Superfund program and efforts to remove lead from municipal water systems. Senator John Barrasso chairs the environmental and Public Works Committee. This is 2 1 2 hours. Good morning. I call this hearing to order. We have quite a full house today. I welcome the audience. This is a formal Senate Hearing in order to allow the committee to conduct its business. Im going to maintain decorum. That means if there is any disorder or demonstration by a member of the audience, that person causing the disruption will be escorted from the room by the capitol police. First, id like to welcome the administrator of the Environmental Protection agency, the honorable scott prosecute, to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for your testimony today. Were going to 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 administrator prosecute has to leave the building. To t. Todays hearing is to examine the epas record to date after this 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 where our families live. Administrator pruitt has led the agency fairly. He has balanced the need to prioritize Environmental Protection with the desires of americans to have thriving and economically sustainable communities. His leadership of epa is 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 it pledged to protect. During the last administration, epa administrators created broad and legally questionable new regulations that undermined the American Peoples faith in the agency. These regulations have done great damage to the livelihoods of our nations hardest working citizens. The regulatory rampage of the Previous Administration has violated a fundamental principle of Environmental Stewardship to do no harm. This failed environmental leadership has contributed to two of the worst governmentcreated environmental disasters in decades, the Gold King Mine spill and the flint, michigan water crisis. Those disasters hurt people, many from lowincome and Minority Community whos can least afford it. Under administrator pruitts leadership, the epa has taken a number of bold steps to protect the environment while not harming local economies. Administrator pruitt is a key leader of the president s deregulatory agenda, including ending the war on coal. Scott pruitts policies at the helm of epa likely have protected more jobs and promoted more job growth than any other epa administrator in history. He has done so while making significant environmental progress. The American Economy grew 2. 4 million jobs since President Trumps election. This job growth happened in Critical Industries like manufacturing and mining. When the department of customers asked manufacturers at the beginning of 2017 which federal government regulations generated the greatest burdens, the answer was clear, the epa. The top nine identified regulations that impact manufacturing are all epa regulations. At the top of the list were the waters of the u. S. Rule and the Clean Air Act rule. Administrator pruitt is working to address these and other epa rules. His commitment to revisit misguided policies growing our economy in manufacturing, in mining and across the board. Two prime examples are proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan and the waters of the u. S. Rule. With regard to the Clean Power Plan, the Prior Administration wanted to put coal out of business. 27 states challenged the Clean Power Plan because they saw what the epa was doing. Epa under pruitts leadership is on the right track and getting that rule off the books. As he undoes that rule, i appreciate the administrators desire to hear from those who would have been hurt the most. The administration has already held a listening session in senator caputoitos home state West Virginia and i look forward to inviting them to wyoming in march. The epas withdrawal of the waters of the u. S. Rule. The Obama Administrations water of the u. S. Rule would have gint epa almost boundless authority to regulate what americans can do on their property. This would have impacted farmers, ranchers, land owners and businesses. The epa can and must redefine waters of the u. S. 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 administrations deregulatory approach is working. The White House Council on economic advisers reports that the Unemployment Rate for manufacturing workers is low, the lowest rate ever recorded. The facts also show that according to the last Energy Information agency quarterly report, Coal Production in the west is 19. 7 higher than the Second Quarter of 2016. In addition, the stock market is reaching record alltime highs. Administrator pruitt has also made significant progress in protecting the environment and righting the wrongs of the past administration. Hes made it a priority to clean up americas most contaminated sites. He has held polluters accountable, even if it was his own agency that was responsible for the pollution. Pruitt rightfully called the Obama Administrations response to the epacaused animus river spill wrong. And he followed and he allowed for victims of the spill to refile their claims that had been denied by the Previous Administration. Administrator pruitt also allowed the city of flint, michigan to have their 20 million loan forgiven so that money could be better used to help protect the health and safety of its citizens. Pruitt stating, forgiving the citys debt will ensure that flynn will not need to resume payments on the loan, allowing progress towards updating flynns water system to continue. Administrator pruitt, the reward for good work is often more work. I dont need to tell you we have a lot more work left to do. Knowing on this committee we look forward to supporting your committee your continued efforts. Id like to ask Ranking Member carper for her opening statement. Thank you. I want to thank you for finally getting this hearing on the books. Oversight is a critical part of our committees work, and regardless of which party is in power, im glad that we finally have a chance to hear from mr. Pruitt today. Welcome. Mr. Pruitt, its been awhile since youve been with us. Thank you for postponing your planned trips to israel and japan to facilitate your appearance before this committee today. For the first time in more than a year, i have a friend who when asked how hes doing he says, compared to what . Well, sometimes he says compared to whom. What id like to say is how about compare odd your immediate predecessor . Gene mccarthy appeared before this Committee Six times in two years. While her predecessor appeared 14 times in six years. 14 times in six years. You can do better on this front and its important that you do. Today were not only going to hear from you about how things are going at epa, well also hear tonight from President Trump about the current state of our union. So it seems like an appropriate time to also take a look at the state of our environment. I understand that epa has been highlighting its socalled firstyear achievements on posters around the agency. In fact, we have a cuppy of one of those posters. Where is it . There we go. Lets take a closer look at whats being celebrated as achievements. First, epa has voted to remove the Clean Power Plan but with no real replacement to protect americans from Carbon Monoxide pollution all while rolling back additional clean air protections similar, epa has planned to remove the clean water rule but, again, with no new plan to protect the Drinking Water sources on which 117 million americans depend. Youve been touting the agencys work on contaminated superfund sites by repeatedly taking credit for cleanups completed under president obamas administration, all while proposing to cut the program by 30 . 30 . As part of the task reforms that Congress Passed in 2016, we gave epa more authority to ensure that chemicals being sold on the market are safe. That way families could have confidence in the products they use every day. Under your leadership, epa has not used that authority so American Consumers still dont have the confidence that they deserve. And that we intended. And finally, epa has moved to either repeal, reconsider or delay at least 25 environmental and Public Health protections in the last year alone. Which certainly does not create certainty for the entities that you regulate and that 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 did we see in 2017 alone . Second hottest year on record. Multiple category 5 hurricanes resulting in more than 200 billion in damages and counting. Catastrophic fires in the west followed by deadly mudslides. Severe droughts have have reeked havoc on our crops. Rising sea waters that cause frequent flooding. From alaska to delaware to maine to miami, Climate Change is clearly affecting every corner of our country, yet instead of spending time and resources trying to tackle what many of us believe is the greatest environmental challenge of our lifetime, this epa under your leadership, mr. Pruitt is choosing to wage a war on Climate Science. This epa has scrubbed its websites of nonpartisan Climate ScienceData Collected over decades. This epa replaced science advisers who have worked on climate issues for years with individuals backed by industry. Doing nothing would be bad enough. The fact that this administration seems to be actively working to discredit and hide the clear science is the height of irresponsibility. Now, for the past year, weve heard you give responses to questions and members of other congressional committees and cable news hosts have asked you and many of the socalled i really think theyre platitudes that you often used to repeat, theyre not really answers. Let me just run through some of your occurring responses now so that we can actually get to real answers today. Mr. Pruitt, you often say these are your words. You often say that rule of law matters. Well, congress was very prescriptive when it wrote the Clean Air Act. The law sets timelines that epa must use to determine whether our country is meeting federal standards for harmful ozone pollution. But your epa has chosen to continuously ignore and delay that very specific mandate from congress, which leaving down wind states like mine and other vulnerable communities at risk indefinitely. Mr. Pruitt, you say over and over again that process matters. Do you really think that verbal directing career staff to delete the inconvenient economic benefits of the clean water rule is good rule making process . Do you . Do you think that ignoring the advice of epa scientists helps us clean up our nations water . Do you . You repeatedly insist you were committed to cooperative federalism. The epa needs to work 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. Refused to allow states to Work Together to address harmful pollutants to the ozone. Your quote, at pre1994 levels with respect to our co2 footprint thats to innovation and technology. That comment ignores the common sense and bipartisan regulations put in place over the past four decades to get us up to those pre1994 levels. It didnt happen by accident, mr. Pruitt. Reducing Carbon Emissions is the result of smart vehicle emission standards, clean air regulations and our investments in clean energy, including natural gas and renewables. Most of which your epa is now trying to weaken or repeal. You often remind you remind people that you are a former attorney general and you say that you, your quote, know what it means to prosecute folks. But under your leadership, epa has slowed actions against polluters. And though you have touted epas recent enforcement successes, saying epa has collected billions of dollars in penalties during your time at the agency, you conveniently forget to mention that more than 90 of those cases are from cases prosecuted entirely by the Obama Administration. You say youre, quote, getting the agency back to basics, but actions like the one you took just last week, just last week to reverse critical prosecutions against hazardous air polluters show your epa is actually moving us backwards. All the way back, in fact, to the early 1970s when polluters were able to spew mercury, lead and arsenic in the air and the water that we drink. When you claim, i quote you again, president obama said we had to choose between jobs and growth at the expense of the environment or choose the environment at the expense of jobs. Thats a false choice. Thats your quote. Well, mr. Pruitt, ive been saying that choosing between our economy and our environment is a false choice for most of my time as governor and u. S. Senator. My colleagues here will testify to that. Because i know and our countrys history has proven to be true. Ive easily said that hundreds of times. You know who else famously said that very same thing, hundreds, maybe even thousands of times . Well, it was barack obama. Time and time again, he told us, and i quote him, there will always be people in this country who say weve 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. That is a false choice. Whose words are those . Barack obama. And he didnt just say them once, he said them hundreds of times. But he wasnt just waxing poetic as some do. Under the Obama Administration, our country rebounded, if you will, remember, from the worst economic recession since the great repression. We went on to add 16 million new jobs while implementing land mark Environmental Protections and lowering costs at the meter and 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 policy, thats normal, but to take the very same words, the very same words that president obama used on countless occasions, use them as your own and then claim that president obama said the exact opposite is, frankly, galling. Stop doing it. Ill end with this. Mr. Pruitt, when you were sworn in as epa administrator, you took the very same oath of office that every member of this committee has taken and some of us have taken many times. You swore you would well and faithfully discharge the duties on office of which you were about to enter. One of those duties is to be responsive to the coequal branches of government. Which means showing up here more than once a year to answer our questions. Today, mr. Pruitt, please spare us the kinds of platitudes you use. Now that youre finally here. I want real answers. My colleagues want real answers. I think the American People deserve real answers. We look forward to those answers, mr. Pruitt. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Carper. Well now hear from scott pruitt, the honorable member of the Environmental Protection agency. Your full written testimony will be made part of the official hearing today. I look forward to hearing your testimony. Good to see you this morning. Its been too long. As was mentioned by senator carper and im look forgd to the exchange and the discussion today. As you know, i was confirmed by this senate in midfebruary of last year, and as i began my journey at the agency, i took the opportunity to spend time with the entire agency and i did, in fact, senator carper, mention three priorities by which we would govern and lead the agency. The first was rule of law and rule of law does matter. Rule of law is something that people take for granted that as we administer laws at the agency, the only power that we possess is the power that you give us. So as we execute our responsibilities in rule making, what you say in statute matters as we do towdo our work because provides certainty to the American People. Secondly, as youve indicated, senator carper, its process. Process is often overlooked. Processes matter in rule making because of the decisions we make involving stakeholders across the country. Those who seek to offer comment as we make d