History, tonight, south dakota senator and u. S. Investors are to the united nations, george mcgovern. The contenders, tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Epa administrator Andrew Wheeler commemorated the 50th anniversary of the agency at the Richard Nixon president ial library in yorba linda, california. The agency was established by president nixon back in 1970. At this event, mr. Wheeler talked about the epas future as well as protecting the environment and cutting regulations. Isinistrator wheeler introduced by california congressman ken calvert. It is really appropriate that they are here today. It is my pleasure to introduce ken calvert. Ladies and gentlemen, congressman ken calvert. Rep. Calvert good afternoon. It is great to be here at the Nixon Library. I would like to commend you and the entire team for the equitable job you are doing here. What an amazing venue. It seems like it is becoming almost a monthly occurrence to have a cabinet member speaking out at the library. I think in the secret is out that the weather here and Orange County is a whole lot nicer than it was in washington, d. C. Perhaps that good california weather as part of the reason we are join here today to talk about the 50th anniversary of the epa. After all, one of the reasons californians have been at the forefront of Environmental Protection is because we spend so much time outside enjoying the weather at our beaches, our mountains, and certainly our deserts. Spill9, however, and oil off the coast of Santa Barbara was a wakeup call that the environment we all love needs to be safeguarded. Around this time period, and that 1960s, polluted rivers in the late 1960s, polluted rivers in ohio were literally catching fire, sparking a call to action. In 1970, president nixon answered that call by proposing a series of initiatives, and that protecting our air, our water, and our environment. President nixon consolidated many of the environmental responsibilities of the federal government under one agency, the new Environmental Protection agency. Now, 50 years later, our country is cleaner because of these efforts by president nixon and the Environmental Protection agency. I remember when i played football down the street in corona, california, i cannot see on the other cited the field in those days. That time is over for the air quality is much improved. The air is much cleaner than it was decades ago because of much of the efforts because of the epa. Bpas focus on our air and water s formation, get over the past few years, the agency has expanded beyond the mission, it has become too bureaucratic and burdensome, which negatively impacts Economic Growth. In the last few years of the obama administration, i served as the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the epa. During those years, i found myself constantly reminded that it administration, you know, does not take a bigger bureaucracy to clean up our environment. Our tax dollars are much better spent replacing a Diesel Engine, an old Diesel Engine on a school bus rather than paying for another bureaucrat in washington, d. C. Thankfully, the Trump Administration has adopted a similar outlook and refocused the agency. Restoring the epa to something similar to nixons vision. We have an epa that no longer shuns those they regulate. Rather, they are working cooperatively to ensure we have a healthier environment while not holding back our economy or our way of life. Taking the helm, administrator Andrew Wheeler has implemented a great vision for the next 50 years of the epa. He is committed to ensuring that the agency focuses on a primary mission. He has challenged the agency to make better use of resources for communities that have suffered from pollution for decades and been left behind. He has committed to changing the way the agency works to help these committees prosper. This is administrator wheelers second stand at the epa. In between his tours, he worked at the private sector as a top staffer on the Senate Environment and public works committee. The robust experience is essential to handling the job as well as those unexpected challenges we know all too well. 2020 is a year of the unexpected. But administrator wheeler and his team at epa have been up to the task. Our nations response to the covid pandemic has been a whole of government approach, including epas accelerated disinfectant approval process, which has cut the average approval time of disinfectants from four months to four weeks. Prior to march 5, the number of epa approved products was 60. There are now approximately 475 products. It is an amazing response and a testament to the leadership at epa. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the Nixon Library and our incredible Southern California environment, epa administrator, Andrew Wheeler. [applause] mr. Wheeler thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. It is a privilege and an honor to be here at the Nixon Library to talk about the federal governments role in Environmental Protection during the next 50 years. I just want to stop a second and just kind of soak in the library. What a beautiful place to be to commemorate the 50th anniversary of epa. I want to thank congressman for calvert for your remarks. Thank you to jim byron and the Nixon Library and Foundation Board and staff for making this day possible. And to all the other distinguished guests, thank you for being here, and thank you for the work you are doing to help this country and your communities become safer, healthier places to live. Let me start by saying something that should be old and familiar. Americas environment today is cleaner than it has ever been in our lifetimes. [applause] and it got that way, in large part, because of president Richard Nixon, who in 1970 created the Environmental Protection agency and signed into law the Clean Air Act. Later this year, the epa will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. So today is an important opportunity for me, as the epas 15th administrator, to celebrate the things that have worked well for this countrys environment and to look for ways to improve environmental outcomes over the next 50 years. The Clean Air Act and the clean water act, which were both enacted in nixons first term, have become the foundational environmental statutes to guide epas mission to protect human health and the environment. Since the early 1970s, epas job has been pretty straightforward clean up america. The agency has done just that. In 1970, lead gasoline and leadbased paint were still in common use. Asbestos and dioxins were still used, not seen as pollutants. All three of those hazards are largely banned from commerce, as well as hundreds of other dangerous chemicals and compounds. The epas mission has been straightforward since its founding protect human health and the environment. Doing this ensures all americans , regardless of their zip code, have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean land to live, work, and play upon. Under President Trump, we have done this well, if not better, than any recent administration. During the first three years of the Trump Administration, air pollution in this country fell 7 . Last year, the epa delisted 27 superfund sites. , the most in a single year since 2001. And the Agency Programs have contributed more than 40 billion to clean Water Infrastructure investment during President Trumps first term. This is great news, and like most great news, you rarely read about it in the press. Our country, which has received some of the most exceptional, natural, and environmental gifts ever given to a human society, has shown a can have both great environmental outcomes and Economic Growth when it strives to. And the reason these great things happen is the development of a political consensus on environmental policy and the will of the american people. Legislation like the Clean Air Act, the clean water act, the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, the 1996 Safe Drinking Water act amendments all passed with bipartisan support and with president s of a Different Party than the Party Controlling congress. For much of the latter part of the 20th century, there was bipartisan understanding. On what Environmental Protection meant. Some of it was captured in legislation and some of it by established practice. These principles formed a consensus on how the federal government did its job at protecting the environment. President trump recognized this consensus when he asked me to take over the agency in 2018. His directions were straightforward. Kfed, andrew i want you to , continue to clean up the air, continue cleaning up our water, and continue to deregulate to create more jobs for the American Public. He knew that we can do all three at the same time. So do i. I am sure all of you do as well. But unfortunately in the past decade or so, some members of former administrations and progressives in congress have elevated singleissue advocacy, in many cases focused just on climate change, to virtue signal to foreign capitals. , over the interest of communities within their own country. Communities deserve better than this. But in the recent past, the epa has, at times, forgotten important parts of its mission. It is my belief that we misdirect a lot of resources and can do a better job helping communities across this country. This is where we are, with some misdirected policies and misused resources and a more partisan political environment. We want epa for the next 50 years, how do we get to where we are, where we want to be . One way to do this and i have spent more than 25 years thinking about this problem is to focus on communities become healthier in a more comprehensive manner. Communities that deal with the worst pollution in this country, they tend to be low income and minority and face all the problems that need solving. Currently, one of the Biggest Challenges is the threat to tear down silos to be more effective in addressing the environment of burdens that communities face. We must do this because the current lack of effectiveness has contributed to some very perverse environmental outcomes and resulted in a lot of unintended consequences. Going forward, as William Shakespeare wrote, see first that the design is wise and just. And ascertain, pursue it resolutely. Because communities and political leaders will struggle with where to put limited resources, they tend to focus on the squeaky wheel. An environmental inspector tells them they have to get them back. Meanwhile, there is still lead in the water pipes in their schools, which goes ignored. While i was a staff director in the senate, we took testimony from mayor hall in michigan. That community at the time was about 90 african american. Poverty rates were very high. The town had not recovered from the deindustrialization of the 1970s. Mayor halls message to the committee was that the epas ground till program was telling her that as the city applied for epa grants, many old, abandoned facilities could get cleaned up and jobs could be created. Epas office told her that Benton Harbor was in a nonattainment zone, and she could not bring new businesses into the city, because they are not going to get new permits. How was Benton Harbor going to use its experience if no new businesses could be built . It is a good question and one that has remained unanswered. I saw Benton Harbors experience as similar to the community i grew up in north of cincinnati. The neighboring town of hamilton during the 19th and 20th centuries was one of the most important manufacturers of paper, bank vaults, as well as Machine Tools and railroad switches. But as deindustrialization overtook hamilton, as it did with Benton Harbor, its Economic Health weakened, jobs were eliminated, and businesses leaving behind abandoned buildings, polluted industrial sites, and the people who had set the roots down. New businesses coming into southwestern ohio did not return to hamilton. They went to the suburbs. They went to the farmland. They went where the farmland was cheaper and less pollution, which allowed commercial investments to be made easier and which created its environmental costs, as more farmland was paved over and turned into businesses and housing, instead of looking at the older sections of the town. Many of the sites epa has responsibility for are in some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country. I will point out the truism. Neglect is a form of harm. It is not fair for these communities to be abandoned just because they do not have enough political power to stop the neglect. So where does this put us as a country in 2020 . The truth is this country is facing a lot of environmental and social problems that have not been dealt with the right way up until now. And while the focused of the next 50 years should not be like the last 50, but it should be informed by the last 50. Many towns and cities in the United States are using the same Water Infrastructure they used for over 100 years. And many schools used lead water pipes long after such pipes were banned from new buildings. The American Public views our Pesticide Program through the lens of the trial lawyers who advertise on television. Instead of the way we manage the program. The superfund program, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, has become focused on process rather than project completion. If you look for answers on why environmental injustice takes place today, one should start by asking why the most under resourced and economically vulnerable communities in this country are the places with the most pollution. It is not happenstance nor a coincidence. I would like to be able to say communities like Benton Harbor and hamilton and many thousands of other communities that need help in this country have been helped by improved environmental governance the last 20 years. But most of them have not. Benton harbors poverty rate has in the last 20 years has risen. Hamiltons population peaked in 1960 and has fallen ever since. These issues are challenging and would be difficult for any administration in office. But they would be easier to solve if people in power were more aware of the consequences of poor environmental policies. Having worked in washington for many years, i have gotten used to policy arguments being divorced from good economic outcomes. When it comes to environmental policy being divorced from Good Environmental outcomes, the situation becomes much harder to accept. If youve ever wondered why republicans can get upset sometimes, here are some there are many examples of poor environmental outcomes in california despite its environmental reputation. It should go without saying dumping sewage into San Francisco bay without disinfection, without any chemical or biological treatment is a bad idea. That is what has been happening for years against federal law. Just last month, the rolling blackouts created by the latest electricity crisis, the result of policies against power plants being fueled by natural gas, spilled 50,000 gallons of raw sewage into the oakland estuary when backup wastewater pumps failed. As state policymakers push more renewables onto the grid at times of the day when renewables are not available, these environmental accidents will happen more often. Instead of confusing words with actions and treating empty symbolism over doing a good job, we can focus our attention and resources on helping communities help themselves. Doing this will strengthen this country from its foundation up and start to solve the environmental problems of tomorrow. We can do a lot of good if the federal government through Congress Puts resources to work with a fierce focus on Community Driven environmentalism that promotes Community Revitalization on a greater scale. This will do more for Environmental Justice than all of the rhetoric and campaigns. No one agency can solve all of our problems. But i believe the environmental policy establishment in this country has missed a lot of opportunities in the past several decades. Over the next four years, the Trump Administrations epa is going to reorganize how it approaches communities, so it can take action and address the range of Environmental Issues that need to be addressed for people and places. In need. Environmental protection is the forerunner, the prerequisite for Economic Growth and job creation. If