Washington, D.C. - Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Chair Bill Johnson (R-OH) delivered the following opening statement at today’s Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee hearing titled: “The Fiscal Year 2024 Environmental Protection Agency Budget."
Excerpts and highlights below:
THE EPA CAN BE A FORCE FOR GOOD
“Administrator Regan, thank you for being here and more personally thank you for showing up in our little Appalachian village of East Palestine multiple times.
“I’ve seen firsthand how you’ve treated my constituents with compassion, working to enforce accountability, bringing your agency’s technology, tools, and personnel to answer the questions and try to calm the fears of our residents while supervising the ongoing emergency testing, cleanup, and assistance to those displaced.
“So, from my perspective, the EPA can be a force for good! I’ve seen it firsthand in my community!
“However, I’m concerned that at the national level, striking a balance in protecting the health of the environment with the safety, security, and economic freedom of the American people is taking a back seat at the EPA.
“Now I understand you work at the pleasure of the president. But the statutory authority of your agency, Administrator Regan, comes from laws passed by Congress and that authority is being abused to effectuate a vast set of troubling actions, to pursue ideological green goals, apparently regardless of the consequences.
“Time and again, by its own admission, we’ve seen this administration first choose a policy goal, like forcing consumers to purchase all-electric cars whether practical and affordable or not, shutting down oil and gas production, or shutting down reliable and dispatchable power generation and then on the back end, attempt to shoehorn an EPA regulation in to achieve these ends.
“This is not what the EPA is designed to do."
RESETTING THE RECORD ON ENERGY INNOVATION
“Republicans are for energy innovation.
“Because we just simply cannot de-industrialize the United States in pursuit of the 100% use of wind and solar power generation, which seems to be the administrations current policy. The results would be disastrous.
“So, we’re not going to go along with this idea of the ESG inspired, so-called, ‘energy transition,’ that is now synonymous with the fantasy that the world will totally shut down the use of oil, natural gas, and coal.
“Yes, Republicans do care about the climate and the environment, but we also believe we need to bring reason to the discussion.
“Perhaps rather than a premature energy transition, we could change the conversation to an energy journey, one with very real grid reliability, grid resilience, safety, security, and economic considerations to address along the way."
THE EPA’S REGULATORY ONSLAUGHT AND MORE BLACKOUTS
“Now, regarding the subjects we’ll cover today, they’re best described as an EPA regulatory onslaught: more than 150 new regulatory actions underway.
“The agency is being used as the tip of the spear in the administration’s premature pursuit of its green agenda.
“For example, EPA’s electric generating unit (EGU) strategy undermines electric reliability by placing burdensome and economically unattainable requirements on coal-fired and gas-fired power plants.
“Consequently, reliability of our nation’s electric grid is at risk as many more of those plants will be prematurely shut down due to a litany of EPA regulations that take reliable energy off the grid with no plan for replacement.
“This will lead to more blackouts.
“Another problem is the EPA’s proposal to dramatically lower the standard for fine particulate matter to a level that could bring nearly the entire country into noncompliance with the PM 2.5 standard.
“We need to encourage more manufacturing in the United States, not create standards so low that many of our small businesses and family farms can’t function.
“Another concern is the EPA’s proposed ‘methane rule.’
“This, on top of the new natural gas tax, oil and gas producers in my district would suffer immensely.
“Before you finalize the rule, Mr. Administrator, it’s my hope that there will be clear-eyed, thoughtful consideration given to what the impact to our national security could be if American energy production is throttled right now.
“With a devastating, potentially expanding war in Europe, and China becoming more belligerent in the Pacific, the world is becoming increasingly volatile and in my view, choosing to curtail domestic fossil fuel production right now invites significant and unnecessary risk.
“Finally, President Biden’s effort to force electric cars on an unwilling public is deeply troubling.
“This includes the ‘Set’ proposal that would perversely introduce electricity into the Renewable Fuel Standard Program, a final rule cracking down on heavy duty trucks; and worst of all, proposed emission standards that would essentially eliminate gas-powered vehicles from the market."
NEED FOR ACCOUNTABILITY FROM THE EPA
“With all of these actions, and literally hundreds more, I am concerned about the 19 percent increase for the EPA requested in the President’s budget on top of $60 billion from the IIJA and the $41.5 billion from the IRA.
“We’re looking at $100 billion in taxpayer dollars, extra, to pay for actions that will further intrude into Americans’ lives and throttle our economy.
“Mr. Regan, this is the opposite of accountability, and it’s not reflective of the kind of work your agency has done in my district.
“In closing, I want to highlight that Chair Rodgers and I have sent you letters on a range of topics, from IIJA and the IRA, the EGU strategy, the Clean School Bus program, HFCs, and eRINS proposal. I appreciated the three responses we received yesterday and hope you will commit to responding to the remaining letters promptly."