[Senate Hearing 113-741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 113-741
HEARING ON THE NOMINATIONS OF RHEA SUN SUH TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY
FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR;
VICTORIA BAECHER WASSMER TO BE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, U.S.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA); ROY K.J. WILLIAMS TO BE
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; AND THOMAS A. BURKE TO BE ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, EPA
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
DECEMBER 17, 2013
__________
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COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
BARBARA BOXER, California, Chairman
MAX BAUCUS, Montana DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
TOM UDALL, New Mexico ROGER WICKER, Mississippi
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
Bettina Poirier, Majority Staff Director
Zak Baig, Republican Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
DECEMBER 17, 2013
OPENING STATEMENTS
Bennet, Hon. Michael, U.S. Senator from the State of Colorado.... 1
Brown, Hon. Sherrod, U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio......... 2
Portman, Hon. Rob, U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio........... 4
Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator from the State of California... 5
Vitter, Hon. David, U.S. Senator from the State of Louisiana..... 7
Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., U.S. Senator from the State of Maryland 10
Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma... 12
Fischer, Hon. Deb, U.S. Senator from the State of Nebraska....... 21
Boozman, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Arkansas...... 22
Barrasso, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming...... 23
Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware,
prepared statement............................................. 156
WITNESSES
Williams, Roy K.J., nominated to be Assistant Secretary of
Commerce for Economic Development, U.S. Department of Commerce. 24
Prepared statement........................................... 27
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Boxer............................................ 29
Senator Booker........................................... 30
Senator Inhofe........................................... 31
Suh, Rhea Sun, nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Fish and
Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Department of the Interior............ 32
Prepared statement........................................... 34
Responses to additional questions from Senator Boxer......... 37
Response to an additional question from Senator Udall........ 43
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Booker........................................... 44
Senator Vitter........................................... 46
Senator Inhofe........................................... 72
Senator Barrasso......................................... 73
Senator Boozman.......................................... 76
Burke, Thomas A., nominated to be Assistant Administrator for
Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 85
Prepared statement........................................... 87
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Boxer............................................ 90
Senator Vitter........................................... 91
Senator Inhofe........................................... 112
Wassmer, Victoria Baecher, nominated to be Chief Financial
Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.................. 113
Prepared statement........................................... 115
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Boxer............................................ 117
Senator Vitter........................................... 121
HEARING ON THE NOMINATIONS OF RHEA SUN SUH TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY
FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR;
VICTORIA BAECHER WASSMER TO BE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, U.S.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA); ROY K.J. WILLIAMS TO BE
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; AND THOMAS A BURKE TO BE ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, EPA
----------
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:34 p.m. in room
406, Dirksen Senate Building, Hon. Barbara Boxer (chairman of
the Committee) presiding.
Present: Senators Boxer, Cardin, Whitehouse, Vitter, Crapo,
Inhofe, Fischer, Boozman, and Barrasso.
Senator Boxer. Today, the Environment and Public Works
Committee will consider a number of nominations.
I have discussed with Senator Vitter the fact that we have
two Senators present who are on terrible time crunches. Before
we make our opening statements these two Senators are here to
speak on behalf of nominees. I am going to ask Senator Bennet
to start.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL BENNET,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF COLORADO
Senator Bennet. Thank you, Chairwoman Boxer and Senator
Vitter. It really is a great privilege to be here today,
particularly to be here next to my colleague, Senator Brown,
and a particular pleasure to appear before you in support of
Rhea Suh to be our next Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife
and Parks at the U.S. Department of the Interior, one of the
great jobs in the U.S. Government.
Rhea's parents came to this country from South Korea and
worked hard to build a good life for their family. They moved
to Boulder, Colorado, where Rhea was born and raised. Learning
to fish in Lake Granby or camp in Rocky Mountain National Park,
Rhea developed an early passion for Colorado's natural
resources.
It is a passion that has driven much of her career. From an
early age, Rhea worked hard and excelled in school. She
graduated from Barnard College and earned a Masters in
Education from Harvard University. She has also received both
Fulbright and Marshall scholarships.
Rhea has worked in a diverse range of roles. She served the
New York City Public School system as a high school science
teacher. I can tell you, as a former school superintendent
myself, it is hard to come up with a better testament to
someone's character than that.
Rhea advised former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a
Republican, on public lands, energy and environmental issues.
In that role, she worked effectively across the aisle to pass
legislation critical to Colorado.
She also worked at both the Packard and Hewlett Foundations
where she planned and executed major national conservation
initiatives.
Most recently, Rhea was confirmed in 2009 by this Senate as
Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the
Interior Department. In this capacity, she has overseen the
Department's human capital, business and budget management. It
is a tough job and Rhea has done it for 4 years now with skill
and poise, earning praise across the country for her management
style.
I know Rhea will approach this new position with an
emphasis on collaboration and common sense, a signature of the
State in which she was raised and which I am now privileged to
represent. She will work closely with local officials, farmers,
ranchers and environmentalists in support of policies that both
promote economic growth and safeguard our natural resources.
I know she will work hard to make sure that future
generations of Coloradoans, like Rhea herself, continue to be
able to enjoy fishing, hiking, camping and the great outdoors.
Thank you for your time, particularly Madam Chairwoman, for
your consideration in letting me go first. I hope the Senate
will swiftly confirm Rhea Suh.
Thank you.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Senator. I know you are
introducing another nominee across the hall, so go forward.
Senator Brown, we are delighted to see you here at this
Committee. Please proceed.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. SHERROD BROWN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO
Senator Brown. Madam Chair, it is an honor to be before
your Committee, and Senators Vitter and Crapo, two Banking
Committee colleagues of mine with whom we have worked well.
We come before Committees and introduce people from our
States with some frequency, especially if you represent a State
as large as the Chairperson's. Many times I do not know the
person very well or have only met the nominee once or twice.
However, I consider Mayor Williams a friend.
I remember when my wife and I had brunch with him and
Sonja, his wife, in Youngstown soon after he took the oath of
office as Mayor of Youngstown. I have worked with him up close
and watched him up close for 7 years since. I have seen his
progress as a young Mayor of Youngstown to his work as the auto
czar where he is very sensitive to the issues that matter so
much for our State to his appointment now to the Department of
Commerce with special focus on EDA.
I look at Youngstown--Senator Portman knows this also--and
the comeback, a city that once consisted of 180,000 people but
is now less than half that size, but I can see all kinds of
turnaround examples in the city of Youngstown and the Mahoning
Valley along sort of the steel corridor of Route 422.
I have seen his work with the Youngstown business incubator
which attracted EDA moneys because it is known as one of the
best incubators in the country and has been very successful
bringing young people back to Youngstown; for entrepreneurs in
starting businesses and leveraging Federal dollars and serious
numbers of companies with increasing numbers of employees.
I saw his work with the Recovery Act and enforcement of
trade rules to attract B&M Star Steel, a French company, to
invest in Mahoning Valley hundreds and hundreds of steel jobs
in Youngstown, Ohio. I saw what he did as Mayor and then as
auto czar. There is a more technical term for that but that is
how most of us refer to the work he did for these communities
after we went through all the difficulties in the auto industry
in Lordstown, Ohio which produces the Chevy Cruz. My wife
drives one, my brother drives one, three people in my office
drive one and my daughter drives a Chevy Cruz, all made by Ohio
workers in Youngstown, Ohio. He gets a lot of the credit for
that.
After he became the auto czar and he looked at the number
of auto plants that had shut down, he understood there was sort
of a race between developers buying these old auto plants,
tearing them, selling them for scrap and making a serious
amount of money or working with local communities, local
businesses and local labor unions to preserve these plants and
sell them to a developer who would reindustrialize them.
We are seeing one of those in Dayton right now. Senator
Portman, the Governor and I and the Dayton Development
Coalition are working to reindustrialize one of these plants in
Dayton. We are seeing examples of that around the country.
My point, as I wrap up, is that Jay Williams understands
the partnership between the Federal Government and what we can
do with EDA; the partnership between the Federal Government and
local elected officials. He knows how to do that better perhaps
than any public official I know in my State.
It is my thrill to be able to introduce Jay and have him
come forward in a moment for testimony after Senator Portman
speaks.
I thank you, Madam Chair, for being allowed to come before
your Committee.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Senator.
We have heard such great personal stories from both of our
Senators. Now we will turn to Senator Portman.
Just so our colleagues know, we are taking the Senators not
on the Committee first and then we will go to opening
statements.
Senator Portman.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROB PORTMAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO
Senator Portman. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I appreciate
it. It is good to be with you, Ranking Member Vitter and other
Committee members, today.
I am here to join my colleague, Senator Brown, in
introducing a fellow Ohioan, the Mayor of Youngstown, Jay
Williams.
He has been nominated for a very important job, Assistant
Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development at the
Department of Commerce. In our view, I think it is fair to say
the most important job we have right now is to bring the jobs
back. This Commerce Department position is critical to that.
Too many workers in my State of Ohio and around this
country have been out of a job for too long, some for months,
some for years, and Jay understands that. He has not only seen
it firsthand during his days as Mayor of Youngstown, he has
spent much of his life trying to improve the economic
conditions of all Americans.
If confirmed, I look forward to working with him and his
colleagues over there to keep the economic development projects
moving forward on the main streets in Ohio and in your States
around the country.
Mayor Williams is a son of Ohio, born and raised in
Youngstown, took a degree in Finance at Youngstown State
University, a fine institution and turned to a career in
banking where he was at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
but was also Vice President of First Place Bank. He understands
the difficulty of getting credit, finding a loan and how small
businesses struggle with that.
He has made impacts at various positions. He served as
Mayor of Youngstown from 2006 to 2011. There he focused a lot
on economic development. He wasn't always focused on making
himself popular; he was focused on doing the right thing. I
think from the Right and Left, sometimes he got a bit of input
about that but his job was to figure out how to turn around
things in the Mahoning Valley. He took on that challenge
directly.
He worked with Youngstown State University, his alma mater,
which has a terrific internship program. I visited his
incubator program which Senator Brown talked about. It is truly
one of the incubators that are working well around the country.
He has worked with the auto companies, as noted, but also
with some of our steel fabricators and our steel mill in town
to bring more jobs.
He received the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award in 2007,
an award given by the JFK Library Foundation annually to
recognize two people in the entire country under the age of 40
whose contributions in elective office, community service or
advocacy demonstrate the impact and value of public service in
the spirit of JFK.
In 2011, he became Executive Director of the Office of
Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers, otherwise known as
the auto czar at the Department of Labor. His job was to work
with local communities, including some in Ohio, which were
impacted and benefited from some of the improvements in the
auto industry. In that role, he worked hand in hand with
struggling communities trying to figure out how to get back on
their feet.
Last year, he was detailed to the White House to serve as
Deputy Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to
work with fellow mayors and other local leaders across the
country.
He has already given a lot to the people of Youngstown, to
Mahoning Valley, to our State of Ohio and to our country. I
have no doubt he is ready to give more. I fully support his
nomination to serve as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Economic Development and to lead the Economic Development
Administration.
Thank you for letting me come by today.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Senator, so much. We know that
you are also on a tough schedule, so thank you for being here.
You should both be proud to have the Senators come and
speak for you. I think it is a great tribute to you both.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BARBARA BOXER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Senator Boxer. Today we will consider a number of
nominations. The confirmation of qualified individuals to lead
agencies is such an important responsibility of the Senate. I
believe it is critical we move forward with these nominations
so that our agencies can fulfill their missions to serve the
American people.
Jay Williams, as we have heard, brings over 20 years of
experience in both the private and public sectors which will
serve him well as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the
Economic Development Administration, an agency I truly believe
had made quite a difference in the lives of our communities.
He is currently the Executive Director of the Office of
Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers at the Department of
Labor. As we heard, he has played a critical role in helping
States and cities rebuild their manufacturing potentials,
creating job opportunities and encouraging economic
development.
Previously, he was the Mayor of the city of Youngstown,
Ohio. He worked there with the private sector as well.
If confirmed, he will be responsible for leading the EDA,
an agency whose mission is to help economically distressed
communities.
Next, I want to welcome Rhea Sun Suh, the nominee to be
Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. We heard
about you from Senator Bennet. You worked for Ben Nighthorse
Campbell and have had a long career in working to conserve our
Nation's most precious resources, including the time you served
as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the
Department of the Interior. You have served there for 4 years.
If confirmed, you would help to oversee the Fish and
Wildlife Service, the guardian of our Nation's natural
treasures and wildlife and help support tourism and recreation
that boost our economies at home. In fiscal year 2011, national
wildlife refuges pumped $2.4 billion into the economy and
supported over 35,000 jobs.
In my home State, the Fish and Wildlife Service manages
dozens of refuges, protects iconic species like the bald eagle
and the California condor and helps manage millions of birds
that migrate through our State every year.
The Committee is also considering the nomination of Dr.
Thomas Burke to be Assistant Administrator Research and
Development at the Environmental Protection Agency which
conducts research and provides expertise on science and tech
issues to many EPA programs.
I think we all believe that strong science is the
foundation to make sure that EPA safeguards public health and
the environment. Dr. Burke brings a wealth of experience there.
Currently, he is Professor and Associate Dean of the John
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore,
Maryland. With over 35 years of experience in State and Federal
leadership, including as an official at the State of New
Jersey's Department of Health, Dr. Burke has also chaired
several studies by the National Academy of Sciences and has
served on multiple EPA science advisory councils and brings a
wealth of experience.
We will also consider the nomination of Ms. Victoria
Baecher Wassmer to be Chief Financial Officer of the
Environmental Protection Agency. Ms. Wassmer has 17 years of
experience working on budgeting, analysis and management
issues.
She began her service at the OMB, has worked in the private
sector and local government. Currently, she serves as the
Assistant Administrator of the FAA's Office of Finance.
If confirmed, Ms. Wassmer would help formulate and manage
EPA's annual budget and performance plan and provide oversight
for the agency's financial operations.
We know there are a number of reforms going into place
right now as a result of the scandal involving John Beale, an
EPA employee who, as best I can describe, was like the movie,
Catch Me If You Can, a kind of rogue. I do not even know how to
describe him. He was a phony, falsely claimed he was a CIA
agent, he stole money and now the Department of Justice is
getting that money back. He has begun, I believe, serving a
term or is being sentenced. He is being sentenced tomorrow. His
fraudulent activities span multiple Administrations. He did
plead guilty in Federal court to theft of Federal property.
This position is absolutely critical because now we have to
make sure something like this never happens again from these
rogue actors, not only at EPA but anywhere in Government. This
Committee is going to continue to conduct oversight in this
matter as the EPA Inspector General completes his
investigation.
I want to note that I spoke to Administrator McCarthy about
this again. She said she worked hard to shine light on this
issue and the Obama administration Department of Justice is
working to make sure taxpayers are reimbursed. I look forward
to working with the new CFO on all of these issues.
This hearing is important. I thank colleagues for attending
and showing interest in these important positions.
With that, I will call on Ranking Member Vitter.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DAVID VITTER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
Senator Vitter. Thank you very much, Chairman Boxer for
convening today's hearing. I also want to thank all of our
nominees for being here today.
I would be remiss if I didn't express my concern over the
scope of this hearing that covers four Presidential nominees
from three distinct agencies. I really believe, as do my
colleagues on this side, that scope should warrant a more
thorough Committee review than this pretty rush one at the end
of the year.
Unfortunately, I think it is the nature of our current
Senate that we have had a limited opportunity to do enough
oversight. Because that is the case, I want to take this
opportunity in my opening statement to outline some significant
concerns about the failure of the Committee on oversight.
The EPA, as the Chairman mentioned, is wrought with
mismanagement and lack of appropriate responsibility to account
for taxpayer dollars. That is certainly over multiple
Administrations, not just this one. The most recent and blatant
example of this ineptitude is the case she mentioned of CIA
agent John Beale. Beale's scam was made possible by a
widespread incompetence within the agency, in my opinion, and
the Committee has also failed to hold a budget hearing on the
EPA.
The two are directly related, and I think it is a big, big
omission that this Committee does not do what is traditional
and hold an EPA budget hearing toward the beginning of the
Congress.
In addition to these concerns, the agency is in perpetual
overdrive executing the President's extreme climate agenda by
administrative fiat. In reality, that has the ultimate impact
of increasing energy prices being a regressive tax on consumers
and making America less competitive internationally.
This side of the Committee has repeatedly asked for a
climate change oversight hearing regarding this with the EPA
and other Administration officials. While that is set to be
scheduled in the new year, we repeat our call that include key
witnesses from the Government--EPA, Interior, Commerce and so
forth. It has to include those key Government witnesses.
I would also direct significant concerns to the Department
of the Interior where Ms. Suh has served in a leadership role
for 4 and a half years. The Department, which is charged with
managing our lands for multiple uses, has focused instead on an
anti-fossil fuel agenda. The Administration's policies use
questionable scientific and economic analysis to cut off water
to farmers, to restrict Native Americans from producing their
own resources, to eliminate access to any type of resource
production that the Left does not think is appropriate, and so
forth.
Also, the Interior Department has gone to new levels to
expand upon the practice of negotiating closed door settlement
agreements with radical environmental organizations that
exclude from the discussion the folks directly impacted. Again,
the Committee remains silent, and we do not have adequate
oversight, in my opinion.
This current state of affairs is not just offensive to
those on my side of the aisle. Let me quote Jonathan Turley, a
supporter of President Obama, a Shapiro professor of public
interest law at George Washington University. He stated,
``There is ample room given to a President in setting
priorities in the enforcement of laws. Even with this ample
allowance, however, I believe that President Barack Obama has
crossed the constitutional line between discretionary
enforcement and defiance of Federal law.''
Professor Turley further stated, ``President Obama is not
simply posing a danger to the constitutional system, he becomes
the very danger that the Constitution was designed to avoid.''
That sort of overreach is exactly why our oversight role is
so essential. It is exactly why our role with regard to
executive nominations is so important as part of that oversight
role. My side of the aisle brings those very strong and
legitimate concerns and wants to do more aggressive and
appropriate oversight through this Committee.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, so much.
We are going to be putting together the number of hearings
we have had on all of the issues you talked about just to give
you a sense of how it was when Senator Inhofe was Chairman just
to compare how many witnesses came before us, how many nominees
of Bush you took at one time because I was here and I don't
think that hearing from four different nominees is in any way
unusual, not only for this Committee, but for any committee.
I also want to say I saw Jonathan Turley and my
understanding is he was attacking Obama from the Left and it
had to do with the NSA, but I am going to go get those because
I do not think it had anything to do with anything else.
Senator Vitter. Madam Chair, I would welcome that
discussion. As part of that discussion, I would like to look at
the routine practice of having budget hearings. I think that is
essential oversight for the EPA and for any agency, as well as
these other areas of oversight.
Senator Boxer. Sure.
Senator Vitter. I am particularly concerned about getting
the agencies involved in the climate agenda, getting them to
testify directly about their administrative actions.
Senator Boxer. Sure. The good news is you have already
signed up on a hearing on climate for January 16 and you will
get to pick a lot of the witnesses. Here is the other point, if
I could just finish because I think it is important. You used
your time to criticize how I am running this committee so I am
going to take the time it takes to respond.
You have quoted people having viewed the Constitution--I do
not believe it had anything to do with EPA, but I am going to
go back and look at it because I watched him saying those
things, criticizing Obama from the Left. It is interesting that
you would join in on that, but that is OK.
Here is the thing. We have the climate hearing. The budget
hearing was canceled because you and your friends over here,
your dear colleagues, held up Gina McCarthy and asked her a
thousand questions and held up her confirmation for months. She
was not part of four people, it was her. We did have a hearing
on the budget. It had to be canceled.
Of course we are going to take another look at that but in
my opinion, and it is a disagreement here, I sense in your tone
and tenor, and you have every right and I defend your right to
take whatever position you and your colleagues take, it seems
to me by being critical of the fact that we are having a
hearing today, calling it a rushed hearing, I do not view it as
a rushed hearing.
The people we are hearing from today are super-qualified.
One of them worked for a Republican United States Senator. To
make it sound like we are rushing and jamming through is just
wrong.
We will continue to respectfully disagree. I feel that we
have done a tremendous amount of oversight. We are having I
don't know how many hearings on the NRC oversight and have more
coming up in February. For your sake and my sake, I am going to
make a list of all the hearings we have had over time and
compare it to the oversight hearings Senator Inhofe, who I
thought was a great chairman, had. We will take a look at it.
Senator Vitter. Madam Chairman, may I respond?
Senator Boxer. Yes, you may.
Senator Vitter. Thank you. I will be succinct.
My comments were about our general oversight
responsibility. We will just have to agree to disagree. I do
not think we have been nearly aggressive enough in fulfilling
that responsibility. Just to underscore so we can move forward
productively, my two top priorities would be a budget hearing,
which I think is essential. I do not understand how the Gina
McCarthy thing had to lead to canceling that.
Senator Boxer. Other than that she was the head of the EPA.
Senator Vitter. If could just finish?
Senator Boxer. You said you didn't know how it happened. It
is like talking about an agency without the head of the agency
there.
Senator Vitter. Well, she is there now and we have asked
for a budget hearing to be scheduled.
Senator Boxer. We will have it.
Senator Vitter. OK, great. We have been asking for that, it
was scheduled and it was canceled.
My second top priority is to be able to call in the top
leaders of Federal agencies directly involved in pushing this
extreme climate agenda by administrative fiat. That has not
been agreed to in terms of getting those heads of the agencies
as part of that climate discussion.
Senator Boxer. I will call in every agency over which we
have jurisdiction. I have the gavel. You may get it, and then
you can call in whoever you want. I am not going to call in
people who I do not have any oversight over. I think that is an
abuse of power. Just know I am really not going to do that.
Anyone that we have oversight over will be here. You can
question them. Gina McCarthy will be here, I am really looking
forward to it, on January 16. Believe me, we will go all day
and you can talk about budget, clean air, dirty air, clean
water, anything you want.
With that, we are going to turn to Senator Cardin.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND
Senator Cardin. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I assume that the four nominees still want to come forward.
First, I want to thank the Chair for the continuation of
the tradition of this Committee, the bipartisan tradition of
this Committee as it relates to nominations and that is to
bring together well qualified professionals whose
qualifications are not under challenge at all--hopefully these
are non-controversial confirmations--to bring that together, to
package so that our Committee can take action.
Quite frankly, I haven't heard from a single constituent
who believes that the U.S. Senate is moving too quickly on
anything. I am happy that we have these confirmation hearings
today.
I would make one further comment. I don't want to get
involved in the oversight issue but it is certainly a lot
easier to hold an agency accountable if you have the confirmed
positions in place. In too many cases, we have seen very
qualified people held up from being confirmed not because of
their qualifications, but by concerns members had in regard to
the agency for which they are being nominated.
It is very difficult to say we are going to hold you
accountable but we won't give you the confirmed positions in
order to do the work you need to do.
Madam Chair, I would ask that my full statement be included
in the record.
I had a chance to meet with Ms. Suh. I appreciate her
willingness to come forward for a very important position with
Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the National Park Service. I had a
chance to discuss with her several priorities we had in regard
to converting the Tubman National Monument into a national
park.
I know that you are truly a child of the west, and you have
done great things in the western part of our State. We know
that you will bring that enthusiasm to the east coast of the
United States, particularly as it relates to our national
treasure, the Chesapeake Bay. We also know that you will work
with us as we go over why we cannot get damages from those who
abuse our wildlife refuges and to look at ways we can deal with
invasive species.
These are all areas I mention because I had the honor in
this Congress to chair the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee of
the Environment and Public Works Committee, areas in which we
will be working together hopefully to advance the agenda during
this Congress.
To Dr. Thomas Burke, thank you. You are a Marylander. That
gives you a special view in my eyes anyway and I thank you for
your dedicated leadership. As Chairman Boxer said, we look to
you and the agency for which you are seeking confirmation to
give us the best science because our decisions should be based
on science. Having a confirmed head will help us be able to get
that type of guidance for our Committee decisions and
deliberations.
I remember your testimony before this Committee, Madam
Chair, when you had the hearing on the quality of our drinking
water and contamination with chromium-6. Dr. Burke, I think,
added greatly to the quality of that hearing and to our
responsibility. We thank you for being willing to step forward.
To the other two nominees, Mr. Roy Williams, let me first
thank you. The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic
Development is a very important position. In my own State of
Maryland, the EDA program is critically important to our rural
areas. In western Maryland, we have the Tri-County Council for
Western Maryland, and on the shore, we have the Upper Shore
Regional Council and the Tri-County Council for the Lower
Eastern Shore that have done incredibly strong economic
opportunities as a result of EDA's participation. We will
certainly working with you in that regard.
To Ms. Wassmer, we already discussed that the Chief
Financial Officer is critically important to make sure that we
have the right policies in place in order to make sure we are
getting the best value for the money being spent by the public.
Last, Madam Chair, I want to take this opportunity not only
to thank the four nominees for being willing to serve the
public, but this is a very challenging time to serve in the
public sector. Your willingness to step forward in public
service is very, very much appreciated.
We know you cannot do it alone. We know your family makes
equal sacrifice. We know that from the sacrifices our families
make. I particularly want to thank the family members for being
willing to share their person with the community in this
leadership position.
[The prepared statement of Senator Cardin follows:]
Statement of Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin,
U.S. Senator from the State of Maryland
Chairman Boxer, thank you for holding this hearing, and I
want to welcome each of the nominees to the Committee. I look
forward to hearing your testimony and answers to our questions.
All four of today's nominees have impressive backgrounds and a
demonstrated dedication to public service. I offer you best
wishes with the proceedings of your confirmations.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park
Service serve as important custodians of our Nation's natural
resources. As a ``child of the West,'' Rhea Suh has a lifelong
understanding of the importance of robust conservation efforts
to ensure current scenery and economic opportunities remain
strong, and to provide these resources with protections for
their use by future generations.
While there is certainly no fault in being from the West,
Ms. Suh and I discussed in our meeting last week my interest in
having the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park
Service pay due attention to the needs here in the East,
particularly in the Chesapeake Bay region. There is great
opportunity and State and local support for Federal help in
protecting one of the mid-Atlantic's most precious and valuable
natural resources.
I look forward to working with you in executing the many
initiatives we have in the region. From building on the
establishment of the Harriet Tubman National Monument to making
the Tubman National Historical Park, to providing the Fish and
Wildlife Service greater authority to collect damages when
refuges are harmed by irresponsible actors, to bringing more
Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars into the region to
protect the Bay as is intended by the President's May 2009
Chesapeake Bay Executive Order. There is a lot of work to do.
Having worked for both Republicans and Democrats, including
Senator Ben Nighthorse-Campbell, she understands the importance
of working across party lines to accomplish great things.
I also look forward to working with you to develop a
Federal strategy for invasive species control. Until recently,
the wetlands at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in my
home State, and wetlands in the home State of the Ranking
Member, were threatened by nutria. This invasive rodent species
attacks the roots of wetland plants, undermining conservation
efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and harming the
overall health of the Chesapeake Bay. Increased coordination
efforts between Federal, State, and local partners can better
protect critical investments in place on Federal and private
lands across our Nation from invasive species.
But there is a growing threat nationwide from a wide range
of invasive species. Pythons in the Everglades. Stinkbugs in
the Mid-Atlantic. Asian Carp in the Great Lakes.
These non-native and dangerous species present real public
health, safety, economic and ecological threats to the places
they are found. I want to work with USFWS to develop a
comprehensive approach to combating these problems nationwide.
Dr. Thomas Burke, in addition to being a Maryland resident,
has an extensive background in protecting the public health and
advancing environmental protection efforts and is exceptionally
well qualified to lead the EPA Office of Research and
Development.
His 35 years as a State scientist, public health official,
research investigator, member of the Science Advisory Board,
member of the Board of Scientific Counselors, and Associate
Dean for Public Health Practice and Training at Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health have provided him with an
understanding of the importance of having credible science to
base environmental health decisions.
His work with the late Senator Lautenberg on chemical
safety reform will serve this Committee well as we undertake
Toxic Substances Control Act Reform. I also found his testimony
before this Committee in 2011 on the risks of Chromium-6
contamination in drinking water to be incredibly helpful as
Congress continues to look for opportunities to improve the
safety of our Nation's drinking water.
Sound science should be the primary factor on which the EPA
bases their decisionmaking to protect the environment and
public health. As the chair of a National Academy of Sciences
committee, Dr. Burke has worked to peer review EPA risk
analysis reports and offered recommendations to improve future
risk assessments. Dr. Burke has the credentials, respect, and
bipartisan approach needed to ensure the EPA reaches the best
scientific answers to base their decisionmaking on.
Dr. Burke's confirmation is urgently needed; this post has
been without a confirmed Assistant Administrator for nearly 2
years. This gap in leadership caused attacks on EPA's
scientific review processes to result in unnecessary delays in
decisionmaking. A confirmed Assistant Administrator is needed
to get EPA's work back on track and to allow science to
determine what is needed to protect public health.
Chairman Boxer, the EPA needs a Senate-confirmed Assistant
Administrator for the EPA Office of Research and Development.
Dr. Burke has proven to be that person.
Last, I want to talk briefly about the emerging economies
of Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. These
historically underserved communities in these beautiful rural
reaches of Maryland have benefited from the planning support
and investments from the Economic Development Administration.
From Global Climate Change Mitigation Incentive Fund grants to
Economic Development District Planning support, these parts of
Maryland have seen the important link between a strategic
Federal investment and the ability for the local community to
successfully leverage Federal funding. Mr. Williams, as you go
through your confirmation process I would encourage you to
engage with the Tri-County Council of Western Maryland, the
Upper Shore Regional Council, and Tri-County Council for the
Lower Eastern Shore.
Should you be confirmed, I look forward to working with you
in these parts of my State to increase the availability of
broadband Internet access, improve transportation and provide
greater regional economic planning support to foster economic
growth in these underserved communities.
I appreciate the opportunity to hear from the nominees
today. Thank you.
Senator Boxer. Thank you very much, Senator.
I would turn to my friend, Jim Inhofe.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES M. INHOFE,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Senator Inhofe. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
First of all, let me thank Ms. Rhea Suh for coming by the
office. We spent a long time together and I do appreciate that,
and of course Roy Williams. I would have to tell them what I
told you when you walked in the door. I tell my fellow Senators
all the time, if you want a hard job, you become the mayor of a
major city. You have done that, and that is why to me when you
walked in, you were immediately qualified for this job, for
that reason.
There is no hiding place if you are mayor. If they don't
like the trash system, it ends up in your front yard, and it
did in mine.
I am going to touch on something a bit different than
Senator Vitter on the effect that the nuclear option might have
on this Committee because this Committee has operated very,
very well. When you were talking about the number of nominees,
I remember one time when I was chairman, we had seven nominees
in one hearing.
This is the first nomination hearing we have had since the
nuclear option nominees. If I can take a couple minutes, I
would like to discuss how this might affect what we are doing
here.
Just last Saturday, the Washington Post confirmed my claim
that the White House systematically delayed in enacting a
series of rules on the environment. I am quoting what they said
and this is exactly what I had said in this Committee. ``The
White House systematically delayed in enacting a series of
rules on the environment, worker safety and health care to
prevent them from becoming points of contention before the 2012
election.''
I remember talking about that very thing. That is what that
report I put together just 2 weeks before the election was
about.
As Ranking Member, I issued that report warning that
President Obama and his team of nominees would intentionally
manipulate the rulemaking process to avoid the political
consequences preventing the revelation of these true economic
pains, all that happening right before the election.
Nominations have long been one of the primary means by which
this Committee, especially those in the minority, can provide a
check on this rulemaking bureaucracy.
However, our oversight leverage in this Committee has now
been diminished, thus allowing this flexible decisionmaking
process of the Administration to continue to operate in secret
without any congressional oversight. Democrats are fully aware
of this.
Back in the days when I was chairman and Senator Carper was
a minority he actually did something that showed how beneficial
this is. He used the nomination of Governor Mike Levitt to head
the EPA to extract data on the 4(p) bill that he was working on
with Senator Jeffords.
In fact, the entire Democratic side of the committee
boycotted Governor Levitt's confirmation hearing because they
were not satisfied with his answers to their 75 pre-hearing
questions, keeping in mind that he didn't have any prior
experience as an administrator so it was very difficult to do
that.
Nevertheless, the Democrats stonewalled the process, and it
worked. Senator Carper eventually got the information he
requested. I agree with that. I think he should have taken the
action that he did and it worked. Minority rights were
protected.
I think it is important to remember because President Obama
actually mentioned Gina McCarthy's confirmation process in his
remarks supporting the Democrats' move to end the 60-vote
threshold on nominations.
Our rationale behind delaying McCarthy's consideration was
a lack of responsiveness toward our request for information,
the most important of which was the data underlying the studies
the EPA used to justify the costly regulations.
Another example is around the time I was first elected to
the Senate in 1994, President Clinton tried to move Bob
Perciasepe from the head of Water to the head of Air without
going through the regular confirmation process. In protest, I
put a blanket hold on all Presidential nominees. In turn,
President Clinton formally submitted the change to the Senate.
We then held a hearing and confirmed Perciasepe to the Air
Office and moved along.
In this case, our hold was used to protect the integrity of
the Senate's constitutional role to provide advice and consent
to the Presidential nominations. Now that the rules have been
changed, exercising this kind of authority will be nearly
impossible. This should be a real concern.
When I chaired the Committee, I remembered working with
Dale Hall who served as President Bush's Director of Fish and
Wildlife. Prior to his nomination being made official, the Fish
and Wildlife Service provided reams of data that detailed the
work they were doing around the country. Much of the data was
of particular concern to members of the Committee and it gave
us a captive audience with the service that we might not
otherwise have had. Because this Committee is actively engaged
and vested in the nomination process, we had a much more
cooperative relationship.
I guess I am saying a lot of that is lost now. I think we
should sit back and look at how that act would affect minority
rights in this Committee. I think very likely something could
change in a short period of time, and the majority today could
become the minority, so they should be as concerned about that
as I am today.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
[The referenced article follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[The prepared statement of Senator Inhofe follows:]
Statement of Hon. James M. Inhofe,
U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma
This is the first nominations hearing we've had since the
Democrats exercised the nuclear option on nominations, and I
think we need to take a few minutes to talk about how these
actions have eviscerated this Committee's ability to shine a
light on rulemaking decisions that occur behind closed doors at
EPA and the White House.
Just this last Saturday, the Washington Post confirmed my
claim that ``The White House systematically delayed enacting a
series of rules on the environment, worker safety and health
care to prevent them from becoming points of contention before
the 2012 election.''
As Ranking Member, I issued a report on October 18, 2012,
warning that the President and his team of handpicked nominees
will intentionally manipulate the rulemaking process to avoid
the political consequences, preventing the revelation of the
true economic pain.
Nominations have long been one of the primary means by
which this Committee--especially those in the minority--can
provide a check on this rulemaking bureaucracy.
However, our oversight leverage in this Committee has now
been completely diminished, thus allowing this flexible
decisionmaking process of the Administration to continue to
operate in secret without any congressional oversight--and
Democrats are fully aware of this. Senator Carper, my friend
from Delaware, used the nomination of Governor Mike Leavitt to
head the EPA to extract data on the 4P bill he was working on
with Senator Jeffords.
In fact, the entire Democrat side of the Committee
boycotted Governor Leavitt's confirmation hearing because they
were not satisfied with his answers to their 75 pre-hearing
questions, never mind the fact that he did not work at EPA
prior to becoming Administrator, making his access to their
questions' answers much more difficult.
Nevertheless, the Democrats stone-walled the process, and
it worked. Senator Carper eventually got the information he
requested.
I think this is important to remember because President
Obama actually mentioned Gina McCarthy's confirmation process
in his remarks supporting the Democrats' move to end a 60-vote
threshold on nominations. Our rationale behind delaying
McCarthy's consideration was a lack of responsiveness toward
our requests for information, the most important of which was
the data underlying the studies EPA uses to justify its costly
regulations.
In another example, around the time I was first elected to
the Senate in 1994, President Clinton tried to move Bob
Perciasepe from head of the Office of Water to head the Office
of Air without going through the requisite confirmation
process.
In protest, I put a blanket hold on all presidential
nominations. In turn, President Clinton formally submitted the
change to the Senate. We then held the hearing, confirmed
Perciasepe to the Air Office, and moved along.
In this case, our hold was used to protect the integrity of
the Senate's constitutional role to provide advice and consent
to the President's nominations. Now that the rules have been
changed, exercising this kind of authority will be impossible.
This should be a real concern. When I was Chairman of this
Committee, one person I remember working with was H. Dale Hall,
who served as President Bush's Director of the Fish and
Wildlife Service. Prior to his nomination being made official,
the Fish and Wildlife Service provided us with reams of data
that detailed the work they were doing around the country.
Much of this data was of particular concern to members of
the Committee, and it gave us a captive audience with the
Service that we might not otherwise have had. Because the
Committee was actively engaged and invested in the nominations
process, we had a much more cooperative relationship with the
Administration and received a lot of the information we needed.
That is now all lost. Because the Democrats have taken away
the super majority, our ability to exercise effective
oversight--either in the majority or minority--is gone. This
should be concerning to us all.
I appreciate the time I was able to spend with you, Mr.
Williams, discussing the valuable work that EDA is responsible
for in Oklahoma. I won't have any questions for you, but I look
forward to working with you once you are confirmed.
I also would like to thank Ms. Suh for coming to my office.
I appreciated our very frank discussion on the decisions you
will be responsible for that could negatively impact domestic
energy independence--something we will get to in the Q&As.
Senator Boxer. Thank you.
I think as someone who held out until the last minute on
this, I can tell you right now there is a difference between
holding up one person once in a while and holding up so many
people. There is a difference. I, myself, have holds on people
but eventually there should be a vote. That is all.
Senator Fischer.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DEB FISCHER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NEBRASKA
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Chairman Boxer and Ranking
Member Vitter, for holding today's hearing to consider the
nominations for these very important positions.
Mr. Williams and Ms. Suh, I would especially like to thank
you for taking the time to come to my office and meeting. Thank
you for the conversations we had at that time. I would also
like to thank each of the nominees for being here today and
also for your willingness to serve the public.
The Senate's role in providing advice and consent on
Presidential nominees is a responsibility that I take very
seriously. I appreciate that the nomination process provides
the opportunity to not only assess the qualifications of
nominees but also to engage in policy discussions and share
with nominees the issues of importance in our home States and
the concerns of our constituents.
Nebraska has many concerns, especially when it comes to
activities of the National Park Service and the Fish and
Wildlife Service. At a time when the National Park Service
estimates that it has a maintenance backlog of approximately
$13 billion, many Nebraskans were very, very surprised and
upset when the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife
Service issued a proposal earlier this year that calls for the
potential Federal management or acquisition of more than 1.4
million acres in Nebraska and South Dakota.
Nebraska landowners are already excellent stewards of the
natural resources entrusted to them. They are working hard to
bring both environmental and economic benefits to the area,
goals that can be achieved through private/public partnerships
and conservation programs without increasing Federal
jurisdiction over additional private land at taxpayer expense.
Nebraskans are also concerned about Fish and Wildlife
Service policy with respect to endangered species. As the
agency engages in a closed door settlement with environmental
activist groups that will lead to delisting determinations for
more than 250 species, many are nervous about the impacts these
determinations will have on private property rights, energy
development and economic growth. The public is entitled to a
process that is more transparent than it has been thus far.
I am hopeful that the Fish and Wildlife Service will work
with stakeholders to implement recommendations from the
National Academy of Sciences to improve its endangered species
consultation process for pesticide approvals. For too long,
product approvals have been bottlenecked by a broken process
that is impeding innovation and agriculture while doing nothing
to protect listed species or critical habitat.
With respect to EPA, Nebraskans want an agency that
operates in a transparent manner. Given recent reports of
mismanagement and lack of internal controls at EPA that led to
a senior employee stealing close to $1 million, the EPA needs a
financial officer who is attentive and accountable.
As the agency moves forward with sweeping regulations, with
significant economic cost under President Obama's climate
agenda, it is critical that the EPA bases its rules on sound,
publicly available science.
Regarding the Economic Development Administration, I am
hopeful that the EDA will empower communities to develop
strategies that foster job creation and attract private
investment. Mr. Williams, you and I will have a lot to talk
about with regard to some activities where we can both help the
constituents I have in the Omaha area.
Obviously there are many important issues at stake to
discuss with today's nominees. I look forward to the
opportunity to do so.
Thank you.
Senator Boxer. Thank you.
Senator Boozman followed by Senator Barrasso.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BOOZMAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ARKANSAS
Senator Boozman. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member
Vitter.
Each of these positions is incredibly important. Mr.
Williams, I am eager to hear how you believe EDA can promote
growth and most importantly in economically disadvantaged areas
not only in Arkansas but throughout the country.
When we met I appreciated hearing of your knowledge and
recognition of the role of the Delta Regional Authority. I look
forward to your testimony and working with you going forward. I
think Senator Inhofe made a good point as far as your
background, and you will have the opportunity to do outstanding
things.
Ms. Suh, I also appreciated meeting with you. I appreciate
your willingness to serve. Not only in Arkansas but throughout
the country we have numerous concerns with the Park Service and
Fish and Wildlife. We will explore these concerns as the
process continues. In short, many of our problems are rooted in
the lack of transparency and the failure of the Department to
engage with communities and citizens before taking action. I
think that is very, very important and would eliminate a lot of
our problems.
This has been a long term trend but it has grown worse over
the last few years. Nonetheless, again, I appreciate your
willingness to serve and very much look forward to engaging
with you as the nomination process continues.
Ms. Wassmer and Mr. Burke, you also will have important
responsibilities at the EPA. I look forward to your testimony
and exploring a number of issues with you. Mr. Burke, I am
interested in hearing your views on the EPA science advisory
process and how that might be strengthened to ensure that it is
objective, fair and transparent.
With that, I yield back my time.
Senator Boxer. Thank you.
We turn to our last speaker, Senator Barrasso.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING
Senator Barrasso. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
I want to thank and congratulate each of our nominees and
welcome your families.
Madam Chairman, I would like to discuss my concerns
specifically regarding one of the nominees before us today.
That is the nomination of Rhea Sun Suh to be Assistant
Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the
Interior.
The nominee stated in a Hewlett Foundation report national
gas development was ``easily the single greatest threat to
ecological integrity of the west.'' National gas development
easily, she said, was the single greatest threat to the
ecological integrity of the west.
As I stated last week before the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee, I find this viewpoint way out of the
mainstream and I am sure other members of this Committee do as
well. Expanding responsible natural gas development is one of
the biggest economic success stories in this country and has
created thousands of jobs.
If confirmed, there are pending issues this nominee will be
in charge of and influence she will have that will allow her to
block natural gas production in places like Wyoming, Alaska,
New Mexico, West Virginia, Louisiana and others.
There will be numerous decisions that will be made during
her tenure as to whether to list and designate critical habitat
for sage grouse in eight western States, not to mention
potential listings of the lesser prairie chicken in Oklahoma,
the Gunnison Sage Grouse in Colorado and Utah just to name a
few.
She will also have influence over future species, sue and
settle agreements and the ability to issue new rules. These are
things which can restrict or lock up more land and ocean from
natural gas production both offshore and onshore.
In addition, the National Park Service, which she will
oversee, has also begun commenting on BLM's hydraulic
fracturing rule. When raising this statement with the nominee,
she stated she supports an all of the above approach to energy.
We can easily support an all of the above approach when the
activist groups that have been funded through her activities
her entire career see the above choices as only wind and solar.
I support an all of the above energy approach because I
support renewables as well as oil, coal, natural gas, hydro and
others. The groups that are funded by the Hewlett Foundation
where the nominee was previously employed for years started
campaigns, one called Beyond Coal, another called Beyond
Natural Gas.
If you truly support natural gas development, you would
never say it is the greatest threat to the west. In fact, the
impact on the west from natural gas development is quite the
opposite.
I am not the only one who found the nominee's responses
lacking. Washington Examiner columnist Ron Arnold referred to
her response in his December 15 column as ``transparent
impenetrability.''
Even after the nominee joined the Department, she stated
before the Environmental Grantmakers 25th anniversary that ``I
look forward to working with you, my colleagues, mentors and
friends to utilize the skills and talents of the EGA community
to advance a more resilient world and a resilient movement.''
Given the threshold for nominations has been lowered, it is
incumbent upon this Committee to make sure that we do not
confirm nominees who want to promote a movement or who consider
the Grantmakers their colleagues in arms. We need a nominee who
promotes the agenda of the public at large.
Natural gas is an important field for our country. Every
Senator who supports natural gas and has communities that rely
on natural gas production should be concerned.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. I look forward to the questions.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Senator.
Now we would ask you all to come forward and we will get
started. I would ask you to keep your comments to 5 minutes.
Senator Barrasso, I am going to enter into the record the
various organizations funded by William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation. You will be interested that one of them is the
Christian Coalition so they do a number of things.
[The referenced information was not received at time of
print.]
Senator Boxer. I think we will have each of you speak for 5
minutes. We might as well start with you, and I call you Mayor
because once a mayor always a mayor and since that is helping
you, I will call you Mayor Williams. Please go forward.
STATEMENT OF ROY K.J. WILLIAMS, NOMINATED TO BE ASSISTANT
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF COMMERCE
Mr. Williams. Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Vitter,
distinguished members of the Committee, I am honored to come
before you today as President Obama's nominee for Assistant
Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development.
I want to express my appreciation for the time that you and
your staff afforded me to meet with you during the past few
weeks. It was valuable to gain insight into our mutual goals of
promoting economic vibrancy in your respective States and
across the country.
To Senators Brown and Portman, thank you for your
introduction and thank you for your great service to the State
of Ohio. I greatly appreciate the support the Senators showed
me during my time as Mayor of the city of Youngstown. We are
better off as a result of their efforts to put pragmatism over
partisanship when it came to the interest of their constituents
and this country.
I would also be remiss not to acknowledge my family who has
joined me here today--my mother who is the source of anything I
have been able to accomplish; my wife whose love and support is
beyond what I deserve; and our son, Ethan, who I believe had to
momentarily step out, as a 3-year old who has made being a
parent one of the single greatest joys of my life.
I come here today with a perspective of economic
development that has been shaped by almost 20 years of
experience working both in the public and private sectors. I
was born, reared and forged in a community that was once the
poster child of economic decline and devastation, a community
that was ravaged by the collapse of manufacturing and the lack
of economic diversity.
I am proud to tell you that this very same community is
experiencing a renaissance, a renewal beyond what many thought
would be possible through a combination of visioning, planning,
public/private partnerships and investments, and, most
importantly, a determined citizenry. Youngstown, Ohio, is
redefining itself.
Over the course of the past 5 years, there has been well
over $1 billion of private investment in the city of Youngstown
resulting in the creation of hundreds of high quality jobs. One
crowning example mentioned by the Senator was Vallourec Star,
an international corporation which decided to expand in
Youngstown. Vallourec Star manufactures seamless tubes and
pipes used in oil and gas exploration which is, by the way,
contributing to the President's agenda of all of the above in
terms of reducing our Nation's dependence on foreign sources of
oil.
The city of Youngstown was named as a top 10 destination to
start a business by Entrepreneur Magazine. The Youngstown
region is ranked in the top 10 amongst its peers nationally by
Site Selection Magazine for the most new and expanded corporate
facilities. The city laid claim to the first National
Manufacturing Institute.
Youngstown State University is ranked highly by Forbes and
Washington Monthly's College Guide among others. Youngstown is
home to one of the best startup incubators in the world and is
helping to lead the national export role.
Without question, the city of Youngstown still faces
problems and challenges like many communities across this
Nation. However, the city is no longer being defined solely by
its problems as it had been for so many decades. It is also
helping to establish a blueprint for other similarly situated
communities across the country.
The Economic Development Administration plays a critical
role in facilitating the economic transformation of distressed
communities. I have always held that jobs are not created by
politicians or government agencies. However, EDA and other
government agencies do play an important role in helping to
shape the economic environment. It is within this environment
that private capital is put at risk by entrepreneurs, whether
manufacturing, technology or providing goods and services. That
ultimately creates jobs.
The public sector also plays a crucial role in investing in
infrastructure, promoting innovation and encouraging regional
cooperation, which likewise boosts private sector job creation.
During the last few years, I have had the privilege to engage
communities across this country from Alameda County,
California, to Shreveport, Louisiana, from Flint, Michigan, to
Gary, Indiana, and Quad Cities, Iowa, just to name a few.
Without fail, those regions that are undergoing positive
economic transformation have successfully leveraged public/
private partnerships. This approach is at the core of the
mission of the Economic Development Administration.
Over the last 5 years, we have worked to clear away the
rubble of the greatest economic recession this country has seen
since the Great Depression. While significant progress has been
made, there is still a lot of work to be done. I cannot think
of a better place to continue that important work than from
EDA.
In an environment of scarce resources, it becomes ever more
important that our investments be made strategically and
catalytically. We must help create an environment in which the
principles of free and fair market capitalism reward those
entrepreneurs who take risks, respect those workers who make
the goods and services, and increases the quality of life in
the communities that we call home.
The mission of the Economic Development Administration,
which is to lead the Federal economic development agenda,
promote innovation and prepare American communities for growth
and success in this global economy is one that demands nothing
short of excellence, accountability and measurable outcomes in
its execution.
If I am fortunate enough to garner the support of this
Committee, and if confirmed by the full Senate, I will work
with you and your colleagues and the committed professionals at
EDA to maintain the confidence of the people that we serve.
Chairman Boxer, thank you for this opportunity to address
the Committee. I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Williams follows:]
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Senator Boxer. Thank you.
Ms. Suh.
STATEMENT OF RHEA SUN SUH, NOMINATED TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY
FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR
Ms. Suh. Thank you, Madam Chair, Ranking Member and members
of the Committee.
I think I actually have had a chance to meet with each one
of you. I greatly appreciate the time that you have afforded
me.
Unfortunately, my husband, Michael Carroll and my daughter,
Yumi, are not able to join me today. My daughter actually has
her very first Christmas pageant right now. With all due
respect, there are greater priorities for a 3-year-old who has
been practicing her songs and dance in the starring role of elf
No. 3.
I am a child of the west. I was born in Colorado and raised
by Korean immigrant parent who found their way to that great
State like so many other pioneers with dreams of freedom and of
a better life for their family. While my parents also could not
be here today, I would like to acknowledge them as well. They
came to America with nothing and in turn gave me and my sisters
everything.
Like so many other Americans, I grew up reaping the
benefits of the lands and waters managed by our Federal
Government. My earliest memories are memories of being outside,
fishing with my father, exploring for fossils and going to camp
in the shadow of Rocky Mountain National Park. This tapestry of
lands, the backdrop of my childhood, has influenced me and my
values throughout my life.
For the past 4 and a half years, I have had the honor of
serving as the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and
Budget at the Department of the Interior. I have had the
privilege of working with each of the nine bureaus at the
Department on a broad array of issues. I have led efforts to
secure the resources required by each of the bureaus to uphold
their missions, but I have focused a concerted effort on
ensuring that in these challenging fiscal times, we manage
those resources in a manner that is both effective and
efficient.
I have led the enterprise to achieve more than $500 million
in savings and untold millions in cost avoidance, including
$160 million in real estate consolidations and $200 million in
smarter purchasing agreements.
While my most recent experience at the Department has
focused more on administrative and fiscal policy, I have nearly
two decades of issue experience on natural resources. I started
my career as a Senate staffer working for Senator Ben
Nighthorse Campbell from Colorado where I worked on both energy
and natural resource policy.
I had the unusual opportunity to work on both sides of the
aisle during that time, 2 years on the Democratic side and a
year on the Republican side. This unique circumstance
profoundly shaped my views on policy and left me with the
strong belief that collaboration, while often not easy or
straightforward, can result in the most creative and durable
policy outcomes.
These beliefs helped guide me in my tenure as a program
officer for both the Hewlett and the Packard Foundations where
I continued to work on natural resource issues. In particular,
I supported the efforts to expand the array of voices and
perspectives on conservation including those of hunters and
anglers, indigenous communities and faith-based organizations.
I am now before you today as the President's nominee for
the Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, a position
that would allow me to focus more concertedly on the critical
work of conservation. I come to this opportunity with great
humility as it would afford me the chance to work with two of
the most storied agencies at the Department of the Interior,
the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.
Americans love the outdoors. We love to hunt and fish. We
love our parks. The national refuge system is truly America's
backyards. These are the places where millions of us go to
hunt, fish and explore. These are among our Nation's most
popular pastimes, and the Fish and Wildlife Service is uniquely
positioned to welcome a new generation of Americans to be
connected to the natural heritage that is our birthright.
When the National Park Service celebrates its 100th
anniversary in 2016, we will have an even greater opportunity
to renew the bonds Americans have with their parks. The
National Park Service's second century is a defining moment,
offering us an opportunity to celebrate America's natural and
cultural history and to lay a strong and sensible foundation
for the next century of stewardship.
From the first time I hooked a rainbow trout with my dad, I
became the beneficiary of our Nation's rich natural heritage
and if confirmed, I hope to continue the legacy of this bounty
by strengthening the opportunities for Americans to be
connected to and to benefit from the outdoors by pursuing
pragmatic balance and solutions that contribute to the
conservation of the Department's lands and waters for the
benefit of all of the people of this great country.
Thank you, Madam Chairman and members of the Committee.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Suh follows:]
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Senator Boxer. Thank you so much, Ms. Suh.
Dr. Burke.
STATEMENT OF THOMAS A. BURKE, NOMINATED TO BE ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY
Mr. Burke. Good afternoon, Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member
Vitter and members of the Committee.
It is an honor to appear here today as President Obama's
nominee to be the Assistant Administrator for Research and
Development at EPA.
I have devoted my career to advancing public health and
environmental protection. For more than 35 of EPA's 43 years, I
have worked closely with the agency as a State scientist,
public health official, researcher and member of the Science
Advisory Board. I have also served on the Board of
Environmental Studies at the National Academy of Sciences and
chaired a number of Academy studies looking at science at the
EPA.
As with most people, my interests were shaped by my early
experiences. Growing up in Jersey City in the shadow of the
Statue of Liberty, I have vivid memories of my early
environment before there was an EPA: the musty smell of low
tide in New York Harbor; the summer spraying of DDT; the
cleaning solvents from the industrial laundries; the black
plumes from the Jersey Central locomotives; and the chemical
mountains, giant slag heaps from the chromium factories.
I also had an early interest in health and disease. Born
with a congenital heart defect, I was blessed to have
lifesaving open heart surgery at Johns Hopkins. Three of my
close childhood friends were not so fortunate and died from
leukemia and brain cancer.
My interest in the connection between environment and
health were galvanized during my graduate studies at the
University of Texas when the National Cancer Institute released
an Atlas of Cancer Mortality showing that my home State led the
Nation in cancer deaths. The media dubbed it cancer alley.
After graduate school, I was named Director of the New
Jersey Office of Cancer and Toxic Substances Research. I led
research on toxic and cancer-causing pollutants that shaped
many State and national approaches to ensure the safety of our
drinking water, reduced toxic releases and clean up of
hazardous waste sites. I also investigated childhood clusters
of cancer.
As a State scientist, I served three Governors, both
Republican and Democrat. I stood at their sides during
environmental emergencies like the dioxin contamination in the
Ironbound section of Newark and the closure of our beaches from
sewage spills and medical waste. I was also fortunate to work
with the late Senator Frank Lautenberg in his efforts to
improve chemical safety and prevent cancer.
My experiences have given me a very practical perspective
on the importance of strong science to guide difficult
environmental decisions. I am proud that New Jersey is now a
national example of the important link between a healthy
environment and economic growth.
At Johns Hopkins at the Risk Science Institute, my
colleagues and I work to advance science, evaluating and
communicating risk. I have the privilege to train many of the
emerging leaders in environmental science, some of who are here
today. I have also worked closely with State and local
officials and our Federal agencies on numerous important issues
including emergency preparedness, the chemical exposures to our
troops, the toxic flood waters of Katrina, nuclear waste clean
up and the safety of our food supply.
Through the National Academy of Sciences and the EPA
Science Advisory Board, I have worked to push EPA to do better
science to address the needs of decisionmakers. I chaired the
NAS Committee on Improving Risk Analysis that provided the
report, Science and Decisions, providing a framework for the
future of risk assessment.
While I have not been shy about pushing EPA to do better
science, I do have a deep respect for the work of agency
scientists. Science is indeed the backbone of EPA
decisionmaking, and it has been the foundation of our Nation's
environmental progress over the past four decades. I believe
those tasks making these important decisions regarding
environmental protection for the public good need to be
informed by the best science, science that is credible,
transparent, timely and inclusive.
If confirmed, I look forward to working with the members of
this Committee, stakeholders in business and industry, State
and local partners and the broader scientific community to make
sure that EPA is asking the right questions and getting the
best scientific answers.
I thank you, Chairman Boxer and members of the Committee,
for this opportunity to meet with you today. I am happy to
answer any questions.
Since I have a few seconds, I want to acknowledge my family
and my sons Matt and Tim who are watching, my wife, Margo and
my daughter, Emily, who are here today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Burke follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Boxer. Thank you very much.
Last but certainly not least, we turn to Ms. Wassmer.
STATEMENT OF VICTORIA BAECHER WASSMER, NOMINATED TO BE CHIEF
FINANCIAL OFFICER, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Ms. Wassmer. Good afternoon, Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member
Vitter and other members of the Committee.
It is my honor to appear today before you as President
Obama's nominee as the Chief Financial Officer for the
Environmental Protection Agency. If confirmed, I will work
every day to be worthy of this privilege by serving the
President and Administrator McCarthy with dedication and
commitment.
Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to thank my
parents, Frank and Viola Baecher, my parents. My mom, who is
actually here just behind me, grounded me in the spirit of
public service. After attending the University of Chicago,
Graduate School of Social Work, they served as clinical social
workers in the Chicago area public school system. It was
through their example over decades of dedicated service that I
learned the importance of giving back, being accountable and
working with purpose to make things better.
Over my 20-year career, I have spent 15 years in service to
the Federal Government. By building on my technical training
with hands-on, practical leadership and management experience,
I have had the opportunity to take on progressively challenging
and invigorating jobs.
After completing graduate school in public policy at the
Kennedy School of Government, I spent 6 years at the Office of
Management and Budget. I first served as a policy analyst in
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs before
becoming a program examiner in the Transportation Branch,
overseeing management, regulatory policy and budgetary issues
over an array of agencies. I learned from master senior
executives and policy officials the importance of being a
dedicated, responsible steward of the American taxpayers'
money.
After several years spent at the local transit agency and
in the private sector, the pull of Federal service brought me
back. I joined the Federal Aviation Administration as a manager
and later Deputy Director in the Office of Budget.
I then went on to become a member of the Senior Executive
Service and the Deputy Chief Financial Officer, managing the
$16 billion annual budget that allows the FAA to provide its
mission of being the safest, most efficient aerospace system in
the world, and being responsible for such a large complex
budget for such a high profile agency allowed me to apply
strategic, data-driven approaches to implementing sound
business practices that ensured performance and accountability.
In 2010, I became the Chief Financial Officer and Vice
President of Administration at the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. MCC was still maturing from a startup
international development agency and to a results-driven,
transparent and innovative organization. I was responsible for
realigning corporate services, including finance, human
resources, acquisitions and information technology to better
support the agency's mission.
I also implemented tighter internal controls and improved
financial practices which allowed for scarce budgetary
resources to go further in supporting poor, lower and middle
income countries that were well governed.
In August 2011, I was asked to return to the FAA to create
a new organization for an agency that had made significant
investments in me as a senior leader. As the Assistant
Administrator for Finance and Management, I have overseen the
transformation of the agency's finance, acquisition,
information technology and regions and center operations
services into a single, integrated, shared services model.
After 2 years, I can proudly say that we have moved from a
new standup organization to a high performing, value added
operation. When constrained fiscal times necessitated improved
efficiencies and cost savings, my team and I navigated the
agency's unprecedented budget cuts. Our data driven approaches
helped the agency identify approximately $637 million in budget
reductions, of which over half, $320 million, were through
contract spending, travel and other non-pay cuts.
I was asked recently what my definition of success is.
Throughout my career, success has meant working on a trajectory
of improving things systematically, making change and getting
results when even after I have left, things are still moving
forward.
If confirmed to serve as the CFO, I will work just as hard
and with as much commitment using my full talent and experience
in support of the EPA's mission to protect human health and the
environment.
Thank you again. I welcome any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Wassmer follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Ms. Wassmer.
I want to say to all the family members who are here, thank
you. I neglected to do that. I know families make sacrifices.
You can just tell from a bit of the back and forth here,
politics is not for the faint of heart but, except for Mr.
Williams, the rest of you who have not been in political
office, I know it is a bit stunning to kind of be in that
circumstance to accept some of the shots and arrows. That is
the way it is. I think that is why these hearings are
important.
I want to say, Ms. Suh, you received some criticism from
Senator Barrasso. I am sorry he is not here but I would like to
enter into the record without objection an amazing list of
letters of support headed by former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse
Campbell, Ducks, Ltd., Outdoor Industries Association, Nature
Conservancy, Student Conservation Association, Southeast
Tourism Society, Trust for Public Land, Land Trust Alliance,
Defenders of Wildlife, Wilderness Society, and American Sports
Fishing Association, Congressional Sportsmen Foundation,
Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, Theodore Roosevelt
Conservation Partnership, Trout Unlimited, Izaak Walton League
of America, Wildlife Management Institute and the Mule/Deer
Foundation. Place these letters in the record because I think
that is a tremendous list of support.
[The referenced information was not received at time of
print.]
Senator Boxer. Second, I am going to put into the record
what I said to Senator Barrasso. You were with the William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation as well as the David and Lucile
Packard Foundation, named after the very, very famous David
Packard, so important to Silicon Valley in the long ago days
when it got started.
I think it is important to see some of the groups that
these foundations support: Bipartisan Policy Center, Catholic
Charities, Christian Coalition, the NAACP, Theodore Roosevelt
Conservation Partnership, Western Governors Association,
American Farmland Trust, National Geographic Society, National
Trust for Historic Preservation, and Taxpayers for Common
Sense.
I know when you were in those foundations you made
suggestions to fund these very organizations. I want to put
that into the record.
[The referenced information was not received at time of
print.]
Senator Boxer. Then I want to home in on your sense of
natural gas because as I look at natural gas, it is a very
important contribution; it is less carbon than the fossil fuels
and I look at it as a transition fuel because I am hoping that
we can get clean energy but it is slow and I think it is a very
important part of our mix.
I also believe that it is critical that it be done safely
because my view is having watched nuclear power, when nuclear
power is done safely everyone supports it but when it is not
done safely--and we have had that experience in our State--it
shuts down.
I want to ask you specifically if you could share your view
on the role of natural gas and how it fits into the
Administration's energy strategy.
Ms. Suh. Thank you very much for the opportunity to answer
that question.
Not only do I support the President's all of the above
energy strategy but specifically as you referred to natural
gas' role within that portfolio of energy supply in the
country. It is hugely important.
In 2013, I believe natural gas royalties returned $1.6
billion to the American taxpayer in the form of royalties.
Twenty percent of Federal lands accounts for 20 percent of the
natural gas production in the country. I recognize the
importance of that and I am committed to it. I think that
commitment is demonstrated by the support I have given to
promote robust budgets for energy development that include
natural gas development.
Since 2008 there has been a 57 percent increase in the
energy budgets within the Department of the Interior and that
clearly demonstrates not only a priority around energy
development, but specifically an emphasis on how we do this
development in a way that is balanced.
The final thing I will say is that energy development is a
critical part of our Nation's economy. I think the job at the
Department of the Interior, specifically the job if I am
confirmed for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, is a job that will
require the balance of needs and aspirations of local
communities for economic development with the obligations that
we have at the Department for conservation.
I think the critical reality is how you pursue that balance
with integrity and respect for local communities.
Senator Boxer. Thank you.
Ms. Wassmer, would you agree to meet with my staff as soon
as possible to discuss your plans for strengthening oversight
of EPA's financial management system to detect and prevent
fraud and to effectively manage spending of resources to better
protect public health and the environment?
Ms. Wassmer. Yes. If I have the honor to serve in that
position, I would be honored to come back and meet with you and
your staff.
Senator Boxer. That would be very important.
I am going to ask everyone here to answer yes or no down
the line so I can get this out of the way. Do you agree, if
confirmed, to appear before this Committee or designated
members of this Committee and other appropriate committees of
the Congress and provide information subject to appropriate and
necessary security protection with respect to you
responsibilities?
[All nominees respond in the affirmative.]
Senator Boxer. Do you agree to ensure that testimony,
briefings, documents, electronic and other forms of
communication of information will be provided to this Committee
and its staff and other appropriate committees in a timely
manner?
[All nominees respond in the affirmative.]
Senator Boxer. Do you know of any matters which you may or
may not have disclosed that might place you in any conflict of
interest if you are confirmed?
[All nominees respond in the negative.]
Senator Boxer. Thank you all.
Senator Vitter.
Senator Vitter. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Suh, in light of your answer to the Chair's first
question about natural gas, the obvious follow up is this. In
light of that, why did you say ``the pace and magnitude of this
development''--meaning natural gas--``is easily the single
greatest threat to the ecological integrity of the west''?
Ms. Suh. Thank you, Senator Vitter, for that question. I
want to thank your staff for the opportunity to meet with them
in the last couple of weeks.
Development has consequences for landscapes. Impacts
associated with development are, in many ways, inevitable, so
the impacts associated with natural gas, particularly natural
gas development that occurs over a large area and large acreage
has impact.
The role that I have at the department and the role for me
specifically around how you balance that impact with the need
for economic development and fulfilling the aspirations of
communities is demonstrated by my report.
Senator Vitter. Can I take it from this quote that you
disagree with the current ``pace and magnitude of this
development''?
Ms. Suh. I am sorry, could you clarify the question?
Senator Vitter. The quote suggests that you disagree with
the current ``pace and magnitude of this development in the
west.'' Is that correct or not?
Ms. Suh. That is not correct.
Senator Vitter. Again, why did you say that? I don't
understand your first answer. Why did you say that?
Ms. Suh. Again, there are real impacts associated with
energy development. The question is how do you balance those
impacts with the conservation and economic needs of
communities?
Senator Vitter. Do you think those impacts of natural gas
in the west is ``the single greatest threat to the ecological
integrity of the west''?
Ms. Suh. Again, development has consequences but I believe
that those consequences can be balanced in a rational and
reasonable way.
Senator Vitter. The Administration decided to implement a
drilling moratorium in the Gulf after the BP disaster. That
cost thousands of jobs and a lot of jobs overseas. Did you
raise any objection to that decision when it was being made?
Ms. Suh. I was not a part at all of any of those
conversations or any of the decisionmaking process around that
moratorium.
Senator Vitter. Were you ever asked in your role in
Interior about the potential impacts to the Treasury of
shutting down that energy development?
Ms. Suh. No, sir, I was not.
Senator Vitter. Did you object in any way to the recent
decision by Fish and Wildlife to move forward with 30-year
permits that allow for wind farms to kill a significant number
of bald eagles?
Ms. Suh. I was not involved in that decision. I am aware of
that decision and it is my understanding that rule not only
applies to the wind industry but to industry overall and
enables us specifically with the industry to develop a
regulatory framework for both certainty and predictability and
an opportunity for permitting and therefore, enforcement.
I believe it gives the Fish and Wildlife Service a greater
ability to ensure the protection of that species and ensure the
appropriate oversight of all industries.
Senator Vitter. Did you object to the Office of Surface
Mining Stream Buffer Zone Rule which would cause up to 7,000
job losses and have a negative impact in 22 States?
Ms. Suh. Again, I was not involved in that policy decision.
Senator Vitter. If you haven't been involved in any of the
stuff, why have you said that in your current role, ``I've been
involved in every single one of the policy priorities from
Secretary Salazar to now Secretary Jewell.'' It is a very
broad-based role in the Department. You said that in that
quote. What am I missing because it seems at odds with your
answers here?
Ms. Suh. As the CFO for the Department of the Interior, I
am primarily responsible for budget formulation and execution.
I have supported and been involved in support of all the major
policy priorities for each of the nine bureaus that we have.
Senator Vitter. I have just mentioned some of the major
policy priorities and you said you have not been involved in
any of those.
Ms. Suh. I have been involved in supporting the necessary
resources required to support those policy decisions.
Senator Vitter. Just a comment. It strikes me as those two
things are at odds but I will come back to some other concerns.
Thank you.
Senator Whitehouse [presiding]. Ms. Suh, welcome to the
Committee. The Chairman has stepped out so I have the gavel
momentarily until she returns.
I wanted to follow up on the conversations you and I have
had which are quite specific to Rhode Island. One has to do
with the national park that we are hoping to establish in Rhode
Island. We are the State with the least national parks of any
State, and you could probably fit our national park about in
this hearing room.
Senator Reid has been working very hard on the Blackstone
Valley Historic District becoming a national park. One of the
ways in which we would like the different elements along the
Blackstone River to be accessible and connected is by water as
well as by car and bicycle.
I want your assurances that you will work with me and
Senator Reid in development of that project. It has been
described as pearls threaded on a string. We want to make sure
the string is both road, bike, hike and water as well for
kayakers, canoers and people who want to take advantage of
that.
Ms. Suh. Thank you again for the time you spent with me. I
absolutely will commit to working with you in pursuing the
opportunity for the park designation and the opportunities
specifically around the waterways that can provide the
connectivity between those pearls.
Senator Whitehouse. Thank you.
Rhode Island is a small State, so all of the opportunities
that we have for recreation are really precious to us. We have
some very, very special rivers. They are not great rivers. It
is not the Columbia or the Mississippi but we have a number of
rivers and hundreds of dams as a result of being an old State,
an original State and one with all these rivers.
Some of the dams are very old, some are very small and
present different problems, but a common theme that I hear is
that if you wanted to build a canoe or kayak passage to help
make navigating a dam safer, easier and expand the recreational
opportunities there or if you wish to install a micro-hydro
facility to generate a little bit of power from the dam, or if
you wish to put in a fish ladder so that the fish that used to
swim up these rivers in order to breed could do so again and
you could restore that part of their environment.
In all of those different circumstances, you run across
multiple Federal agencies and relatively complex and demanding
procedures, which if you wanted to do something with a dam on
the Columbia, the Mississippi, the Missouri or some of our
major rivers, you could understand. For some of these very
little rivers and very small dams, particularly if it is a
private group of canoers and kayakers who want to build the
passage, the regulatory cost of trying to sort through that
basically disables anyone's ability to take advantage of those
opportunities.
I hope very much that you will work with me and my office
in trying to identify ways for these very small dams on very
small rivers that the application process, the information that
is required and all that can be reduced so that some of these
very beneficial uses can be made feasible where they aren't now
because of the cost of compliance.
Ms. Suh. Senator, if confirmed, I am absolutely happy to
continue to work with you on this issue. Since our
conversation, I actually went back and had some conversations
within the Department to try to get some sense of why these
potential hurdles exist and what we can do about them.
Again, if confirmed, I am committed to working with you and
your staff to ensure that we utilize the opportunities that we
have with those resources to maximize the recreational benefits
we have for our population.
Senator Whitehouse. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Best wishes to you.
Senator Boxer [presiding]. We will now go to Senator
Inhofe.
Senator Inhofe. I have to say, Ms. Suh, I had not seen that
quote and I am in shock. You say ``the pace and magnitude of
gas development is easily the single greatest threat to the
ecological integrity of the west,'' the single greatest. What
is the threat? Do you stand by that statement now or have you
changed your mind?
Ms. Suh. Sir, I think I have made it clear that as a member
of this Administration, I support all of the above energy
policy and I support natural gas development. I support the
opportunities for pursuing energy development.
Senator Inhofe. That isn't satisfactory. That is such a
strong statement. I am still in shock.
You and I talked about a specific problem we have in
Oklahoma, the lesser prairie chicken and the American burying
beetle in the eastern part of the State. The American burying
beetle has been endangered since 1989. We have found
significant populations of that particular critter and we had a
system for a while called the Beta Wade. I don't know what
happened to it or if you are familiar with that system.
It was supposed to be replaced by something to correct the
problem. The American burying beetle in one project, a $100
million pipeline, has completely stopped operations. For
another company, it has already cost $12.5 million.
In April, I brought this up and was told the Service would
approve a new conservation plan by December 2013. It is now
December 2013. I know you haven't been here but will you make
any kind of commitment to come up with a conservation plan? We
have people losing money every day over something over which
they have no control whatsoever.
Ms. Suh. I understand. After the conversation that we had
last week, I followed up with the Fish and Wildlife Service to
try to determine the timeframe. It looks like spring--March or
April 2014. My understanding is the work they are doing on the
general conservation plan is work they are specifically doing
with industry to ensure whatever ends up in the plan is
workable and balanced with industry and trusts.
Senator Inhofe. Let's say April 2014?
Ms. Suh. I believe that is correct.
Senator Inhofe. We will be having hearings, and it is
something that really needs to be corrected. It is a very
serious problem.
Last April, Richard Hatcher, Director of the Oklahoma
Department of Wildlife Conservation, wrote Fish and Wildlife
asking to start a delisting process. Apparently it is accurate
that these populations of the American burying beetle are
plentiful now and they are coming along. He has not gotten a
response from that letter and that was in April. If you are
confirmed, would you respond to him or see that a response is
made?
One thing I do not like about bureaucracy is if there is no
response, then you do not have any idea. It seems as if that is
sometimes deliberate. Would you make an attempt to give a
response to Mr. Hatcher if you are confirmed?
Ms. Suh. Yes, sir, if I am confirmed, I absolutely will
commit to that.
Senator Inhofe. Dr. Burke, when Lisa Jackson was the
Director of the EPA, there was a lot of conversation at that
time about hydraulic fracturing, about precision drilling and
about horizontal drilling. I would say this and I should have
mentioned this while I was asking you a question, Ms. Suh, that
you talked about the increase in development of natural gas
during the last 4 or 5 years. That is all on private or State
land. None of that--in fact, we have had a reduction on Federal
land. This is the big problem we have.
Do you agree with Lisa Jackson? I asked her, has there ever
been a confirmed case of groundwater contamination as a result
of hydraulic fracturing? She said no.
Mr. Burke. I am not familiar with that question but from my
own experience, having done many studies of groundwater
contamination, I am not familiar with a specific case.
Senator Inhofe. Very good, that is essentially what she
said. We have talked about this over a period of time. It
happens the first hydraulic fracturing was done in my State of
Oklahoma in 1948 and there have been over a million
applications of this and yet we do not have that.
Ms. Suh, do you agree with his response to that question?
Ms. Suh. I am less sophisticated in terms of my exposure to
research and development but I am not aware of any specific
studies or findings either.
Senator Inhofe. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Senator Boxer. Senator Fischer.
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Madam Chair.
A little follow up from Senator Inhofe's question, Ms. Suh.
Are you aware that from 2008 to 2012, the U.S. natural gas
production increased by 11 percent overall as it fell 13
percent on Federal lands?
Ms. Suh. I was not aware of that statistic.
Senator Fischer. If confirmed, do you hope that energy
production on Federal lands will have gone up or down on your
watch?
Ms. Suh. Energy production on Federal lands obviously
continues to be a hugely important part of our economy. I think
the responsibility of the Federal Government, specifically the
Department of the Interior, is to balance the opportunity for
economic development which obviously means a lot to the members
of this Committee and your States. I commit to that.
Senator Fischer. Would you personally try to look for ways
to increase energy production on Federal lands?
Ms. Suh. I specifically would, if confirmed, look for
opportunities where there are development opportunities to
balance those development opportunities to allow those
development opportunities to continue to move forward in a way
that allows us to conserve our natural resources and fulfill
our statutory obligations for those resources.
I believe you can balance those things. I believe it is all
about the approach and all about the intention of driving
toward a solution that is balanced on both sides.
Senator Fischer. Do you believe balance can be found
between conservation and management of natural resources?
Ms. Suh. Absolutely.
Senator Fischer. On to pesticides, which I mentioned in my
opening statement. The EPA must consult with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife or the National Marine and Fisheries Service when it
comes to dealing with pesticides. The EPA and the Services
currently disagree on the fundamental legal and science policy
matters related to their respective obligations under the
Endangered Species Act and FIFRA.
There are scientific disagreements along with the lack of a
sound and workable process for consultation under the ESA. That
creates what I believe to be a huge bottleneck that we are
seeing for the pesticide registration process. Another issue
with that is also the lack of resources, either human or
monetary, that the Services face.
It is really difficult for I think agricultural innovation
to take place in this area. I think it is extremely important
not just to the agricultural economy but to our natural
resources as well. How do the Services plan to secure enough
funding and more importantly, find other alternatives so that
you can keep pace with that workload we are seeing with the
pesticide consultation?
Ms. Suh. Obviously these are challenging budget times. I
think the Fish and Wildlife Service is working hard to
prioritize its budget in a way that delivers to the American
public. My understanding is that they are working through
recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences report that
will help inform the Federal family in how we can best proceed
in a way that expedites clarity and transparency around these
outcomes.
Senator Fischer. You talked about the Federal family. Would
you try to work in your position, if you are confirmed, to work
better with EPA to come up with some kind of agreement when it
comes to these innovations? I think they are very positive with
regards to pesticides?
Ms. Suh. I absolutely would commit to that. I believe the
role we all have in whatever Department we sit, we are
responsible for ensuring that we act reasonably, we move beyond
our silos and try to create outcomes that have positive
consequences for the American people and the resources that we
manage.
Senator Fischer. Can you comment on the role Fish and
Wildlife and the National Marine and Fisheries Services play in
protecting threatened and endangered species as related to
EPA's registration of the products? Do you think you can
protect the species and still ensure efficient registrations?
Are those mutually exclusive goals? Can you bring them
together?
Ms. Suh. Not understanding the specifics of the situation,
I haven't read the National Academy of Sciences report but yes,
I do believe that they are not mutually exclusive goals. The
pursuit is to try to do exactly what you say in creating that
balance.
Senator Fischer. Thank you. I think it is very, very
important for our environment and our economy that these move
forward quickly.
Ms. Suh. Understood.
Senator Fischer. Thank you.
Senator Boxer. Senator Boozman.
Senator Boozman. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Suh, I want to touch briefly on a couple of things that
were mentioned when you were in the office. One of those is the
national fish hatcheries and how important those are in the
mission of mitigation.
The other was the Neosho Mucket and rabbitsfoot mussel,
talking about dramatically increasing the critical habitat of
that in Arkansas, 750 miles. Most people feel that is 38
percent in excess but asking for a commitment to look at these
issues and as you do that to look at the serious consequences
of listing critical habitat and the economic development that
goes along with it.
Senator Inhofe has a similar situation. I think if you went
through Congress, we all would have some sort of similar things
but this is very, very important. Make sure that it is based on
science and common sense.
Ms. Suh. Absolutely. I commit first and foremost to abiding
by scientific integrity principles and abiding by the best
available science that we have in the Federal Government.
Specifically as it relates to the fish hatchery issue, I
recognize the importance of those facilities in your State. I
know the Fish and Wildlife Service has made it clear they are
not closing any fish hatcheries in 2014.
Again, obviously these are difficult budget times, so if
confirmed, I look forward to working with you to try to figure
out how we can balance our resource constraints with the
opportunities to keep hatcheries viable and open.
Senator Boozman. Thank you very much.
Dr. Burke, in the spirit of good science, in May of this
year I had the opportunity to question Dr. Collins of NIH. I
asked him if taxpayers were providing money for scientific
research. If they were publicly funded, should they have access
to the materials? His answer was, ``Yes, we strongly support
the need for that. If the public has paid for the research, the
public should have access to it. At NIH, I think it is fair to
say it has taken the lead in trying to make sure that kind of
access to information happens in a timely fashion.''
I asked him if there was any reason that research would not
be provided. One of the guys with him was head of Infection
Disease and he said, yes. If we are working on some microbe
that got loose or the public learned how to replicate it or
whatever and it was a threat to the public, they probably
wouldn't do that.
One of the problems we have had is, as we have seen the
clean air regulations coming about, not getting access to the
science that the regulations are based on. Can you comment as
to your feeling about that, if that is appropriate or not
appropriate? How is that justified?
Mr. Burke. Thank you for the question. I think it is an
important one. As an academic scientist, we are grappling with
this issue, particularly in the biomedical sciences. I think
science has to be transparent and credible and to every extent
possible, particularly data funded by the Federal Government,
be made available for reanalysis and stimulate greater research
and understanding.
I do want to mention one caution. As a Dean at Hopkins, we
are concerned about very personal, confidential medical
records. We go to great lengths to protect individual personal
records to some regard and where there are individual
identifiers. However, I think there are ways to anonymize data,
there are ways to make data more available and I agree working
with the research community to promote much greater
availability of research data.
Senator Boozman. I understand with medical data but the
reality is that every other discipline in medicine--I am an
optometrist by training and I go to meetings all the time and
they talk about patients all the time. They don't say who they
are but they talk about specific patients with specific
problems and studies based on specific patients with specific
problems.
The idea that the data cannot be released because you
cannot figure out a way to redact that or make it such that you
are not providing those protections just doesn't make sense to
me.
Mr. Burke. I know being a member of the academic community,
we are making great strides in doing just that to make the data
available wherever possible.
Senator Boozman. So you will work with us to make sure that
data you use to make decisions, we will get the data?
Mr. Burke. If confirmed, I look forward to working on that
issue and working toward making data much more widely
available.
Senator Boozman. Again, as a very prominent scientist, you
certainly understand the importance of that. You mention your
friends who suffered injuries and things but when you are
dealing with making such significant findings that affect the
public, how can Congress do that if they don't have access to
the data or if the rest of the scientific community cannot have
access to the data to make sure it is good data?
Mr. Burke. I agree with you but I also feel that there are
laws to protect the individual but I think we can achieve a
balance.
Senator Boozman. Thank you. I understand totally. I guess
the problem is that everyone else has been able to figure out
how to do this except for EPA.
Mr. Burke. If confirmed, I would be very happy to look into
that and to work with EPA so that we can make data more greatly
available.
Senator Boozman. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Senator. I look forward to
working with you on that.
I want to thank the panel very much. We have asked you a
number of questions and will keep the record open for more than
2 weeks, until January 4. Do you each commit to answer those
written questions and get them back to us by January 4, a
little more than 2 weeks? Two weeks falls on New Year's Eve and
I didn't want to think about you sitting there writing answers
on New Year's Eve. Would you commit to answering them? I have a
number myself. Is that all right?
[All nominees respond in the affirmative.]
Senator Vitter. Madam Chair, I had understood we would have
a second round.
Senator Boxer. I don't need a second round but go ahead.
Senator Vitter. Thank you.
First, I would like unanimous consent to put into the
record the full written statement of Jonathan Turley we
discussed a while ago.
Senator Boxer. Sure.
[The referenced information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Vitter. That will underscore that I quoted it
completely accurately and in the proper context. There is no
narrow context in which it was given.
My questions in the second round are for Dr. Burke. I
really share a lot of the concerns about sound science that we
have talked about. I have been involved in that in a lot of
different contexts including the NAS recommendations,
recommendations on formaldehyde. Do you think congressional
oversight in this area including that instance but others has
been helpful in improving EPA's science?
Mr. Burke. Senator, I think you and I share the same goals
in improving EPA's science. As a member of the National Academy
panels and the chair of a major panel, I am very aware of your
work to promote better science and of the tremendous positive
impacts of the formaldehyde report on changing the way EPA
conducts their risk analysis for their IRIS reports. We agree.
Senator Vitter. I appreciate hearing that. Will you commit
specifically to helping work to implement those NAS
recommendations with regard to how EPA approaches its
scientific work in general?
Mr. Burke. If confirmed, I look forward to that.
Senator Vitter. As you can tell from some of my colleagues'
comments, we think a particularly important example of how
science can be used or abused is the ongoing debate about
fracking. Would you commit in particular to help apply NAS and
other sound recommendations regarding the right way to do sound
science to any science with regard to fracking at EPA?
Mr. Burke. Yes, Senator.
Senator Vitter. I also completely share the comments of my
colleague from Arkansas about data transparency. I don't think
anybody wants to disclose private identifiers or private health
or medical information but I believe in virtually every case
involved in these studies there is a way to mask that sort of
identifying information and therefore have the best of both
worlds, absolutely maintain the privacy of any individual
patient and release the data underlying proposed regulations
scrubbed of those identifiers.
Am I missing something or do you largely agree with that?
Mr. Burke. I largely agree with it but I want to talk a
little bit from personal experience because even right here in
Washington, DC, I have done community level studies. I just
want to give you an example.
I mentioned I did childhood cancer clusters. Sometimes when
we are working in a small community with very small numbers, it
is very difficult to make everything available because we
wouldn't want to violate an individual child's right of privacy
about their disease or a family's confidentiality. There are
always measures that we take to protect that individual.
For the large part, I absolutely agree with you. We can do
a much better job in making scientific data available from our
research studies.
Senator Vitter. Great. In reaction to this discussion we
have had for a couple of years now, President Obama actually on
May 9 of this year, issued his Open Data Executive Order that
instructs Federal agencies to make that data public after it
scrubs it of personal identifiers. Are you aware of that
Executive Order and do you agree with that?
Mr. Burke. Although I don't know the specific details of
that, I know that is the direction the Administration is
moving. I look forward to participating in that and working
with other members of the Administration, if confirmed, and
also my colleagues in the scientific community to make progress
in that area.
Senator Vitter. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Boxer. This is really good that you got the whole
thing here with the paper and all the cites because the only
two cites I have come across on the two issues is Defense of
Marriage Act and Immigration but I think maybe there is
something about Environment in here. I haven't seen it so I
look forward to reading the entire thing.
Senator Vitter. We can continue this debate whenever you
like. My point is he was making statements in a broad context
and that was certainly not a criticism from the Left. He says
in this he actually agrees with a lot of the policies like the
immigration policies, like the policies behind non-enforcement
of the Defense of Marriage Act, but he disagrees with the
Administration going beyond its authority.
Senator Boxer. I understand but I found it fascinating that
the only cases I saw as I looked at all the background which
you are putting in the record, which I will have my counsel do
a better job than I did, a cursory review, is the backup papers
because he is very general. He calls it the [unintelligible]
presidency and all that but then he cites gay rights and
immigration and says that the President is harming those
issues. It is really interesting to read but sometimes the far
Left and the far Right come together.
Here is the thing. I went back because Senator Vitter has
every right to criticize me as Chairman for putting too many
people here in front of us. I went back and I thanked Senator
Inhofe for recalling that he did have one time where he had
seven people in a row. Actually, it happened twice and I am
going to put in the record those examples--one in 2005, one in
2006 and then another where there were five people in 2005.
[The referenced information was not received at time of
print.]
Senator Boxer. It is just not true and having four people
here, I think is quite manageable. I think we are astute enough
to question each and every one of you.
I just want to say in closing I am sorry that you saw some
tensions here but that is the way it is. That is what democracy
is. The minority has every right to complain and the majority
has every right to defend themselves and the way they conduct
business.
We are also going to produce for the record the number of
hearings we have held since President Obama came into office
comparing it to when President Bush was in office because I
think it is important what we are hearing here constantly, that
this Committee is not looking at the issues. It simply isn't
true. What you will find is we have done much more.
The facts are stubborn things but they will be put in the
record.
[The referenced information was not received at time of
print.]
Senator Boxer. I want to thank each and every one of you.
It is a sacrifice, it is, to put yourself before the
questioners and it is a sacrifice for your families to have to
hear questions that are sometimes less than flattering but I
got to tell you, it is worth it and I have a great feeling
about each and every one of you because you all are so very
qualified.
I personally, and I know all of us are, grateful to you for
putting yourselves out there.
I have a number of questions. Please get your answers to
the questions by January 4 and I look forward to moving your
nominations expeditiously.
Thank you very much.
Senator Vitter. Madam Chairman, if I could respond to some
of your latter comments?
Senator Boxer. We stand adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:24 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
[An additional statement submitted for the record follows:]
Statement of Hon. Thomas R. Carper,
U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware
Before I begin, I would like to warmly welcome all of our
nominees to today's hearing and thank you for willingness to
serve and go through the nomination process. As Chairman of the
Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, I know how
time consuming the nomination process can be for not only the
nominee, but also the Committee. That's why I would also like
to thank the Madam Chairman for her tireless work to move the
nominees in our Committee's jurisdiction--like the ones before
us today--forward in a timely fashion.
Today's hearing highlights the fact that we are lacking
critical leadership in numerous positions in just about every
agency, undermining the effectiveness of our Government. This
has been a problem that has plagued the executive branch
through both Democratic and Republican administrations--a
problem so prevalent that I've started referring to it as
``executive branch Swiss cheese.'' While Congress and the
Administration have taken steps to address this problem, the
fact remains that we still have more work to do to ensure that
we have talented people in place to make critical decisions.
That's one of the reasons why today's confirmation hearing
is so important. I believe all of the nominees before us are
extremely qualified and look forward to working with all of
them in their respective agencies if confirmed.
I especially look forward to working with Ms. Rhea Sun Suh,
who, if confirmed, will oversee two very important divisions
within the Department of Interior--the Fish and Wildlife
Service and the National Park Service. Wildlife conservation is
important to me and to all Delawareans, and we've been
particularly thankful to the Fish and Wildlife Service for
undertaking extensive plans to overhaul Prime Hook National
Wildlife Refuge.
The dynamic environment within the Refuge and the wildlife
that depend on this habitat are extremely vulnerable to rising
seas and coastal storms and have been badly damaged by coastal
storms in recent years. Along with the rest of our Delegation
and Governor Markell, I will look forward to continuing our
close relationship with the Fish and Wildlife Service--and
working with Ms. Suh if confirmed--as we implement the Refuge's
new Conservation Plan.
And if confirmed, Ms. Suh will also be working with
Director Jon Jarvis to oversee the National Park Service--
which, as many of you know, is of most interest to me. After a
10-year effort, Delaware finally became part of the National
Park System in April of this year with the designation of the
First State National Monument.
Director Jarvis has already assigned a superintendent to
the First State National Monument--Delaware native Mr. Russ
Smith. Mr. Smith has already hit the ground running; I do not
believe there could have been a better choice for our first
superintendent.
If confirmed, Ms. Suh, I look forward to working with you
to ensure the First State National Monument is another success
story of the National Park System despite the limited budgets.
I also plan on continuing legislative efforts to authorize a
national park in place of the national monument--and look
forward to working with you on these efforts.
Thank you again to Ms. Suh and the other nominees before us
today.
[all]