Cspan. Org. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. We are funded by these Television Companies and more including wow. The world has changed. Today a fast reliable Internet Connection is something no one can live without. Wow is there with our customers with speed, reliability, value and choice. No more than ever it starts with great internet. Wow supports cspan as a Public Service along with these other Television Providers giving you a front row seat to democrac the administrator of the Environmental Protection agency, michael regan, spoke about the biden administrations Environmental Policy Initiative at the western governors Associations Annual meeting in boulder, colorado. Topics include collaboration between federal and State Governments, water security and wildfires. Welcome to the 2023 western Governors Association annual meeting in beautiful boulder, colorado. My name is jack walder and i have the honor and privilege of serving as the executive director. If it is your first annual meeting, it is mind too so we will figure it out together. If you have been to an annual meeting before, welcome back and perhaps you could give us these a few pointers. It is wonderful to have so many friends of the west convened at the famed older theater. Over the years the magnificent theater has served as an entertainment venue in the heart of boulder captivating audiences with silent films, uppers, musicals and hosted a number of notable figures such as Franklin Delano roosevelt in 1920 and a johnny cash performance in 1997. Now we can proudly say wga can be added to the list. Our beautiful host city is as special and unique as any western city. Home to the university of colorado and its iconic mascot. Boulder is best known for being eight analogy hub, its flavorful variety of teas and numerous outdoor activities. As you probably noticed, boulder rights are casually known for their outdoor attire. Their enthusiasm for their outdoors is only matched by a subaru, and dedicated bike lanes. Dont be surprised if the person who served her Morning Coffee has two phds. One an Aerospace Engineer and the other in buddhist studies. Now only not only can you get interesting couple copy but have an interesting conversation. Brown, there is a Bipartisan Organization whose sole purpose is to serve as an instrument for the governors for bipartisan policy development and collective action on issues of critical importance to western states. Wga is built on the collective action and bipartisan leadership of our governors that they adhere to in order to make meaningful and lasting change. As westerners, we are grateful for their leadership and i want to personally thank our governors for being here this week as they lead us in discussing important topics. We will cover issues in Outdoor Recreation and advancing the use of water retention. While representing just a snapshot on numerous issues affecting the west, we look forward to hearing from our panel of experts as they identify common challenges as well as offer Pragmatic Solutions to these issues here. We will hear from a range of officials of ring their insights and perspectives on the additional issues that affect the citizens of our region. We look forward to a robust conversation between our governors and the speakers over the next several days. Wga does not exist without the bipartisan support and leadership of the governors as i mentioned. We have strong dedicated group of governors who checked out their egos and Party Affiliation at the door when youre at wga. Without this, we would not be who we are and we could not be what we do. We remain grateful. As an organization, wga has many interconnected parts. Hes relying on one another to advance the governor priorities. It does not function without the tireless work and support of the governors staff members. And for the countless requested we throw it away. And for the numerous partner organizations, stakeholders and esteemed members and organizations that make up our sponsor community, your support enables the countless nativities and events that we put on on behalf of the governors over the course of the year and we are extremely grateful for you and your continued partnership. I also want to take a moment to acknowledge and recognize the fantastic wgs debt that i have had the pleasure of working with on a daily basis. The new guy in the office, they welcomed the wga family with open arms and have been nothing short of amazing and their professionalism and enthusiasm and devotion to service and advancing western priorities is truly inspiring. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I want to acknowledge my predecessor. Major hand. Raise your hand. While jim transitioned from his role this past january, he still serves the western governors foundation. Thankfully he remains a key member of the wga family. He proudly and successfully led the wga. The organization accomplished critical policy victories while expanding its regional influence. Suffice to say, the wga would not be in as strong a position as it is today without his leadership and adhering to the core mission of the organization. Those are some big boost to fill. Thank you for that. As someone told me this past january when i took over just dont screw it up, jack. No pressure, thank you for that. You know who you are. Please join me in recognizing a forever friend of the west. The great jim ochs perry. [applause] and now, please allow me the honor of introducing our distinguished western governors. As a physician, dr. Josh green arrived and made this his home. Practicing medicine in a rural, underserved area here. He saw the challenges facing many residents including limited access to health care, Affordable Housing and high rates of Mental Illness and addiction. As a member of the community, he helped to you. Serving in both the statehouse representatives and the state senate, dr. Green was instrumental in expanding Health Care Coverage for children with autism, advancing Cancer Research effort and creating a statewide Trauma Health care system. He continued to utilize his medical expertise. Governor green has worked tirelessly in six months in office to address Health Disparities among hawaiians while expanding access to afford housing across the state and other critical issues. It is an honor to welcome and introduce the honorable josh green. A thirdgeneration rancher knows the value of hard work and has taken what he has learned on the ranch and carry that throughout his professional clinical career. Having spent a few days with the governor on the annual trail ride, i witnessed firsthand his impressive horse riding skills but also what struck me most was his love for the land and his strong desire to ensure future idahoans reap the benefit of conservation policies and sometimes you have to ask jim about his stories on this ride and im sure the governor would be the better storyteller. We will save that for another time. Last year, while serving as chair, governor little oversaw the work in Communities Initiative which examined the relationship between Natural Resources and the communitys that depend on them. While shining a light on the unique challenges facing the Rural Communities related to workforce and economic vitality. While not exquisitely western concern, it is western challenge. Help equip our western states with the tools and resources needed to address this evolving regional challenge. First elected in 2018 and we elected to second term last november. He has navigated the idaho state legislature. I will let him handle the specifics on that. I am proud to introduce idahos 33rd governor. Born into a proud military family, governor jewell and barta lived around the world until his father was stationed at the air force base just outside las vegas. After attending university in nevada, the governor served in the National Guard before joining the Police Department where he served 26 years and held nearly every position in the department as he climbed the ranks. He was then elected twice to nevadas largest county in 2014. As sheriff, he oversaw 1. 3 billion while being refundable for nearly 6000 employees to ensure the safety of the countys residents while protecting the tens of millions of visitors who flocked to las vegas on an annual basis. Not a small task. Sworn in as governor in january of this year, evelyn barto continues to embody the protect and serve motto from his Law Enforcement experience and applied to his role as governor. During his first legislative session as governor, he supported legislation designed to make schools safer while reforming and streamlining services. His leadership saw historic levels of funding for education for both k12 and higher ed and helps to bolster the states workforce and help build more capacity in the state through supporting those who suffer from Mental Illness. Please welcome the 31st governor of the great state of nevada. Joe lombardo. Growing up on a ranch, mark gordon learned the value of hard work, integrity and the importance of working together from a young age as he leaves the state of wyoming with those values in mind. He understood having deeply held beliefs and desire to achieve consensus arent mutuallys list of ideals. Not only does the governor possess tools like grit, perseverance, toughness, he also help support and maintain his familys cattle ranch. He also has a Strong Financial acumen that has allowed him to transform and modernize the wyoming state financial portfolio which is number one ranked in the United States and the number three in the world ranking for transparency and accountability while serving as state treasurer. The Dynamic School set arm temper success when he ran for elected governor in 2018. Since becoming state ceo, he has led efforts to diversify the economy in ways such as technology and agriculture to name a few. He has continued to be a strong advocate in supporting ym was Natural Resources. We elected in 20 with 79 of the vote, resenting the largest margin of victory in the States History for any gubernatorial candidate, governor gordon continues to lead by his values and dedication and for women getting stuff done. Please welcome wyomings 33rd governor and vice chair of the western Governors Association, the honorable mark gordon. Going up here growing up here in boulder, colorado, they always had a never innovative ideas and thinking on the cuttingedge both in business as with the policy domain. As a result of his entrepreneurial spirit talents, he transferred his familys greeting card business by taking it online. At 1. I found out it was the most six months visited website on and im the governor launched three success all caps including one of the roads leading Online Flower retailers. Despite his honor of success, he never wavered in his commitment to Public Service to making life better for current and future coloradans. At age just 25, he threw his hat in the right for the state board of education where he was successful and fought to ensure children have early access to highquality education. At age 33, he was elected to congress where he served five terms. A well respected and known policy walk along among his congressional colleagues. When first elected as qualified governor in 2018, he continued his work by working with the legislature to advance record investment in k12 and for the first time in the States History, kindergarten starting next fall. In the summer, he lost to the heat beneath our Feet Initiative and has wasted no effort in ensuring initiative success. With that, i am honored to introduce colorados 43rd governor, the chair of the western Governors Association and our host here in boulder. Thank you. In addition to having the privilege of being able to host western governors in your state which as chair i chose my hometown of boulder, governor gordon will be hosting us in jackson hole next november, the other two perks of being chair, one is you get to identify your own initiative. We worked very closely with wga on working on developing heat beneath your feet. Virgil and in person, learning from state argument with regard to geothermal electric energy, 20 of hawaiis grid. Dr. Green in utah. California 4 . We are proud of call mesa university. The final part is we get a little gavel that has our name on it as chair. With which we get the gavel in the official session of the western Governors Association. Welcome everybody to boulder. On behalf of the governors assembled here today, we are so happy just to spend some time with us here today. We have great speakers lined up. We will be hearing from michael reed shortly. David turk is the point person not just on geothermal but a whole host of energy opportunities. Executives from microsoft and franklin top 10. The ceo of vail resorts. Just a discussion about the economic drivers in the west. We really want to show the nation that we Work Together. We are engaged in a number of very meaningful roundtables on topics we all face in our states in different ways, rural health care. Health ecosystems and grasslands and egg. We continue that work. There is the reauthorization of the egg bill. A little thing called water which has a different dimension. It is a top of my discussion item for the Colorado River basin and for many other states across the midwest. After recreation, another Major Economic driver of the west. Of course, the initiative i focused on, Geothermal Energy. How we can better deploy Geothermal Energy for a lowcost energy source, reliable. Especially for a grid with increasingly renewable energy. I want to thank my fellow western governors and their teams and all the staff at w g a, the sponsors, the collaborators for their great work. Youll be getting a copy of the report i think tomorrow and getting some previous to it today. As we have done with the initiative that i lost, i hope the next couple of days will seek practical Common Sense Solutions for the problems are states have that we can fix by working together and when we continue to Work Together because theres so much we can accomplish. I want to thank all of you. Please have a meaningful time here in my hometown of boulder, colorado. It is my pleasure to introduce our first guest speaker. As the ministry of the epa, michael is test with the protection of human health and the environment. That includes leading the federal implementation on the clean water act, Safe Drinking Water at act. We are eager to hear about the path forward with regard to planning around water. The former secretary of the North Carolina department of quality. It is great to have somebody with that state perspective. Helping to make calls at the national level. No stranger to the relationship between states and the federal government. They have the noblest of intense. Too late to clean air and clean water for people across our country. Whether it is wildfires affecting air qualities, we are no strangers to watershed issues hurting farmers, Water Treatment facilities, cooperation between the federal and State Government and epa is more important than ever before. On behalf of my fellow governors, we present that the west is unique in our challenges from scarce Water Resources to being on the front line for International Emission transports, the rising number of wildfires that are disproportionately impacting the american west. For all these reasons and more, a strong, productive relationship between dpa and our states is important to all western governors. With that, it is my honor to turn it over to administrator regan. Good afternoon. Thank you for that kind introduction and the theme of partnership. This is something i truly believe in. I want to thank all the governors here for having me today and for you all being here. It is great to be here in boulder. Ive had the pleasure of traveling all across the state, visiting towns and cities both large and small. There is one thing that has been clear to me since day one. That is statelevel collaboration and partnership are necessary. The most effective way to craft resilient and Lasting Solutions is to bring all stakeholders to the table. Examine all issues from every single angle and strive to reach consensus. It is great to be surrounded by the chief executives. They are where the rubber meets the road. These executives, state and local leaders know your community is more intimately know your committees more intimately than the federal government ever could. We need to hear from you, we need to lean on you and more importantly, we need to continue to Work Together to make this country as great as it can be. Economic challenges, environmental injustice requires that willie no stone unturned. We have more tools and more resources than we have ever had to invest in every single American Community across the country. Back in november, we celebrated one year of the bipartisan effort structure law. Through this law, the epa has the profound opportunity to invest in unprecedented an unprecedented 50 billion in our nations Drinking Water. Wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. The single largest federal investment in water info structure in United States history. And to ensure that this level of funding reaches the communities who need it the most, we are working very closely with our state partners to deploy any of these resources through very highly successful last august i had the privilege of joining President Biden as he signed the inflation reduction act. We can accelerate dpa work. This supports both new and existing programs. Both bill and ira implementation are a massive undertaking. It is an opportunity like we have never seen before. Unlike before, we have some resources and that we can build upon our partnerships and relationships to ensure we are all working for the people. I want to be clear with you all today. We are going to work shoulder to shoulder. As many of you grapple with your issues, whether it be wildfires that have forced families to abandon their homes and livelihoods or whether it is drought conditions, it is important that you all know we are with you. We are with you, our nation is carefully navigating some of the greatest economic challenges of our lifetime but i am counseling reminded as i have these conversations not just today but in the future that we are all in this together. Each of you have a very valuable perspective. I recognize that North Carolina and nevada are very different states. New york, california, wyoming are very different states and this is why this is not a onesizefitsall attitude. This is an attitude about investing in every community. I have some great examples. We know methane lease present a host of issues and can impact the local economy but leaders like governor Lujan Grisham avenue instituted increases. Our teams have worked very closely. We can identify and stop these dangerous leaks. Wyoming recently received this. We will continue to learn from the examples they set on effective deployment. We have appreciated the leadership in the state of colorado i working to craft a successful green schoolbus program. Apollo has launched a 65 million Clean Schoolbus Program that serves as a model for how to effectively implement a program on a national scale. We have 5 million to electrify our Yellow School buses across the country. How leadership will be instrumental in up into design those programs. These are only a few samples of how we can lean on each other to make impactful change across an array of issues. There is no doubt we will have differences. There is no doubt there were significant challenges facing our world. We are relying on partners to Work Together. I am incredibly proud of the work we have done and very proud of the partnerships that we forced. Forged. I will start it your come administrator. The challenge with your agency is how we move from conflict to collaboration. You and i met early about this. Had we focus on making sure it is not about compliance for compliances sake. It is about working to working together to make your air cleaner and our water cleaner and making sure that in many ways, the paperwork can sometimes impede that progress and it can be minimized by working together in collaboration. It is about collaboration and transparency. As i said before, i can say that states are more agile and like to move more quickly. None of us would like the bureaucracy. The clean water act and the Clean Air Act constrains us in certain ways. That does not limit our ability to be creative. As we pursue these solutions, i believe we must continually be in conversation. We have a state secretary, we have the governors, myself, there is no reason we cant figure out how to get beyond some of these issues. I think we have to look at the solutions at the local level. I think we have to think about how to forge ahead, protect our environment while avoiding a lot of the litigation. Thank you. Wonderful to have you here. We look forward to doing that with you. My question goes to lets take a look at a complex set of circumstances. Different agencies have to respond to it. P fass has shown up in the fire retardant and there is a cleanup that comes with it. The question i have is as below to have states can you might have the bureau of land management. All of these jurisdictions. Have you got a thought on ways we can simplify the way that works . I believe states can provide that. The first time we set out to have a conversation about a contentious issue, it started with flyfishing and ended with flyfishing. We have been tackling tough issues ever since with the promise that he is going to take me fishing. I was to come up on that. I think leadership starts at the top. This entire cabinet would Work Together. The first way we are starting to answer that question is the usda are actually sitting down and we are really talking through the department of interior. We are actually having conversations about how we reduce the bureaucratic headache, the whack a mole. I think there are specific areas where it makes sense for state agencies to serve in that hub. We have enough grace to say we are not conceding or authority by lying on our state to help get the job done. I think youre exactly right. We have to depend on our state agency to do a little bit more coordinating. We need hell a trust. As we begin to look at how we invest these billions of dollars, i think it absolutely makes sense that we invest these dollars in the state and have you all running point on where the solutions are and how these dollars be administrated. It is important that we see this economically. Thank you for the time today. The hollow from hawaii. Youve been a very great partner. This is a bit of an offthewall question. I am just curious if there is a position on what is happening in japan at fukushima and how that may or may not ever touch our own federal government and what we might share with our constituents. We may have a closer proximity to these environmental challenges. I am just curious if that falls into your portfolio. It is an excellent question. You and i are talking earlier. I have actually been to nine or 10 different countries. Japan being one of them. Since that unfortunate accident, weve had a relationship on the environment aside. There are a lot of lessons learned. That community will never behold. As we think about our energy policy, we think about our investments and our international relationship. It is definitely something we continue to partner on to export both the environmental and technical advice. It underpins conversations ive had with a number of you. This is about international competition. If you think about our energy choices. Whether it is advanced nuclear or Carbon Capture storage, we are looking to perfect those things domestically so we can export that internationally. We want to have the global and Competitive Edge on all of our counterparts. It means a stronger Environmental Protection framework as well. If i could also talk about it, we always talk about it and you live by the legal constraints you have and we appreciate when you are willing to show ability with states. We encourage you to show as much fortitude as you can. One of the prospects for legislative changes that would allow for more ability and any opportunities to go back and seek language that is less out of date that many in the 1970s and 80s that we find ourselves. You might be in a better position to answer that. You remember that. Because im pessimistic. Despite a lot of the political rhetoric in washington dc, we have offer but we can to the legislative process. That is technical advice. I am all for it. I had the fortunate opportunity to serve as a state environmental director. We had a democratic governor. Sometimes you have to change the language to be on the right side of the law. That is an area where western governors can hopefully come together. I think there are Better Outcomes whether you are republican or democrat. Generally speaking, it would be providing your organization with more flexibility as opposed to less. One of the interesting challenges because they prefer the governor, having legislation that is a little less prescriptive and allows for more grace by the agencies that are meant to administer them. There is a challenge and how we avoid the temptation to see regulatory creep beyond what the law exley prescribes. I am curious, now that you are in this position having worked in his deposition and having felt that push and tug from the federal government, what are the things we can help congress understand . I think we have to continue to have these conversations. But we dont want to do is codify technology into the fiveyear window when you have so many technologies involving. My attitude around this is because these technologies in place to allow for as much innovation and entrepreneur ship as possible. You and i talked about this. To a certain extent, the law really prescribes that i should be agnostic to some of the sources and allow for as many technologies and Business Models to achieve these goals. I think that is the mindset that i bought from this administration and we are trying to do that across multiple regulations. If we can do that, that not only provides stability to the state, it provides tremendous ability to the industry to pursue excellence while not being able to prescribe how to do that. Thank you. I just wanted to get your opinion on paphos. That is a tough issue. It is one i spent a lot of personal time with secretary austin all of us want to do our very best to protect the public. At the same time, we want to make sure that we understand the science and understand the Technology Available to rid us of the persistent compound well thinking about putting these chemicals out to the environment. We are very transparent in that. There was about 10 billion in the bipartisan infrastructure law. Designed to help us as we make sure we dont leave our water system stranded with some of the challenge. Also, holding the government accountable for their role in the pollution of the land and waters as well. This is a longstanding issue. I think youve seen that these Companies Just settled multibilliondollar lawsuits. They recognize their role in this. We want to match the evolution of Business Models with our desire to do it in a way where we are promoting advanced technology as well as we can. Known in this country should trust whether their Drinking Water coming from the tap is safe. Mapquest no one in this country should question whether the Drinking Water coming from their tap is safe. Administrator, the recent Supreme Court ruling on the pa turned upside down some of the rules they were being written. Is the epa going to redraft some of those rules in light of the new Supreme Court decision question mark we absolutely will. I think as administrator the secretary of North Carolina, through my four years, i had to try to finish the implementation of the obama rule and so as a state agency, i was pulling my hair out at the pendulum swing these regulations. What we attended to do was have a more balanced approach as we designed our regulation, recognizing that this takes a mentor to three years. We wanted to get started. I believe we have a framework in place that obviously the Supreme Court has weighed in on and has given us more specific direction. What we are going to do over the next coming months is codify that new language of the Supreme Court and begin to move forward with the regulation that will provide more certainty for our farmers and for those who are trying to protect our most precious wetlands. This is the most prescriptive direction that this agency has received from the Supreme Court and when we agree or disagree, i think the reality is this program has not had this level of direction in the past 20 or 30 years. I would just add that remember, when youre redoing those rules, perhaps we can tell you where there might be some dead falls and difficulty in enforcing and in plummeting those rules. We would appreciate that very much. Absolutely. I think we will have that possibility of implementation. I talked to secretary mills asked about that. I think the Supreme Court was very prescriptive. One of the things i pledge from day one, we will follow the law, we will make sure that we do that. Thank you governor gordon. Halloween up on that, i think one of the concerns that western states in particular, Energy Producing states sometimes worry about is it is something that the western government feels very strongly about. We want to be able to control the quality of water in our states to the best protection. What i think its complicated is when parts of the clean water act are used too in some way affect the development in the neighboring state and that is the rule of the federal government. It does seem to me that one of the challenges for the federal government is how do we allow for states to be able to regulate resources within the confines of their state and also be a referee in the event that they overstep . I hate to use new york as an example but new york is an example using provisions to deny access for a pipeline. To provide natural gas to the east coast. This has caused governor ned lamont, i have to get my natural gas from russia or what else can i do . You put your finger on the exact struggle. I will start by saying i can completely see leaving the state of North Carolina that it almost be impossible to design i bought a u. S. Rule that would meet the needs of North Carolina. It is almost impossible. I think that when you start to look at how certain states want to use certain provisions of the Clean Air Act, this is where cooperative federalism and all the i all these ideas kicking, there is a fine line when the federal government decides to step in and tell the state what to do or how to do it as they delegate authority. I think that is where we really have to have these interstate conversations at the gubernatorial agency level. These economic decisions, environmental decisions come across a lot of agencies and issues. At the end of the day, if we all look at these issues in isolation, we are just going to find ourselves in court. There are about people on both sides ready to litigate on any decision made at the state and federal level and that is why i say we are in this together. If we can figure out ways to be stronger at federal and state agencies, i believe we can be more successful and withstand litigation a lot better. , degree . Thank you. Another attached question would be plastics. We are wrestling with some plastics questions. Our question in the Pacific Ocean will affect perhaps all of us, it just depends on how you view it. Obviously we will have greater concerns as estate on a certain topic. The entirety of the nation and some other international communitys may contribute to what ends up in our environment. How do you address those kinds of qualifications . I really focused on looking at providing more guidance about recycling. As i have traveled the world. Domestically, what we are trying to do is design frameworks and incentive because there is a market there, there is a Market Solution to address classics. Plastics. If we can work and design the right info structure in our state, the right market incentives, we can pull together a plastic reduction strategies. We have to invest in those areas. That is the area of the country and on we see the state department negotiating international agreement. I talk with young people about plastics. I talked with the fossil fuel companies about plastics, we all recognize there was a marketplace and an opportunity, you just have to figure out where youre going to start. One more time time for one more. Question was another month or so and most of the western governors will be all about wildfires. There are two things that are going on, one of them is air quality issues for prescribed burns. If you look at the net for both carbon and mercury, it is a huge number. It is all that god did it, there is nothing we can do about it. It is also what we use in a prescriptive fire retardant area about how important that is, particularly as we try to stop some of these massive fires that are basically climate changing events and anything that restricts that use, i hope you look at it through a wide lens about what the unintended consequences of either restrictions on prescribed burns or prescriptions on modern retardant, what that will have. We will get to a point in time, even as wet as it is and as beautiful as it is here in colorado right now, swear you and your fellow cabinet members will be coming out here to talk about these fires, what we do on prescribed burns and modern effective retardant is critical to stop in those big catastrophic fires. Anything you do to help us there would be very welcome. Unfortunately, in your prediction, it has already happened in the past two years where we have come out as the federal government and think about how we help our fellow states and the secretary had a lot of conversations about this. It does not make any sense to restrict tools in the toolbox that protects human lives. As we continue to fight these wildfires and think about how we manage our forest, the epa has been working handinhand with the usda to think about this so that we dont restrict abilities but think about how we codify other authorities in the Clean Air Act that prevents the usda from being sued by outside parties. Quick this is something that is deftly on the front of our minds and we are with you 100 on that. I want to think on half of the western Governors Association, thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your insights. Thank you. Crisis cspan is your unfiltered view of government. We are funded by these Television Companies and more. Including viacom. 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