[Senate Hearing 117-220]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                        S. Hrg. 117-220

                            BUSINESS MEETING

=======================================================================

                                MEETING

                               before the

                              COMMITTEE ON
                      ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________


                            JANUARY 12, 2022

                               __________

  Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works





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               COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                  THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland         SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West 
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont                 Virginia 
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island         Ranking Member
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon                 JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts      KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois            CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan            RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama
MARK KELLY, Arizona                  JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
ALEX PADILLA, California             ROGER WICKER, Mississippi
                                     DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
                                     JONI ERNST, Iowa
                                     LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina

             Mary Frances Repko, Democratic Staff Director
               Adam Tomlinson, Republican Staff Director








                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

                            NOVEMBER 3, 2021
                           OPENING STATEMENTS

Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware..     1
Capito, Hon. Shelly Moore, U.S. Senator from the State of West 
  Virginia.......................................................     2

                              LEGISLATION

Nomination Reference and Report..................................     7
General Services Administration Resolutions......................    11










 
                            BUSINESS MEETING

    WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2022
                                       U.S. Senate,
                 Committee on Environment and Public Works,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works 
Washington, DC.
    The committee, met, pursuant to notice, at 2:49 p.m., in 
room 106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas R. Carper 
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
    Present: Senators Carper, Capito, Cardin, Sanders, 
Whitehouse, Merkley, Markey, Duckworth, Stabenow, Kelly, 
Padilla, Inhofe, and Boozman.

          OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS R. CARPER, 
            U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF DELAWARE

    Senator Carper. Good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to 
call this business meeting to order.
    I am pleased to welcome everyone back as we get started 
with another busy year, hopefully a productive year on our 
committee with plenty of important work behind us. I am proud 
of what we have accomplished and plenty of work ahead of us.
    This afternoon, we begin by voting on a couple of 
nominations. After discussions with our friends on the 
Republican side, I will not be calling up one of the 
nominations that have been noticed. That is the nomination of 
David Uhlmann today.
    This morning, one of my colleagues informed me that she is 
still waiting on an outstanding information request that had 
been made of EPA, information that she needs in order to 
consider whether she can support the nomination. The requested 
information has nothing to do with the qualifications or the 
conduct of the nominee. Nor is it related to the position the 
nominee would serve in once confirmed. There is no correlation 
there.
    But I promised that my staff and I would work with the EPA 
to try to ensure, the best we can, that this information is 
provided promptly, so that Mr. Uhlmann's nomination can be 
considered in an upcoming business meeting as soon as possible.
    As I think you know, Senator Capito and I always try to 
work with our committee colleagues to address needs for 
information and I have committed to doing so in this case as 
well. However, the EPA and other agencies we oversee need 
qualified nominees, as you know, to fill the key positions. We 
have a responsibility as well to ensure that those positions 
are filled.
    We will now consider the nomination of Christopher Frey. I 
asked Christopher, how do we remember to call you ``Frey'' and 
not ``Fry.'' He said, the band, there is a band called The 
Frey. If you just call me after the band, we will keep it 
straight.
    Christopher Frey has been nominated to be the Assistant 
Administrator for Research and Development of the Environmental 
Protection Agency, and Martha Williams to be Director of the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
    Since the adjournment of the first session of the 117th 
Congress, President Biden has re-nominated these two 
individuals to the same positions they were nominated for in 
the previous session. Just last month, this committee favorably 
reported the nomination of Mr. Frey, and I am hopeful we will 
do so again this afternoon.
    We will also be voting on Ms. Williams' nomination. This is 
the first time I believe we will be considering her nomination. 
So I would like to say a few brief words about her if I could.
    As we heard during her nomination hearing in November, Ms. 
Williams has a proven track record of bringing people together 
to solve complicated conservation challenges. That is why her 
nomination enjoys broad stakeholder support including from 
environmental organizations, and sportsmen and women alike, 
including I think both Senators from Montana.
    She is ready to roll up her sleeves and get the job done, 
should she be confirmed. I plan to vote yes on her nomination. 
I would urge our colleagues to do the same.
    In addition to voting on these two nominations, we will 
also consider 18 GSA resolutions. When we have completed our 
votes, we will immediately move on to today's hearing on the 
Water Resources Development Act. I am looking forward to that. 
I want to thank everyone for your input to help us get to this 
day.
    With that, let me turn to turn to Senator Capito for any 
comments she would like to make. After that, we will recognize 
other members in order of seniority until we have a quorum and 
then we will be voting.
    Senator Capito.

        OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. SHELLY MOORE CAPITO, 
          U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

    Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon and 
thank you for calling the business meeting today. Welcome to 
the committee for our first meeting of the year.
    It is an understatement to say we accomplished a lot in our 
last year together. I look forward to many more ways that we 
can work together in 2022.
    Today, we are gathered to consider a number of GSA 
resolutions, as you mentioned, and a nominee I am pleased to 
support, Martha Williams, to serve as Director of the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife. In my discussions with her, Ms. Williams would 
agree to preserve opportunities for hunting, fishing and other 
outdoor pursuits important to many West Virginians and across 
this Country.
    She has very much shown a willingness to work with 
Congress. She has provided detailed responses in my letter 
asking how the Fish and Wildlife Service would use its American 
Rescue Plan funds and also provided substantive, thoughtful 
responses to the questions I submitted for the record following 
her hearing. I thank her for that. Equally important, her staff 
has been responsive to mine when my staff has had policy 
questions or requests for additional information.
    Ms. Williams and I will not agree on everything, but she 
has shown she takes her responsibility to be accountable to 
Congress very seriously and I commend her for that.
    Those same principles of transparency and accountability 
guide my decision to vote no on the nominee for U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, as we are considering him 
today, Dr. Chris Frey, as I did the last time his nomination 
came up.
    My basis for opposition remains unchanged. It is not really 
what Chris Frey, how he testified or what direction I think he 
might go. It is really the fact that the EPA simply will not be 
transparent about its plans to pursue policies that could raise 
already surging energy prices for workers in West Virginia and 
across the Country and make America, I believe, less 
competitive.
    Almost a year ago when the committee considered EPA 
Administrator Michael Regan's nomination, I feared that he 
would be walking into an Administration where he wouldn't be 
able to call the shots, where unaccountable climate czars, 
including Gina McCarthy, would set the agenda. Unfortunately, 
that prediction has played out exactly as I had thought.
    Just last week, McCarthy stated to the New York Times about 
how she had spent the last year ``overseeing a whole-of-
government effort to put our country on a path to tackle the 
climate crisis.''
    President Biden has not even bothered to nominate someone 
to lead EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. That is the EPA 
office that is in charge of climate issues. No incoming 
Administration has waited this long to send up a nominee for 
this critical position. The previous record was 260 days set by 
former President Clinton. Instead, Ms. McCarthy is directing 
climate policy shielded from the public eye with no 
accountability to Congress or really to the American people.
    Last April, Administrator Regan appeared before this very 
committee and promised to provide me and our committee with the 
EPA analysis developed to support the U.S. nationally 
determined contribution, the NDC. In that new NDC, the 
agreement that was under the Paris agreement, President Biden 
pledged to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50 to 52 
percent from 2005 levels to 2030. Now, 9 months later, 
Administrator Regan still has not provided us with the 
analysis.
    Senator Inhofe also requested information shortly after 
that hearing. In August, EPA staff responded to him in a letter 
on behalf of the White House admitting an analysis existed but 
claiming that Gina McCarthy and her office ultimately call the 
shots on the NDC.
    So in September, Senator Inhofe and I, along with House 
Energy and Commerce chairs Cathy McMorris Rodgers and David 
McKinley of West Virginia asked the White House for more 
information. No response. Now it is 2022 and we still have no 
information about how the NDC, which is supposed to guide all 
of the Administration's climate policies, how it was 
calculated. This stonewalling by EPA and the White House is 
just unacceptable.
    We know the analysis has been done, so why hasn't it been 
shared with us? Well, here are two possibilities. Either it 
shows they cannot meet their goals at all, or it shows that 
meeting the NDC would be politically and economically 
devastating through aggressive, top-down regulations across all 
aspects of American lives.
    While EPA and the White House have kept any information 
about development of the target in the shadows, outside groups 
have tried to crunch the numbers. In December, the New York 
Times reported that current policies would only get our Country 
halfway there. Analysis shows that even the now stalled tax and 
spending spree known as Build Back Better may not fully close 
the gap despite its proponents' promises.
    We know the bill would further raise prices, kill jobs in 
States across the Country, and lead to more wasted taxpayer 
dollars without meeting pie-in-the-sky climate goals. Even so, 
hiding the analysis in the shadows is not fair. The American 
people deserve to know the supposed benefits, and especially 
the outside costs of what the Administration has committed to 
internationally, what that will mean to their lives, and how 
the Administration plans to fundamentally alter our economy to 
achieve those goals.
    With that in mind, unless my outstanding oversight requests 
are fully responded to, I cannot support advancing this EPA 
nomination.
    Thank you.
    Senator Carper. As tempted as I am respond, I am not going 
to do that at this point in time.
    I think Senator Sanders has joined us now. I believe, Mary 
Francis, that is 13. So that puts us in position. I just want 
to say thank you so much for coming. Thank you for being 
punctual.
    I would like to call up Presidential Nomination 1557, that 
of Martha Williams of Montana to be Director of the United 
States Fish and Wildlife Service. I move to approve and report 
the nomination favorably to the Senate. Is there a second?
    Senator Cardin. Second.
    Senator Carper. It has been moved and seconded. The Clerk 
will please call the roll.
    The Clerk. Mr. Boozman?
    Senator Boozman. No.
    The Clerk. Mrs. Capito?
    Senator Capito. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Cardin?
    Senator Cardin. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Cramer?
    Senator Capito. No.
    The Clerk. Ms. Duckworth?
    Senator Duckworth. Aye.
    The Clerk. Ms. Ernst?
    Senator Capito. Yes, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Graham?
    Senator Capito. Yes, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Inhofe?
    Senator Inhofe. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Kelly?
    Senator Kelly. Aye.
    The Clerk. Ms. Lummis?
    Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Markey?
    Senator Markey. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Merkley?
    Senator Merkley. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Padilla?
    Senator Padilla. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Sanders?
    Senator Sanders. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Shelby?
    Senator Capito. Aye, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Ms. Stabenow?
    Senator Stabenow. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Sullivan?
    Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Whitehouse?
    Senator Whitehouse. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Wicker?
    Senator Capito. Aye, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Chairman?
    Senator Carper. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, the yeas are 16, the nays are 4.
    Senator Carper. Thank you very much.
    Next let me call up the Presidential Nomination 1562, that 
of Henry Christopher Frey of North Carolina to be Assistant 
Administrator of Research and Development of the Environmental 
Protection Agency. I move to approve and report the nomination 
favorably to the Senate. Is there a second?
    Senator Cardin. Second.
    Senator Carper. It has been moved and seconded. The Clerk 
will call the roll, please.
    The Clerk. Mr. Boozman?
    Senator Boozman. No.
    The Clerk. Mrs. Capito?
    Senator Capito. No.
    The Clerk. Mr. Cardin?
    Senator Cardin. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Cramer?
    Senator Cramer. Aye.
    The Clerk. Ms. Duckworth?
    Senator Duckworth. Aye.
    The Clerk. Ms. Ernst?
    Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Graham?
    Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Inhofe?
    Senator Inhofe. No.
    The Clerk. Mr. Kelly?
    Senator Kelly. Aye.
    The Clerk. Ms. Lummis?
    Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Markey?
    Senator Markey. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Merkley?
    Senator Merkley. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Padilla?
    Senator Padilla. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Sanders?
    Senator Sanders. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Shelby?
    Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Ms. Stabenow?
    Senator Stabenow. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Sullivan?
    Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Whitehouse?
    Senator Whitehouse. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Wicker?
    Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
    The Clerk. Mr. Chairman?
    Senator Carper. Aye.
    The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, the yeas are 11, the nays are 9.
    Senator Carper. Very good. Thank you, colleagues.
    Last, I want to call up 18 GSA Resolutions to consider en 
bloc by voice vote. For the record, the Chair observes that a 
quorum is present in the room. Given the presence of a quorum, 
I move to approve and report these matters favorably to the 
Senate. Is there a second?
    Senator Inhofe. Second.
    Senator Carper. It has been moved and seconded. All in 
favor, say aye.
    [Chorus of ayes.]
    Senator Carper. All opposed say nay.
    [No audible response.]
    Senator Carper. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have 
it. The measures are approved and favorably reported.
    The business meeting portion of today's committee meeting 
is concluded. I want to thank everyone for attending and being 
so prompt. Let us now turn to today's hearing.
    Thank you all.
    [Whereupon, at 3:02 p.m., the committee proceeded to other 
business.]

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