To conduct its business i will maintain the core of. That means if there is any disorder or demonstration by a member of the audience that person causing the destruction will be escorted from the room by the capital police. First, i would like to welcome the administrator of the Environmental Protection agency, scott pruitt for your tax money today. With respect to todays hearings we will abide by the committees fiveminute rule for length of member questions in the first round. Time permitting we will also have a twominute second round of questions until 12 30 when administrative pruitt has to leave the building. Of course, members will have the ability to submit written questions to administrator pruitt for the record. Todays hearing is to examine the epas record today after the first year of the administration. The Environmental Protection agency under the leadership of administrator pruitt has been doing the hard work of protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the communities our families live in. Mr. Pruitt has led the agency fairly. He is balanced with the need to prioritize Environmental Protection with the desires of americans have thriving and economically sustainable communities. His leadership of epa has vastly different than that of the last two predecessors. Under the Obama Administration the agency had lost its way. In some very highprofile cases the epa harmed the very communities pledged to protect. During the last and ministration epa administrators created broad and legally questionable that undermines the americans faith in the agency. These regulations have done great damage to the livelihood of our nations hardest working citizens. The regulatory rampage of the previous and ministration has violated a fundamental civil and Environmental Stewardship to do no harm. This failed environmental leadership has contributed to two of the worst government created environmental disasters in decades. The gold king minds fill in the flint michigan water crisis. Those disasters hurt people and many from low income and minority communities who can least afford it. Under administrative pruitt leadership the pa has taken a number of bold steps to protect the environment while not harming local economies. Administrator pruitt is a key leader of the deregulatory agenda including ending the war on cold. Scott pruitts at the helm of epa likely protected more jobs and promoted more job growth than any other epa administrator industry. He is done so while making significant environmental progress. The American Economy grew 2. 4 million since president from selection. This job growth happen in Critical Industries like manufacturing, mining and when the department of commerce has manufactures the beginning of 2017 which federal government regulations generated the greatest burdens the answer was clear. The pa. The top nine identified regulation that impacted manufacturing are all epa regulations. At the top of the list at the waters of us rule in the Clean Air Act role. Administrator pruitt is working to address these and other epa rules. His commitment to revisit misguided policies is growing our economy, manufacturing, mining and across the board. Two prime examples are repealing the waters of us rule. With regard to the clean powerplant, the Prior Administration wanted to put coal out of business. Twentyseven states challenge the clean powerplant because they saw what epa was doing. Epa under pruitt leadership is on the right track in getting that rule off the books. As he un dues that rule i appreciate the administrators desire to hear from those who would have been hurt the most. The administration is already held a listening session in senator luppercaseletters home state of West Virginia and the court to welcoming the va to a listening session in wyoming in march. Another key way to pruitt has put environment policy right track is the epas withdrawal of the waters of the us rule. The Obama Administration would have given epa almost boundless authority to regulate what americans can do on the property. This would have impacted farmers, ranchers, landowners and businesses. The epa can and must redefine waters of the us in a way that makes common sense. And respects the limits of the epas authority. This issue is a priority for my home state of wyoming as well as many other states. The administration deregulatory approach is working. The white House Counsel in economic advisers reports that the employment rate for manufacturing workers is low, the lowest rate ever recorded. The facts also show that according to the last energy and information Quarterly Report for production in west is 19. 7 higher than the Second Quarter 2016. In addition, the stock market is reaching record alltime highs. In ministry to pruitt has also made significant progress in protecting the averment and righting the wrongs of past administration. Hes made it a priority to clean up americas most contaminated sites. Hes held polluters with honorable even if it was his own agency that is responsible for the pollution. Pruitt rightfully called the obama and ministrations response to the epa caused animus river spell wrong. He followed and allowed for victims of this bill to refile their claims that had been denied by the previous administration. In ministry to pruitt also allowed the city of flint michigan to have their 20 milliondollar loan forgiven so that money could be better used protect the health and safety of its citizens. He stated for giving the cities that will ensure that flint will not need to resume payments on the loan allowing progress to updating flint water system to continue. And mr. Pruitt and the reward for good work is often more work. I dont need to tell you that weve got a lot more work left to do it knowing that on this committee we look forward to supporting your committee, your continued efforts. Id like to now ask Ranking Member harper for his Opening Statement. I want to thank you for finally getting his hearing on the books. Oversight is a critical part of our committees work and regardless of which party is in power i am glad that we finally have a chance to hear from mr. Pruitt today. It has been a while since youve been with us and thank you for postponing your planned trips to japan and israel to appear before this committee today. The first time in more than a year i have a friend who when asked how he was doing said compared to what and sometimes he says compared to whom and id like to say how about your predecessor appear before this Committee Six times in two years. Six times in two years. While your predecessor appeared 14 times and six years. Fourteen times and six years. You can do better on this front and it is important that you do. Today we not only will hear from you about how things are going at epa but also here tonight from President Trump about the current state of our union so its an appropriate time to look at the state of our environment. I understand that epa has been highlighting its achievements on posters around agency and we have a copy of one of those posters here. There we go. Lets take a closer look at what is being celebrated as achievements. First, epa has moved to repeal the clean powerplant but with no real replacement to build agencys legal obligations to protect americans from Carbon Dioxide pollution all while rolling back additional cleanair protections. Similar epa has moved to repeal the clean water rule but again with no new plan to protect the dirty water sources on which 117 million americans depend. Youve been touting the agencys work on contaminating superfund sites by repeatedly taking credit for cleanups completed under president obamas administration. All while proposing to cut the program by 30 . 30 . We gave epa more authority to ensure that chemicals being sold on the market are safe. That way families can have confidence in the products they use every day. Under your leadership epa has not use that authority so American Consumers felt that they dont have the confidence they deserve and that we intended. Finally, the pa has moved to repeal and reconsider or delay at least 25 Environmental Public Health policies and last year alone. Certainly it does not create certainty for the identity that you regulate and we represent. Those are not achievements. Those are the exact opposite. Clear failure to act. The state of our environment is also fundamentally linked to the state of our climate and what we see in 2017 alone . Second hardest year on record, multiple category five hurricanes resulting in more than 200 million in damages and counting. Catastrophic fires and was followed by deadly mudslides. Severe droughts that have wrecked habit on our crowds of and crops and rising sea levels plus frequent flooding. From alaska to delaware from maine to miami, change is affecting every corner of our country. Yet, instead of tackling what many believe is the greatest environmental challenge this epa under your leadership is choosing to wage a war on climate science. Epa has [inaudible] this epa replaced Science Advisors who worked on climate issues for years with individuals backed by industry. Doing nothing would be bad enough but the fact that this administration seems to be actively working to discredit and hide the clear silence is the height of your response ability. For the past year weve heard you give responses to questions and members of other congressional committees and many of the socalled platitudes they often use to repeat are not really answers. Me run through some of your recurring is responses so we can get to real answers today. Mr. Pruitt, you often say that rule of law matters. Well, congress is right to vote for the Clean Air Act. The timeline and the epa must use to determine whether our country is meeting barrel standards for harvell was on pollution. Your epa has chosen to continuously ignore that very specific mandate from congress which leads states like mine and other vulnerable communities at risk indefinitely. You say over and over again that process matters. Do you really think you can delete the economic benefits of the clean water rule do you . Do you think that ignoring the advice of epa science helps us cleanup our nations water . Do you . Repeatedly insisting that you are committed to cooperative federalism at epa and i quote you need to Work Together with the states to better achieve outcomes yet this administration has sought to zero out funding for critical state programs like those to clean up the great lakes and Chesapeake Bay. Your epa has refused to allow states to Work Together to address harmful pollutants like ozone. You like to tout the us is quote your quote actually at 31994 levels with respect to our co2 footprint thanks to technology. That ignores the common sense and bipartisan regulation put in place over the last four decades. It did not happen by accident. Clean air regulations and advising natural gas and renewables and most of which your epa is now trying to weaken or appeal. You often remind people that you are a former attorney general and you say that your quote know what it means to prosecute folks. Under your leadership it has slowed action against polluters. At your time at the agency you conveniently forgot to mention that more than 90 of those penalties are from cases prosecuted entirely by the Obama Administration. You say that your quote getting the agency back to basics and facts like the one you to just last week to reverse critical prosecutions against hazardous air polluters show that your epa is moving us backwards all the way back to the early 1970s when polluters were disputing the most dangerous in the air we breathe and the water we drink. Perhaps the most egregious here was when you quote president obama said that we had to choose between jobs and growth at the expense of the environment or to choose the expense environment. Thats your quote. Mr. Pruitt, ive been saying that choosing between our economy and our environment as a governor and us senator my colleagues will testify to that because i know in our countrys history has proven it to be true. Ive easily. Hundreds of times. Maybe even thousands of times. It was barack obama, time and time again he told us in a quote him, there will always be people of this country who say we got to choose between clean air and clean water and a growing economy. Between doing right by our environment and putting people back to work. And that is a false choice. His words are those . Barack obama. He said it hundreds of times. Under the Obama Administration we were bound from the worst economic recessions from the great depression. We added 16 million new jobs while in 20 landmark environment protections and lowering energy cost and at the pump for consumers. I dont say this lightly mr. Pruitt but you are repeatedly misrepresenting the truth regarding president obamas record. Sure we can disagree about politics and thats policies and thats normal but to take the same words, the very same words that obama used on callous occasions and use him as your own and then claim that president obama said the exact opposite is frankly galling. Stop doing it. I will end with this. Mr. Pruitt, when you are sworn in as epa administered her you to the very same oath of office that every member of this committee has taken and some of us have taken many times. You swore that you would just faithfully discharge the duties of office of which you are about to enter. One of those duties is to be responsible to the coequal branches of government. Showing up more than once a year to answer questions. Mr. Pruitt, please spare us the kind of platitudes you frequently use now that your friendly here, i want real answers. My colleagues want real answers. I think the American People deserve releases. We look forward to those answers, mister. Thank you senator carver. Will now hear from the honorable scott pruitt, administrator of the of our mental collection agency. Your full and testimony will be made part of the official hearing today. I look forward to your testimony. Welcome to your committee. Members of the committee, senators, good to see you this morning. It has been too long. As was mentioned by senator carper and im looking forward to the exchange and discussion today. As you know i was confirmed by the senate in mid february of last year. I began my journey at the agency at the opportunity to spend time with the entire agency and i did, in fact, senator carper three priorities by which he would govern and leave agency. The first was rule of law. Rule of law does matter. Will of law is something that people take for granted that we at the agency the only power we possess is the power that you give us. As we execute our responsibility in rulemaking what you say in statute matters as we do our work because it provide certainty to the American People. Secondly, as you indicated in this process. Process is often overlooked. Process matters because of the decisions of involving stakeholders across the country. The epa proposed rules that we adopt in the comments we received and responding to those comments on the record and finalizing decisions in an informed way is very, very important. One of the actions are taken as administrator is to do away with civil practice that has gone on for years not just the epa but across executive Branch Agencies were someone will sue the agency and the decision will be made in the courtroom and it will be entered in rulemaking process will bypass entirely. Process is something we have emphasized over the last several months and something that i believe is working as far as clarity for the American People. As senator carper mentioned these federalism principles and statutes that you used in the past more so than others cooperative federalism is at the heart of Environmental Stewardship. I visited almost 13 states in the past several months and we visited was Dakota Country we talk about superfund to the financial rule in minnesota to utah across the country hearing from folks on how the school will impact and we have taken seriously those principles of the rule of law and process and federalism as we look forward to 2018 want you to notice theres opportunities we have to Work Together on important issues. The first is led. One of the things i think its terribly troubling is the lead in our Drinking Water this country. I believe that we consider in the structure in the First Quarter of this year and as we add into the year of 2018 invest in projects or changes to eradicate led for our tricky water should be a goal of this body and the goal of the and ministration. The president is supportive of that will forward to working with you to declare a war on lead as relates to our tricky water. Secondly abandoned mines across the is an issue. We have private companies who have the expertise and resources to clean up those abandoned mines but there are liabilities that need to be addressed. We should Work Together to advance an initiative to make sure we do all we can to clean up those abandoned mines across the country. Superfund, he mentioned senator carper and i think one of the most tangible things we can do for our citizens with respect to Environmental Protections is to make decisions in respect to the first fund sites across country. Portland, westlake and st. Louis missouri all sites the struggle for years to provide direction and leadership to ensure that we get answers in the sites. Its about leadership in money and i look forward to working with you in that regard. Senator carper, i wo