Talks about recommendations for improving efficiency at the Environmental Protection agency. Congressman tim murphy chairs the subcommittee on oversight. This is an hour and a half. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our hearing oversight and investigation subcommittee on energy commerce. The subcommittee convenes to examine unimplemented recomme recommendations and Government Accountability office. Acting on these recommendations would improve the ability to carry out the core mission, protecting human health and the environment. This mission is never more important than during times of national disaster, Natural Disaster like the one the gulf coast are experiencing in Hurricane Harvey and about to hit with another hurricane on the florida coast. First of all, on behalf of the committee i want to express my sincere sorrow. Hurricane harvey is one of the worst National Disasters the United States has ever faced and it is still too early to tell the full extend of the devastation that displaced thousands of people. Members of this committee represent experience of loss and destruction from the storm and thoughts and prayers are with the families as they begin to rebuild their lives from the national tragedy. During the storm and in the after math epa continues to play a Critical Role in the federal response to Hurricane Harvey. While epa is in the midst of initial response efforts its work has only just begun. We look forward to monitoring the agencys response and learn the full extent of the Environmental Impact and challenges that lie ahead. The loss and destruction of Hurricane Harvey make todays hearing even more important. The committee has the opportunity to learn about ways to strengthen the epa including highlighting recommendations and may improve the ability to protect environment and human health during Recovery Efforts or future National Disasters. I go back and reflect on what we are about to face in florida and puerto rico and the disasters looming there. The constitution provides congress with the authority to conduct oversight of the executive branch and in partnership with Accountability Office we Work Together to root out waste, fraud and abuse at federal agencies such as epa. Through investigations and audits both often make recommendations on ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness of epa. After the recommendations are issued work with agency to ensure that epa acts on their findings. Today the committee will learn that even when epa agrees with recommendations it may take years to implement them and some are never fully adopted by the agency. As a result many open recommendations span multiple administrations some dating as far back as the bush administration. While epa adopts recommendations at a rate around the federal government average there are unimplemented recommendations. According to the orgs most recent report to congress released in may 2017 epa has potential to save 103. 3 million by implementing recommendations. The report showed with past two completion dates with 56 with due dates set in the future. Will testify epa implemented 191 of the 318 recommendations made since 2007 with 127 recommendations still unimplemented. Oig, gao have highlighted efficiencies including concerns about the Information Security posture and grant administration. For example, epaoig recently conducted an audit focussing on flaws to the Security Posture during 2015 and 2016. Reported the agency lacks understanding of which contractors the epa have significant Information Security responsibilities, raising questions about the agencys network integrity. Recommend developing a process for identifying these contractors and is not expected to implement this recommendation until 2018. Uncovered waste and mismanagement in grant programs. This is particularly troubling because grants compromise almost half of the budget, about 4 billion annually. In 2016 found the grant monitoring practice may impact the agencys ability to monitor results and increase administrative costs. In 2017 reported epa did not have information needed to allocate grant and Management Resources effectively. Recommendations range from standardized grant recipient progress reports and developing process. All 12 recommendations remain unimplemented. These are some of the many reports. We will discuss more of them today. They have done excellent work to highlight problems within and find solutions to solve the issues. I am grateful for your work and look forward to hearing more about findings. With things looming in florida and tragedies in texas i can speak for the committee we better not find out epa has done anything causing harm. We have concern about the increase in zika mosquitos in texas. We dont know if some of that has to do with issues with Water Management or other things within the jurisdiction of epa. We will keep a close watch and see if there are errors that occurred related to weaknesses in agencies. So i thank our witnesses for working to ensure that epa is carrying out its mission. We appreciate their service and sacrifice during Hurricane Harvey. I turn to my colleague from florida. Thank you for convening this hearing and thank you to our witnesses for their work. The hearing subject while important pails in comparison of the true oversight needed of the trump Environmental Protection agency. Epa is and always has been a critical partner to our states and communities back home. Most of what epa does is to support our communities back home in cleaning up polluted sites, helping protect the air we breathe and the water we drink. I thank the professionals and scientists at the Environmental Protection agency for their work, but President Trump and administrator scott peruitt hav a very different vision. They have been acting to weaken support. It is particularly troubling that epa administrator pruitt has not appeared before the energy and Commerce Committee to date. This committee has direct oversight and simply unprecedented and unacceptable that the administrator did not appear. The importance is particularly clear. There is nothing like a Disaster Response that demonstrates how critical toxic chemical superfund initiatives are to the health and safety of our neighbors. I know all too well the devastation that massive hurricanes can bring to homes, businesses and communities and the recovery from such a storm is long, expensive and challenging. And our thoughts are with the residents of puerto rico, Virgin Islands as they are in the path of another extremely dangerous storm in Hurricane Irma. Hurricane harvey slammed into the gulf coast as a category 4 and left at least 60 people dead and millions of dollars in damage and the death toll is likely to continue to rise in the coming weeks. Ranking member of subcommittee on health i just saw him at the other subcommittee meeting represents the city of houston and has seen much of his district flooded and our thoughts are with him and his constituents. I want to recognize you, mr. Gomez, for being here today what is surely a difficult time for you and your family. The epa has been a key agency responding to harvey and for this reason this hearing should be a timely and important step in exploring how to strengthen the agency as it supports local responders and begins to assess the possible Environmental Impact of the flooding, toxic releases. This hearing unfortunately is devoted to a much less significant topic, the scope of potential environmental risk caused while still coming into focus are considerable. People are evacuating through dirty and contaminated flood waters. There are also reports of fires at chemical facilities. Additional reports have suggested possible damage to leaking gas tanks at fuel facilities which if true may pose Environmental Concerns that the epa will need to address. I am particularly concerned about reports of flooding and what damage they might have caused. According to epa, 13 of the 41 former come current toxic waste sites have flooded and may have experienced some damage. Additionally the city of houston contains approximately 450 pet trochemical plants and news reports they have instances of air pollutants since harvey hit. Our local communities need the expertise of the epa to prevent and mitigate such releases. But the Trump Administration has been working overtime to weaken epas ability to help back home. Now it is really showing at a time of disaster. The storm also raises ongoing concerns of Drinking Water safety. According to epa 4,500 Drinking Water systems are potentially threatened by flood waters. After Hurricane Katrina energy and commerce professional staff were on the ground to help. This committee should consider oversight. Todays hearing rather than focussing implemented recommendations. At a time of the real issue is the decimation of the workforce proposed. Yet we respond to the grave environmental and Human Health Risk of Hurricane Harvey and other catastrophes at this time, but the overall epa has never been more important. Mr. Chairman, i am deeply troubled by the direction of the agency under the Trump Administration. I implore you and my republican colleagues to conduct true oversight of the damage being done to our bedrock Environmental Protections built through decades of bipartisan work. We need to do it before deep and lasting damage is inflicted across america. The trump epa is waging an aggressive role through plitization of the agency, extreme proposed budget and staffing cuts the Trump Administration proposed extreme budget cuts that cut to the heart of our local communities and threaten the health and environment of americans in every state. The trump budget would slash epas budget by nearly 2 2. 6 billion, reduce the professional workforce by over 3 thou,000 employees and damage done to air quality, diesel emission reductions, lead safety and on and on. There is evidence of cob flinf of interest and grants to exact political revenge. This is not acceptable. The ongoing crisis unfolding on the gulf coast demonstrates the dangers of the Trump Administrations extreme assault on Environmental Protection. Mr. Chairman, we want towork with you to make sure the epa implements workforce and contractor recommendations. If we are serious about insuring that the agency is able to protect human health and the environment then we must Work Together to conduct true oversight of the fundamental damage being done to this agency and our neighbors back home. Thank you. I thank gentleman. I would just in response to my friend from florida, our committee staff, the Oversight Committee has worked diligently throughout the last several weeks in Clear Communication with the various agencies involved in the hurricane. This hearing was put together before harvey had a name. So we will do our oversight and continue to at the appropriate time. I anticipate a delegation will hold hearings or do appropriate review. Im one when there is an emergency going on tries to stay out of the way of the First Responders and let them do their job. And so at the right time we will do that and we will have administrator pruitt before our committee sooner rather than later. I share frustration that it has been a long delay in getting some of these positions filled partly by our friends in the senate. But the time has come for the agency heads to come before our committee and they will. Now, as to this hearing, i appreciate subcommittee chairman murphy in the opening comments. We care deeply about what is happening in texas. We care deeply about what is about to happen in florida. My own district is on fire. Much destruction going on there. All these things matter. You want to talk about air quality, we can use your support on some of our forestry legislation to reduce fuel loads so we dont poison people with fires. We know that these Recovery Efforts will continue for years. Recovery from any disaster whether Hurricane Harvey or irma or destructive wild fires requires coordination at every level of the government and epa is a critical part of that. I hope the Agency Seizes on Lessons Learned in responses to previous Natural Disasters such as hurricanes katrina and sandy. Todays hearing represents the first opportunity to hear from epa office of Inspector General and Government Accountability office regarding outstanding recommendations that if implemented could enable the agency to better achieve or do its job better. We will also examine some areas of concern that have been identified and commented upon by the oig and gao but whose recommendations remain unimplemented by the epa. We should be mindful that many unimplemented recommendations span multiple administrations and therefore represent long standing challenges for the agency. For example, we learned the epa has failed to complete an agency wide work load analysis in more than 20 years. Similarly, both oig and gao identified issues that generate concerns as to whether they adequately monitor despite the significant portion of the annual budget. Addressing these issues will increase transparency and accountability to epa in addition to enabling the agency to make better informed decisions. I believe all americans want a healthy environment for themselves and families in their communities. I would like to thank Allen Larsson from epa and to expand upon findings and recommendations. I would like to recognize and thank mr. Gomezs nephews who i understand are serving the houston Fire Department. Thank you for their work as First Responders who bravely assisted so many fellow citizens during Hurricane Harvey. I am looking forward to productive discussion regarding actions epa can take which would enable the agency to better accomplish core mission. I yield back the balance of my time. I recognize Ranking Member. Its been a week and a half since Hurricane Harvey hit texas. As the scope of the environmental disaster only begins to become known thousands remain displaced. I know firsthand the immense devastation caused by such natur Natural Disasters. In 2012 my district was hit hard by hurricane sandy. For many this was a worst case scenario, lives lost, homes flooded, businesses lost. Our nation is experiencing destruction and loss on the gulf coast. Our fellow members of congress including five members of the texas delegation on this committee are working hard with federal, state and local officials to help those effected by the storm. As the cleanup continues many grave environmental and Human Health Risks exist. In the days since Hurricane Harvey came ashore we have seen chemical plants on fire, pollutants in the air and flooded federal superfund sites. I am concerned about the risks caused by exposure to hazardous materials. This committee must work to understand impacts some of these facilities may have on Public Health. The Trump Administration recently delayed amendments to the Risk Management program which included safety requirements for companies that store large quantities of dangerous chemicals. The Environmental Issues resulting from the hurricane under score the need for robust implementation of the Emergency Planning and community right to know act. Communities have the right to know important details about the harmful chemicals released. All of these risks under score the need for strong and capable epa. We are discussing recommendations by the Inspector General and the Government Accountability office. I want to thank our witnesses for their testimony and work on the recommendations. I would argue that recommendations for improving epas performance are part of a much wider need to ensure that the agency is high performing, efficient and effective in accomplishing the agencys mission of protecting human health and the environment. Over the last six months epa has been doing Everything Possible to operate in s