holding a briefing. Live coverage on cspan3. We just completed another meeting of the white house Coronavirus Task force. Its been a very busy and a productive day here at the white house. President donald trump has no higher priority than the safety and health of the American People. And the president has directed our task force employeeing the full resources of the federal government in full partnership with state and local Health Authorities to make that priority a reality. As i stand before you today, we have more than 100 coronavirus cases in the United States. That is counting dmomestic case and cases of coronavirus of americans that were returned from china or the diamond princess. Im pleased to report that most of those who contracted