    [Senate Hearing 118-412]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 118-412

                                BUSINESS MEETING

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

                                    MEETING

                                     OF THE

                                  COMMITTEE ON
                          ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS

                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                        ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                                FEBRUARY 1, 2023

                                   __________

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

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            Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov

                                    __________

                       U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
    56-768                      WASHINGTON : 2025

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                   COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS

                        ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                      THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman
              SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia, Ranking Member

    BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland         KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
    BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont             CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming
    SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island     MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma
    JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon                 PETE RICKETTS, Nebraska
    EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts      JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
    DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan            ROGER WICKER, Mississippi
    MARK KELLY, Arizona                  DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
    ALEX PADILLA, California             LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
    JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania

                   Courtney Taylor, Democratic Staff Director
                   Adam Tomlinson, Republican Staff Director

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

                                FEBRUARY 1, 2023
                               OPENING STATEMENTS

    Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware..     1
    Capito, Hon. Shelley Moore, U.S. Senator from the State of West
      Virginia.......................................................     3

                                  LEGISLATION

    Rules of Procedure for the Committee on Environment and Public
      Works..........................................................     6
    Resolution authorizing expenditures by the Committee on
      Environment and Public Works...................................    11

                                BUSINESS MEETING

                                  ----------

                          WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2023

                                           U.S. Senate,
                     Committee on Environment and Public Works,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in
    room 406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas R. Carper
    (chairman of the committee) presiding.
        Present: Senators Carper, Capito, Cardin, Whitehouse,
    Merkley, Markey, Kelly, Padilla, Fetterman, Lummis, Wicker,
    Sullivan, Mullin, Ricketts.

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

        Senator Carper. I am pleased to call this business meeting
    of the Environment and Public Works Committee to order. I thank
    everyone for joining Senator Capito and me today for the first
    EPW committee meeting of the 118th Congress.
        We have one person who is missing in action this morning,
    Mary Frances Repko. She is now working over in the
    Administration, someone who has been very much a part for over
    like a quarter of a century a key player in the House of
    Representatives, where Steny Hoyer worked for her for 10 years.
        [Laughter.]
        Senator Carper. You think I am kidding. Just ask him.
        She has gone on, I will not say to bigger and better
    things, but she will be a good partner with all of us. She has
    been succeeded by Courtney Taylor, sitting right by me over my
    left shoulder. If you have not had a chance to meet her, I
    think you are going to like her a lot. She is settling, and she
    and Adam have already started working together, which is a key
    to our success.
        I want to begin by welcoming several of our newest members
    of our committee. And it says we have 10, so we can begin to
    vote any time. Thank you.
        The newest members of our committee are Senator John
    Fetterman of Pennsylvania, I do not see John, although I saw
    him earlier today. And Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Pete
    Ricketts of Nebraska. I hope I am not missing anybody. Welcome
    aboard. We were pleased to have a chance to meet with some of
    our new Republican colleagues yesterday.
        Today we are going to vote on a couple of items, the
    committee's funding resolution and the rules that govern our
    committee's conduct. Senator Capito and I have agreed to begin
    voting as soon as we have established a quorum. I understand we
    have established a quorum of 10 people.
        At that time, we will hit the pause button with respect to
    our members' statements and proceed straight to the items on
    our agenda. After our voting concludes, I will happily
    recognize any additional members who may wish to speak.
        I am going to go ahead and finish this statement, it is not
    very long. Before we do, I want to take a moment to reflect on
    this committee's incredible accomplishments from the last
    Congress, most of them bipartisan, and express my hope for
    building on that work this Congress with Senator Capito and
    colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
        The 117th Congress was an extraordinarily productive
    session for the Congress as a whole, and especially for our
    committee. In 2021, we rolled up our sleeves, we got to work
    early on and we never stopped. We unanimously advanced two
    pieces of bipartisan infrastructure legislation out of our
    committee, our drinking water and wastewater legislation and
    our surface transportation and highway legislation which
    included the first-ever climate title.
        Our bipartisan success with both of those became the
    foundation of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that
    became law in November 2021. We were able to build on this
    success by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, the most
    significant investment to combat climate change in our Nation's
    history.
        In our committee's title alone, we invested more than $40
    billion in reducing climate pollution, and advancing
    environmental justice. This historic law, and I think this is
    an important point to keep in mind, we created with that
    legislation millions of good-paying jobs from coast to coast.
    We will be helping to build a stronger, cleaner economy.
        We didn't stop there. In December 2022, just about 2 months
    ago, we continued our committee's triumphant streak of passing
    the Water Resources and Development Act, WRDA, on time and with
    bipartisan support. Reauthorization of the Army Corps of
    Engineers, the fifth, I think consecutive 2 years we have done
    that. This law is going to deliver on critical water resources
    projects from Delaware to California and across the Nation from
    Nebraska, through New Orleans and every place in between. All
    50 States participated, we got great input from everybody, and
    we are delighted to have gotten such strong support from our
    colleagues and from the Administration.
        As we begin this Congress, it is more important than ever
    to continue to work on a bipartisan basis to tackle some of the
    challenges facing the American people. I know that I have the
    great, maybe the best partner of any committee chair in the
    Senate, in Senator Capito and her staff, led by Adam, critical
    to many of our successes of our committee in the last Congress.
    I am confident that together we will continue to do great
    things, important things, for all of our States to protect our
    environment and to invest in our infrastructure and create a
    nurturing environment for job creation.
        I believe this work includes watching over and helping
    guide the Biden Administration as they work to implement the
    historic laws that we passed in the last Congress, and includes
    taking action to address toxic chemicals like Per- and
    Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) that harm human health. It
    includes reauthorizing important programs that foster economic
    growth like the Economic Development Administration and
    Brownfields programs. And it includes improving our recycling
    systems just to name a few.
        I look forward to working closely with Senator Capito, our
    subcommittee chairs, ranking members and all the members of
    this committee here on its best traditions of bipartisanship
    and hard work in the 118th Congress. With that all being said,
    I want to recognize the Ranking Member, Senator Capito, and
    again to thank her for being just a terrific partner, as we
    have done all these things together. Thank you.

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

        Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to take
    just a brief moment, but I thank you for years past and this
    coming session as well. I always look forward to working with
    you, and welcome to Courtney as well to the committee.
        We notched many wins last year, as you talked about. Since
    our last meeting, the Water Resources Development Act of 2022
    was signed into law as part of the 2023 National Defense
    Authorization Act. So this is critical support for all of our
    States, certainly in West Virginia for floor control and
    prevention, to improve and expand drinking water, wastewater
    and stormwater projects, and identify future opportunities for
    additional economic development.
        Passage of WRDA on a 2-year schedule ensures timely
    progress on projects that enable our Nation's commerce and
    restore our water resources and protect our communities. Last
    Congress, as you mentioned, the committee also developed the
    backbone of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,
    including the 5-year Surface Transportation Reauthorization
    legislation as well as strong drinking and wastewater
    infrastructure legislation. I think we are starting to see the
    results of that in a lot of our States. These successes will be
    hard to top, but I know we are going to try.
        As we start the new Congress, I would like to join you in
    welcoming our new members on our Republican side, we are
    excited to have Senator Mullin and Senator Ricketts on EPW.
    Then-Congressman Mullin and I served together as members of the
    House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, so it is
    nice to be reunited. And welcome, Senator Ricketts. I
    facetiously say you are joining that exclusive club of the
    former Governors club that are now Senators.
        Senator Carper. Would you yield for a moment? I call it the
    recovering Governors.
        [Laughter.]
        Senator Capito. I call it something else, but I couldn't
    say it in public.
        [Laughter.]
        Senator Carper. Senator Capito, as you know, is the
    daughter of a former Governor of West Virginia. I start way too
    many sentences with these words: ``When I was Governor of
    Delaware,'' so many have heard it more than they want to.
        Senator Capito. Anyway, welcome, and we know that you have
    a passion for agriculture. I look forward to working with you
    on issues such as oversight of Waters of the U.S. definition
    and other things.
        On the Democrat side, we certainly welcome Senator
    Fetterman, and I look forward to getting to know him.
        Our first order or business is to organize. Last Congress,
    the committee adopted special rules to reflect the 50-50
    equally divided Senate consistent with past precedent from
    2001. Chairman Carper and I agreed at that time we now support
    returning to the committee's rules that have governed when one
    party had an outright majority.
        The committee will therefore vote to adopt a modernized
    version of these rules that were last applied in the 116th
    Congress. I support adoption of these rules, as well as the
    proposed committee budget that we are considering today.
        Once we are organized, our work will begin in earnest to
    develop legislation in areas that are ripe for bipartisan
    attention, including advanced nuclear legislation, brownfields
    reauthorization and economic development legislation, just to
    name a few. And of course, the Congress will work to keep WRDA
    on the 2-year timeframe this committee has followed.
        I will continue to scrutinize, as the Ranking Member, the
    Administration's agenda and actions, and conduct robust
    oversight.
        The Biden Administration has announced plans to move
    forward with many regulations that will create regulatory
    uncertainty, slow development of critical projects, and add
    cost. So we will be scrutinizing those as we move to the next
    session. I look forward to it.
        Senator Carper. Thank you, Senator Capito.
        I see a quorum has been reached. We welcome everyone, one
    and all.
        Moving now to our approve our committee's budget resolution
    and our committee's rule en bloc. Is there a second?
        Senator Capito. Second.
        Senator Carper. Thank you for that second. All in favor say
    aye.
        [Chorus of ayes.]
        Senator Carper. Opposed, say nay.
        [No audible response.]
        Senator Carper. The ayes have it.
        In the opinion of the Chair, we have approved the committee
    budget resolution, which will be reported favorably to the
    Senate, as well as our committee's rules. The organizing
    portion of our meeting is concluded and I am now happy to
    recognize any member of our committee who would like to make a
    statement on the committee resolutions we just approved, or
    other matters, if you prefer.
        With that, raise your hand and we will recognize you.
        Senator Cardin. Mr. Chairman, we are all so excited to be
    back together again. How do we do an encore from what we got
    done in the last Congress?
        Senator Carper. I do not know. If I live to be 100, I tell
    people back in Delaware, if I live to be 100, I do not know how
    we are going to do a better job done of getting stuff done than
    we did in the last Congress. It was just a terrific, terrific 2
    years. But we will try. We will try. Everybody here had a role
    in that.
        Anybody else with a statement or comment? With that, I will
    see you guys and gals on the floor. Thank you, Senator Capito.
        Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Carper. We are adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 10:13 a.m., the business meeting was
    adjourned.]
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