Cspan. Org slash landmarkcases. Scott pruitt testified earlier this week before the Committee Wyoming senator John Barrasso chair the committee. Good morning. I call this hearing to order, we have a full skmous i welcome the audience. This is a formal Senate Hearing to allow the committee to conduct business. If theres disorder or demonstration by a member of the audience that person will be escorted from the room by the capitol police. First, id like to welcome the administrator of the Environmental Agency scott pruitt for your testimony today. With respect to todays hearings were going to abide by the committees five minute rule for length of mitsubishis questions in the first round. Time permitting well have a two minute second round of questions until 12 30 when pruitt has to leave the building. Will have the able to submit written questions to stray tor pruitt for the record. Kmning epa record after the first year of the administration. Has been doing the hard work of protebting the air we breathe, the water we drink and the communities where our families live. He lead the agency fair skpli balanced the need to prioritize Environmental Protection with the desires of americans to have thriving and economically sustainable communities. It is vastly difference than the last two. Ournd the observe o under the Obama Administration the agency lost its way. During the last administration, e epa administrators, created these regulations have done great damage to the livelihood of our nations hardest working citizens, the regulatory rampage violated a fundamental principle to do no harm. This failed environmental leadership contributed to two of the worst government created environmental disasters in decades, the mine spill and flint, michigan water crisis, those hurt people. Under administrator pruitts leadership, the epa took bold steps to protect the environment while not harming local economies. A key leader of the president s ending the war on coal. Scott pruitts policy, likely protected more jobs and promoted more job growth than other epa administrator in history. Has done so by making environmental progress. 2. 4 jobs since President Trump elect. This happened in manufacturing and mining in Critical Industries is. When the department of commerce asked manufactures in the beginning of 2017 which federal government regular lags generated the greatest burden, the answer was clear. The epa the top nine 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 working to address these and other rules his commitment to revisit misguiding policies is growing our economy across the board. Two prime examples of proposals to repeal the Clean Power Plant and the waters rule. The Prior Administration wanted to pull coal out of business, 27 states challenged it because they saw what the epa was doing. 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 be hurt the most. He already had a listening session in West Virginia and i welcome them in wyoming in march. Another key way that pruitt put environmental policy on the right track is the with drawl of the waters of the u. S. Rule. The Obama Administration, would have given boundless authority to regulation what americans can do on their property. Impacting farmers, ranchers, landowners and businesses. The epa can and must redefine waters in 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 and many others. The regulatory approach is working. The White House Council and 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, in the west 19. 7 higher than the Second Quarter of 2016. In addition, the stock market is reaching record all time highs. Pruitt made progress in protecting the environment and writing the wrongs of the past administration. Made a priority to clean up contaminated sites. Held po lieu ters accountable. Even if it was his own agency. The Obamas Administration response caused river spill wrong and allowed victims of the spill to refile claims that had been denied by the Previous Administration. He allowed the city of flint, michigan to have their loan forgiven so money can be better used to protect the health and saflt of the citizens. Forgiving the citys debt ensures that flint will not need to resume papers on the loan. Administrator pruitt, the reward of good work is more work and i dont need to tell you that we have a lot more work to do. We look forward to supporting your committee and your continued efforts, i would like to ask Ranking Member carper for his owning statement. Thank you. Thank you for getting this hearing on the books. Oversight is a critical part of our work and regardless of the party in power, im glad we have a chance to hear from mr. Pruitt, today welcome. Its been a while since youve been with us. Thank you for postponing your planned trip to israel, for the first time in more than a year, i have a friend i ask how he is doing he says compared to what or whom, compare it to gene mccarthy. Appeared here six times in two years and 16 times in six years, 16 times in six years, you can do better on this front and its important that you do. Today were not only going to whatter from you about how things are going at epa and tonight from President Trump about the current state of our union. So it seems like an appropriate time to take a look at the state of our environment. Inlsz that epa has been high riding posters around the agency and in fact, we have a copy of one ofrt posters there. Where is it . There it is. Lets take a closer look at achievements. First epa moved to repeal the Clean Power Plan with no real replacement to fulfill the agencies legal obligation to protect americans. Similarly, epa moved to repeal the clean water rule with no new plan to protect the Drinking Water sources in 117 million americans depend. The agency work on contaminated Super Fund Sites by taking credit for clean up under president Obama Administration and cutting the program by 30 . It is part of the task and reforms that congress passed, in 2016 we gave epa more authority so that chemicals sold on the market are safe. Families can have confidence in the products they use. Under your leadership epa did not use that authority so American Consumers dont have the confidence they deserve and that we intended and, moving to repeal and reconsider or delay 25 environmental and Public Health protection in the last year alone. Which certainly does not create certainties what you regulate and what we represent. Those are not achievements. Those are the exact opposite. Clear failure to act. The state of our environment is fundamentally linked to the state of our skplient what do we see in 2017 alone . Second hottest year on record. Multiple category five hurricanes resulting in more than 200 billion in damages and counting. Catastrophic fires in the west followed by deadly mudslides, severe droughts wraeking havoc on krops. Coastal communities and frequent flooding. From alaska to delaware, from maine to my amy. The greatest environmental challenge of our lifetime, this epa under your leadership is a war on climate science. The cpa the websites of nonpartisan Data Collected over decades, the cpa replaced science advisers that 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 working to discredit and hide the clear science is a height of irresponsibility. Now, for the past year we heard you give responses to questions and members of other congressional committees and cable news asked you and many of the so called, they are not really answers. So let me run through some of your responses now so we can get to real answers today. Mr. Pruitt, you say these are your words, the rule of law matters. Well, congress was descriptive when writing the Clean Air Act, setting time lines that epa moous use to see your epa chosen to continuously ignore and delay that very specific mandate from congress which leaves downward states like mine and other vulnerable communities at risk indefinitely. You say over and over again that process matters. Do you really think that verbally directing career staff and delete the benefits of a clean water rule is good rule making process . Do you . Do you think that ignoring the advice of epa helps us clean up the nations water . Do you . You insist that you are committed to federalism and i quote you, needs to Work Together with the states to better achieve outcomes. Yet, this administration sought funding for critical state programs like those to clean up the great lakes and the Chesapeake Bay and your epa refuses to Work Together for harmful pollutants like ozone. Your quote, actually at pre1994 levels with the respect to co 2 footprint thanks to inknow skprags technology. Bipartisan regulations put in place in the last four decades. It didnt happen by accident. Reducing Carbon Emissions is a result of smart vehicle emission clean air and investments and clean energy. Renewables. Most of which your epa is trying to weaken or repeal. You often remind people that you are a former attorney general and you say that your quote, know what it means to prosecutor folks under your leadership epa slowed actions against po lieu tors, saying epa et cetera clinical manifestationsed billions of dollars in penalties during your time at the agency uconn conveniently forgot to mention that more than 90 of the penalties are from cases prosecuted by the Obama Administration. You say that your getting the agency back to basics but actions like the one you took last week to reverse critical prosecutions against hazardous pollutants. Moving us backwards to the early 1970s when they were able to put out the most dangerous toxins in the water we drink. We heard you give, i quote, president obama said we had to choose between jobs and growth at the expense of the the environment or choose the environment at the expense of jobs thats a false choice. Mr. Port, ive been saying choosing between the economy and the environment is a false choice, my colleagues here will testify to that because i know in our country history proven it to be true. I said that hundreds of times. U. N. Who else said that same thing hundreds maybe even thousands of times, barack obama. And time and time again, there will be people saying we have 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. Whos words are those . Barack obama he said it hundreds of times. He wasnt just watching under the Obama Administration, our country rebounded from the worst economic recession since the great depression. We went onto add on 16 million new jobs, implementing landmark and environment protection. I dont say this lightly mr. Port, but you are misrepresenting the truth regarding president obama record. We can disagree about policies, thats normal, but to take the very same words, the same words that president obama used on countless occasion and use them as your own and claim president obama said the opposite is frankly galling. Stop doing it. Ill end with this. Mr. Port, when you were sworn in as epa administrator, you took the same oath of office every member have take skpn some of us taken many times. You swore that you would faithly discharge duties on which you are about to enter. One of those duties is to be responsible to the branch of government showing up here more than once a year to answer questions. Today mr. Pruitt, please spare us the kind of things you use. Now that you are here, i want some real answers. My colleagues want real answers. I think the American People deserve them. We look forward to the answers, thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you senator. Well hear from scott pruitt. Your full written testimony will be made part of the official hearing today i look forward to it welcome to the committee. Members of committee, senators good to see you this morning. Its been too long as was mentioned and im looking forward to the exchange and discussion today. As u. N. I w you know i was confirmed last year and i took the opportunity to spend time with the entire agency and i did in fact, mention three priorities which we would govern and lead the agency, first is rule of law and it does matter. Rule of law is something that people take for granted and we administer laws at the agency, the only pow we possess is the power you give us. We execute responsibility and rule making what you stay in storm watch as we do our work. It provides certainty to the American People and secondly, you indicated, process, process is often overlooked. Process matters in rule making because of the decisions we make involving stake holders across the country. And so, the apa, the proposed rules that we adopt, the comments we receive and responding to them on the record and finalizing decisions in a an informed way is important. One action i took as administrator, is to do away with the sue and settle practice. Across executive branch agency. Someone sues the agency and a decision will be made in the courtroom and the rule making process is bypassed entirely. So process is something we emphasized in the last several months and something that is working providing clarity and confidence to the American People and this is very important, is federalism principals. Statutes you passed, in this body, i think more so than others, cooperative federalism is at the heart. I visited almost 30 states this past several months and as we visited with stake holder, we talk about the super fund and the rule in minnesota and utah across the country hearing how the rule impacts them. We have taken seriously the principles of rule of law and process and federalism. Theres some opportunities that we have in 2018 to Work Together on important issues. The first ill mention is lead. One of the things i think is troubing is the lead in our Drinking Water. As we consider infrastructure if the First Quarter of this year, investing in infrastructure changes to eradicate lead within our Drinking Water should be a goal of this body and the administration. It is something i menged to the president and he is supportive of that and we look forward to work on that with you. We want a war on lead. Abandoned mines across the country is a huge issue. We have hundreds and thousands. Private citizens and companies that have the expertise and resources to clean them up but there are liability issue that is need to be addressed. We should Work Together to advance an initiative to make sure we do what we can to clean them up. Super funds. I think one of the most tangible things we can do with respect to Environmental Protection is reliability. Just in the last several months, portland, and soon west lake and saint louis, sites that struggled for years, we want answers and clean up the sites, its about leadership and money and i look forward to working with you in that regard. I would say to you as i close, i think one of the greatest challenges we have as a country is the attitude that Environmental Protection is prohibition. And i i dont believe that. I dont believe it is putting up fences. I think we have been blessed as a country with Natural Resource that is we can use to feed and empower the world and we should as a count tri choose to do that with principles in mind for future generations. We can do both and it is something wemgs embrace. I look forward to your questions today and thank you mr. Chairman for the opportunity to open with an with my time, let me ask one question, reserve the balance of my time to interject as needed during the discussion. I would say to our republican members, in order to assist senator mccain, senator inhofe is going to be chairing the Senate Armed Services committee today. I know a number of you are members of that committee. If its okay with my colleague, counterpart, he be allowed to go out of order so he can quickly return to the Armed Services committee. Thank you very much. Administrator pruitt, i want to thank you again for implementing a new vision at the epa that takes state input seriously. Were certainly feeling that at home in wyoming. Wyoming has a very experienced department of Environmental Quality. Wyoming strives to use the best representative air quality Data Available to make sound regulatory decisions on issues like ozone protection, regional haze and permits for Industrial Facilities. I think its very cri