[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 116 (Thursday, July 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4790-S4795]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Peter C. Wright

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise in opposition today to the 
nomination of Peter Wright to serve as the Assistant Administrator for 
EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management.
  I take little joy in opposing the nomination but do so for three 
reasons. Before I say those three reasons--I stood on this floor right 
up until the end of the last Congress, trying to get Peter Wright 
confirmed with a unanimous consent approach, and we failed at the very 
end.
  The irony of it is, having stood here and tried to get him confirmed 
at the end of the last Congress and today being in a position in which 
I am asking for us to postpone, at least for today, his nomination--
there is an irony there, and I don't have the time to go into all of 
the reasons, but I will mention a few of them.
  In the last Congress, I worked with the EPA to negotiate a set of 
significant policy concessions that I believe would have allowed the 
Senate minority to agree to a more expeditious confirmation process for 
Mr. Wright.
  I worked diligently until the closing of the last Congress--right 
until the bitter end, if you will--to achieve that objective, as I have 
done in good faith for other EPA nominees.
  In fact, the very last nominee confirmed in the last Congress was an 
EPA nominee to head the Agency's Tribal Office, Chad McIntosh. My staff 
and I and others were very much involved in getting him confirmed.
  In this Congress, EPA has refused to reengage with my office, with 
our committee staff, or with me on this nomination. The Agency no 
longer agrees to the policy concessions that I previously secured and 
to which they had previously committed in the last Congress. While this 
has been a real disappointment for me, unfortunately, it is hardly a 
surprise, given the increasingly extreme policy and tone of this EPA.
  Second, EPA, under Mr. Wright's leadership for the past year, has 
failed to advance an area of policy that is critical to me and to many 
other Senators, and that is the regulation of PFAS chemicals known as 
permanent chemicals. Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, known 
as PFAS, are a class of manmade chemicals that includes something 
called PFOA, PFOS,

[[Page S4791]]

GenX, and many other chemicals. Developed in the 1940s, PFAS can be 
found across industries in many products, including food packaging, 
nonstick pans, clothing, furniture, and firefighting foam used by the 
military.
  Just this week, Donald Trump said: ``We have the cleanest water we 
have ever had.'' The President has often made this statement while 
asserting his commitment to ensure that our drinking water is safe.
  In his confirmation hearing, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said:

       It is these Americans that President Trump and his 
     Administration are focused on, Americans without access to 
     safe drinking water or Americans living on or near hazardous 
     sites, often unaware of the health risks that they and their 
     families face. Many of these sites have languished for years, 
     even decades. How can these Americans prosper if they cannot 
     live, learn, or work in healthy environments? The answer is 
     simple. They cannot. President Trump understands this and 
     that is why he is focused on putting Americans first.

  That is from Andrew Wheeler, now our EPA Administrator.
  Yet under Peter Wright's leadership for the past year, EPA's Office 
of Land and Management has failed to heed these words. Peter Wright 
serves on a temporary basis without confirmation.
  I think we have a poster here that is relevant.
  A study released today by the Environmental Working Group identified 
712 locations in 49 States that are contaminated with PFAS--712 
locations in 49 States that are contaminated with PFAS--from coast to 
coast, from our Canadian border to the Gulf Stream waters.
  Just last year, the town of Blades in the southern part of Delaware 
alerted its 1,250 residents to stop using public water for drinking and 
cooking because of PFAS contamination at nearly twice the Federal 
health advisory level.
  Just an hour from Blades, up north on Route 13, officials at the 
Dover Air Force Base found that 36 of the 37 sampled ground water wells 
showed dangerously high levels of PFOS and PFOA, related to, we 
believe, the use of chemicals in firefighting foam at the base.
  It is not just Delaware. PFAS contamination is widespread, in red 
States, in blue States, in small water systems and large ones, on 
military sites and in residential areas, from Maine to Alaska.
  While industrial manufacturers and users of these chemicals are 
responsible for much of the contamination, it turns out that a 
principal user of PFAS was our military.
  I speak as a retired Navy Captain speaking here to a Presiding 
Officer who is a marine, and for us it is personal and part of our 
history in the military.
  But it turns out that a principal user of PFAS was the military, 
which used it as a firefighting foam, as I said earlier.
  In 1973, I was a young naval flight officer stationed at Moffett 
Field naval air station in California, and on a sunny April day, as I 
was driving into work from my home in Palo Alto, I saw a big, black 
plume of smoke rising above my base after, as it turned out, a massive 
NASA Convair jet descended on runway. We had parallel runways, and air 
traffic control had directed two aircraft to land on the same runway at 
the same time. As a result, the large NASA Convair jet descended on a 
runway where a P-3 aircraft--my sister squadron's aircraft--had already 
landed and was taxiing, and the larger aircraft literally landed on top 
of the smaller aircraft.
  It took over an hour for firefighters to control the blaze. Sixteen 
people died, and only one crewman on the P-3 survived. These were my 
brothers and sisters. These were my sister squadron mates.
  I understand that PFAS-containing foam has supported our military 
readiness and saved lives better than most, but the cruel irony is that 
when PFAS winds up in a glass on the kitchen table, these same 
chemicals endanger lives.
  The Environmental Working Group--that is the name of a group--has 
identified 117 military sites, including 77 airfields, with PFAS 
contamination because of the use of PFAS-containing foam to both train 
for and fight fires involving highly flammable jet fuels.
  Yet in many States, cleanup of these sites has been stalled, and the 
military has shockingly been part of the problem.
  In May of last year, 2018, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt held a 
PFAS National Leadership Summit and proudly announced four ``concrete 
steps'' that EPA would take to address PFAS contamination. The second 
of these four steps was that EPA would propose designating PFOA and 
PFOS--two of the most dangerous, troubling elements in this class of 
chemicals--as hazardous substances under the Superfund law. That was 
more than a year ago.
  Making that designation would compel the Defense Department to stop 
fighting cleanups in States all across the country. Indeed, in some 
cases, the Defense Department has justified its refusal to clean up 
PFAS contamination on grounds that the Superfund designation has not 
yet been made.
  Designating these substances as hazardous would also unleash EPA 
resources to address cleanups of orphan sites where there is no 
identified liable polluter.
  Despite Scott Pruitt's commitment to move forward with the 
designation of PFAS as a hazardous substance under the Superfund law, 
under Peter Wright's watch, EPA hasn't even proposed--has not even 
proposed--to do that, let alone finalize the action. At this rate, it 
will be at least another year, maybe longer, before this vital step 
will be taken. Americans deserve better than this, and they deserve 
greater urgency on this issue.

  Last month, the U.S. Senate, right here, passed its National Defense 
Authorization Act, which included several important bipartisan 
provisions to address PFAS contamination. Notably, I could not even 
secure an agreement to allow a vote on my amendment that would 
designate PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law. I did 
not get a vote on my amendment, despite the fact that 35 Democratic and 
Republican cosponsors on bipartisan legislation clearly signaled their 
support for this policy. Meanwhile, EPA continues to drag its heels, 
acting with far more urgency to repeal environmental regulations than 
to clean up the water our government's own activities have 
inadvertently contaminated. Mr. Wright will have the ability to make 
this hazardous substances designation for PFAS if he is confirmed. Let 
me say that again. Mr. Wright will have the ability to make this 
hazardous substance designation for PFAS if he is confirmed. He should 
hear strongly from this Senate our collective desire that he urgently 
do so.
  It was my hope that, despite the many disagreements my colleagues and 
I have had with the Trump EPA on their views on climate change and some 
environmental rollbacks, there could at least be some commonsense 
agreement on the need to clean up widespread PFAS contamination. That 
has not been the case, at least thus far.
  Third, and finally, a late-breaking matter came to the committee's 
attention this week regarding an ethics investigation into Mr. Wright's 
financial disclosures. Chairman Barrasso and I received news from the 
White House Office of Government Ethics, known as OGE, that Mr. Wright, 
despite numerous written assurances to the contrary, held stock in 
DowDuPont at the time he filed his nominee financial disclosure report 
and continued to do so until this March 12, a couple of months ago. 
Although EPA believes that Mr. Wright has complied with all applicable 
ethics laws during that period of time, OGE, the Office of Government 
Ethics, asserts that it currently lacks the information necessary to 
make such a determination or to send a completed amendment to his 
ethics agreement and financial disclosure report to our committee.
  OGE, Office of Government Ethics, felt compelled to share this 
information with the EPW Committee because of its direct relevance to 
the Senate's consideration of Mr. Wright's nomination today.
  In light of the ongoing OGE investigation, I would implore my 
colleagues to delay the Senate's consideration of Mr. Wright's 
nomination for the time being. I don't suggest delaying consideration 
of this nominee lightly. Again, I was one of the key people standing in 
this Chamber back at the end of December trying to get this man 
confirmed. In fact, any delay in the Senate's confirmation and the 
Senate's consideration of Mr. Wright's

[[Page S4792]]

nomination would not prevent him from continuing to serve in his 
current capacity, as he has done since he first arrived at EPA in an 
acting capacity on July 9, 2018.
  I strongly believe we must afford OGE--Office of Government Ethics--
and EPA the opportunity to complete their investigations into this 
matter and fully share all relevant information, for both the sake of 
Mr. Wright and for the Agency. If the facts are as described by EPA, 
then a completed investigation would be to Mr. Wright's benefit. Let me 
say that again. If the facts are as described by EPA, then a completed 
investigation would be to Mr. Wright's benefit.
  Let me close by saying, if, however, OGE and EPA reach a different 
conclusion, such information would be directly relevant to every 
Senator's deliberation when voting whether to confirm Peter Wright to 
the position of Assistant Administrator in the Office of Land and 
Emergency Management at EPA.
  From conversations I had with EPA yesterday, it is my understanding 
that EPA is working to get the relevant information to OGE to provide 
to the Senate. Proceeding with the consideration of this nomination 
while resolution of this ethics matter between EPA and OGE is pending I 
think deprives the Senate of important and relevant information. I have 
urged delaying this vote today. I would do so again. In the absence of 
that delay, along with the other reasons I mentioned, I will vote no on 
the motion to proceed to the nomination of Peter Wright. I urge my 
colleagues to do the same.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, let me, at the beginning, thank Senator 
Carper for his incredible leadership on the Environment and Public 
Works Committee. He has a very good bill on cleaning up PFAS. I have 
signed on to it, and I am going to talk about some of the damage in New 
Mexico. As Senator Carper knows, this is a nationwide problem that the 
Department of Defense has major responsibility for.
  This is a photograph of Art Schaap at his dairy farm in New Mexico, 
where he owns 4,000 head of cattle. Art's farm is located outside of 
Clovis, in the central part of the State, adjacent to Cannon Air Force 
Base.
  Art is a second-generation dairy farmer. He and his family worked 
hard to build this dairy, keep his cows healthy, and provide nutritious 
milk to New Mexico and the Nation's consumers, but today Art will dump 
15,000 gallons of milk. That is enough milk to give 240,000 children a 
carton of milk with their school lunch. He will dump another 15,000 
gallons tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
  Why is Art dumping all of this milk? Because highly toxic 
contaminants from Cannon Air Force Base have polluted the groundwater 
he uses to water his cows. The groundwater Art uses for his cows and 
for his family's drinking water is polluted by a group of toxic 
chemicals collectively known as PFAS.
  We know PFAS are dangerous to humans. They are associated with 
increased risk of liver, testicular, kidney, and pancreatic cancer. 
They are linked to altered puberty, endocrine disruption, pregnancy 
disorders, and lowered fertility.
  Art's dairy is ruined. He can't sell his milk. He can't sell his 
cows. He can't sell his property. He is spending thousands of dollars 
to maintain his cows and dump milk. In fact, the PFAS levels in Art's 
groundwater are 371 times greater than what the Environmental 
Protection Agency says is safe.
  The Air Force knows it is responsible for this environmental 
disaster, but it claims it doesn't have the legal authority to provide 
clean water for Art's cows or to reimburse Art for his lost livelihood.
  Art is not alone. There are other New Mexico dairies located near 
Cannon Air Force Base that are threatened. Those dairies have spent 
hundreds of thousands of their own dollars to install water filters to 
prevent them from losing their livelihoods.
  The Department of Defense has identified over 400 military sites 
where PFAS were used. There are over 100 military sites nationwide with 
known PFAS contamination. This is a national problem of immense 
proportion. Yet this President's EPA refuses to issue drinking water 
standards for PFAS. It has issued only an advisory that does not have 
the force of law. This President's EPA has failed to even list these 
chemicals as hazardous substances eligible for Superfund cleanup. Our 
farmers and rural America deserve better--much better.
  Although the Air Force claimed it had no authority to provide relief, 
the then-head of the Air Force, Secretary Heather Wilson, assured me in 
a hearing, under oath, the Air Force would work with me on legislation 
to secure that authority for the Air Force. Contrary to that assurance, 
the Air Force did not work with us on that legislation. They made it 
clear they don't even want the authority to help farmers like Art. So, 
in March, I introduced the PFAS Damages Act--along with Senator 
Heinrich and Representatives Lujan, Torres Small, and Haaland--to 
ensure compensation for those hurt and to make sure those contaminated 
sites were cleaned up.
  I also joined Senator Carper's bipartisan PFAS Action Act of 2019 
that requires EPA to establish PFAS as hazardous substances eligible 
for Superfund cleanup funds.
  Clean water is not and should not be a partisan issue. New Mexico is 
a patriotic State and honors its military bases, but the Department of 
Defense caused this contamination and needs to make it right.
  Senator Heinrich was able to include our bill as an amendment to the 
National Defense Authorization Act that the Senate passed by an 
overwhelming margin of 86 to 8 in June. It looked like relief--relief 
owed to Art and others unfairly hurt--would be on the way, but 2 days 
ago, on Tuesday, the President threatened to veto the entire Defense 
bill if it gets to his desk with provisions to help farmers like Art 
and to clean up PFAS contamination.
  That is a $750 billion bill for national security and defense he is 
threatening to veto because it requires cleanup of a known pollutant. 
Without a doubt, this is one of the most outrageous veto threats I have 
ever witnessed in 30 years in Congress--vetoing the Defense bill over 
help for farmers facing ruin? It is shameful. Republican leadership in 
the Senate and the House should join us and make it clear to the 
President that this is one veto that will be overridden.
  On top of all of this, the President is asking the Senate to confirm 
Peter Wright, a top lawyer from Dow Chemical--one of the largest 
chemical companies in the world and the one that manufactured PFAS--to 
run the EPA toxic cleanup office. This nomination is more filling the 
swamp by this administration, more foxes guarding the henhouse.
  EPA has slow-walked designating PFAS as hazardous substances under 
the Superfund Program Mr. Wright wants to oversee. Mr. Wright has 
recused himself from matters relating to Dow Chemical and therefore 
will provide no leadership on this pressing issue.
  The American people deserve a nominee who will clean up current PFAS 
contamination and prevent future contamination. Mr. Wright can give no 
such assurance, and I will be voting no on his nomination.
  I call upon the President to nominate someone who will commit to 
tackling this issue with the urgency it deserves and to withdraw his 
shocking veto threat so innocent farmers like Art can save their 
families' livelihoods.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise to oppose the nomination of Peter 
Wright as Assistant Administrator for the Environmental Protection 
Agency's Office of Land and Emergency Management.
  This position is of enormous consequence to the people of New Jersey, 
and I refuse to stay silent as the Trump administration stacks Federal 
agencies charged with protecting our health and our environmental 
safety with industry insiders and corporate hacks.
  Mr. Wright is a former chemical industry lawyer. If confirmed, he 
will be charged with overseeing the cleanup of the most toxic waste 
sites in America through what is known as the Superfund Program.
  New Jersey is home to more Superfund sites than any other State in 
the Nation.

[[Page S4793]]

  For many years, a lack of strong environmental protections and 
oversight left our communities vulnerable to unsafe, unchecked, 
unregulated pollution. I am talking about the days before we had an 
Environmental Protection Agency, before we passed landmark 
environmental laws, and before we had regulations to protect public 
health. Back then, big polluters had a blank check to contaminate our 
air, soil, and water with toxic chemicals. People across America were 
exposed to pesticides, lead, asbestos, and other toxins through the air 
they breathed, the rivers they fished, the soil they farmed, and the 
land they built. It was unhealthy, it was unsustainable, and in many 
cases, it was downright dangerous.
  Indeed, it was 1980--the same year a chemical waste facility in 
Elizabeth, NJ, burst into flames and forced an entire community to stay 
indoors--that Congress passed a law creating the Superfund Program. 
Today, Superfund is our primary tool for cleaning up the hazardous 
waste across America. It requires polluters to pay to clean up the 
sites they have contaminated, and it also funds the cleanup of orphan 
sites for which the polluters responsible no longer exist.
  The Superfund Program is a promise to our communities--a promise to 
hold polluters accountable for the damage they have done; a promise to 
rid our soil and water of toxic chemicals; a promise to transform toxic 
brownfields into safe, livable, usable land; and a promise to protect 
the health of today's families and of future generations.
  That promise cannot be kept on its own. We the people must keep that 
promise. The one way we can do so is by ensuring that leaders who 
oversee the Superfund Program are willing to stand up to polluters, 
listen to the best science, and hold big corporations accountable. 
Nothing in Peter Wright's records suggest he will be that kind of 
leader. He spent nearly two decades as a lawyer for Dow Chemical--one 
of the primary polluters for many Superfund sites across the Nation.
  For all the President's talk of draining the swamp, it is just that--
talk.
  Mr. Wright could have been a force for good at Dow. He could have 
stood up for science and raised standards. He could have pushed for 
more efficient, thorough cleanups of toxic waste. Instead, he did just 
the opposite.
  Consider Dow's Midland site in Michigan, where more than a century of 
producing things like Styrofoam, Agent Orange, and mustard gas left 
rivers contaminated for more than 50 miles. As Dow's self-styled 
``Dioxin Lawyer,'' Mr. Wright points to the Midland site as one of his 
greatest achievements. But a New York Times investigation from last 
year tells us a different story. It found that under Mr. Wright's 
watch, Dow was accused of ``submitting disputed data, misrepresenting 
scientific evidence and delaying cleanup.''
  These accusations were leveled by Federal regulators and 
whistleblowers alike. One independent lab found Dow used incomplete 
contamination data, leaving the risk of toxins going undetected. An 
internal whistleblower revealed Dow intentionally designed its data so 
that it couldn't be properly vetted by independent third parties.
  In 2007, an EPA memo concluded that Dow had ``documented history of 
impeding the efforts of the Michigan Department of Environmental 
Quality'' at the Midland site. It wasn't only regulators that Mr. 
Wright misled; the EPA also found that Dow ``frequently provided 
information to the public that contradicts agency positions and 
generally accepted scientific information.'' That included mailing out 
a newsletter to local residents downplaying the risks of dioxin to 
human health, which, according to the EPA, is highly toxic, can cause 
cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, and damage the immune 
system. The newsletter even included the false claim that dioxin-
contaminated wild game was safe to eat. That is appalling.
  Mr. Wright also participated in Dow's funding of a study claiming 
that people living on dioxin-contaminated soil were not at risk for 
personal exposure.
  Simply put, Peter Wright made his mark at Dow Chemical by 
misrepresenting science, downplaying threats to public health, and 
undermining cleanups. These practices run counter to the very mission 
of the EPA. Yet Wright's past indicates that, if confirmed, he will 
continue to mislead communities, continue to delay cleanups, and 
continue to sacrifice the health of our people for the bottom line of 
corporate polluters.
  Finally, as if it weren't enough to mislead the public, we now know 
that Mr. Wright misled Congress when he lied to the Environment and 
Public Works Committee about continuing to own stock in Dow after his 
nomination.
  When I hear that Mr. Wright proudly called himself the ``Dioxin 
Lawyer,'' when I hear that he misled families about threats to their 
health, and when I hear that he sought to distort scientific evidence 
and get his company off the hook for their toxic legacy, I worry about 
the damage he could do across the Nation, including in New Jersey.
  New Jersey is home to 114 Superfund sites. That is more than 
California--a State with 4\1/2\ times our population. That is more than 
double the total sites in Texas--a State with 30 times our land mass. 
Millions of people live within a few miles of these sites, in North 
Jersey and South Jersey, in bustling cities and rural towns, in every 
corner of our State. Among them is one of the largest Superfund 
cleanups in the country. Like the site in Michigan, New Jersey's 
Diamond Alkali Superfund site is contaminated with dioxin from the 
making of Agent Orange. Like the site in Michigan, we have warnings 
about dioxin-contaminated food, such as seafood from the Passaic River.
  Like those in Michigan, the New Jerseyans who reside by the Passaic 
are depending on the Superfund Program to clean up the river and limit 
their exposure to toxic chemicals. These families and millions of 
Americans nationwide are depending on the EPA to protect the water they 
drink, the air they breathe, and the soil on which they farm and build. 
They are depending on their government to put their health ahead of 
corporate polluter profits. Today they are depending on us to reject 
the nomination of Peter Wright.
  The EPA has a simple mission: to protect human health and the 
environment. The American people deserve an Assistant Administrator who 
believes in that mission, not someone who has spent decades fighting 
it. I urge my colleagues to vote no on Mr. Wright's nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I ask to be recognized for 7 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the nomination of 
Peter Wright for the position of Assistant Administrator of the Office 
of Land and Emergency Management at the Environmental Protection 
Agency. If confirmed to this position, Mr. Wright would be in charge of 
the office that cleans up hazardous waste, contaminated lands, 
oilspills, and environmental disasters. He would be at the helm of the 
Nation's Superfund Program, which is critical to keeping our 
communities and families safe from dangerous chemicals and other toxic 
substances.
  As a former counsel for Dow Chemical Company, Peter Wright's resume 
looks eerily similar to the listing of parties responsible for 
contaminated Superfund sites across our country. For 19 years at Dow, 
he was known as the company's dioxin lawyer. He headed negotiations for 
a massive cleanup of this cancerous chemical at a time when the company 
was accused of delaying cleanup efforts and misrepresenting scientific 
evidence.
  For the past year, Peter Wright worked in an unconfirmed capacity as 
``special counsel to the EPA Administrator.'' Despite promising to 
divest all his equity interests in DowDupont, it was recently revealed 
that he held on to those stocks until just 4 months ago. Continuing to 
profit off of a chemical company while working for the primary Federal 
Agency responsible for regulating that company is unacceptable 
behavior.
  Just as our lands need protection from toxic chemicals, our 
government needs to be kept safe from ethical dangers and toxic 
nominees--two things that have continually contaminated the Trump 
administration.
  Early in my career, I worked with a mother in Woburn, MA, named Anne

[[Page S4794]]

Anderson. Anne worked tirelessly to expose the link between the 
industrial chemical TCE and the development of leukemia in Woburn, MA, 
and the children of Woburn, MA. Her work and the work of other Woburn 
families helped spur Congress to pass the Superfund law. I was a 
champion of that bill in the House, and I am proud to continue to 
defend and strengthen the Superfund Program today in the Senate.
  Anne Anderson's son Jimmy died from exposure to TCE and other 
chemicals. She had to do the job because the Federal Government was not 
doing the job. She had to be the one to put together all the other 
mothers who had children who were also going to die.
  You may have seen the movie or read the book ``A Civil Action.'' It 
is a very good movie, but it is about her. It is about what happens 
when the Federal Government turns a blind eye to the impact that large 
chemical companies and others have upon the lives of ordinary citizens 
if there aren't proper protections.
  Those sites are cleaned up. Her son Jimmy has passed. The site now 
has a transportation facility on it. It is named the ``Jimmy Anderson 
Transportation Center,'' in his name. He died. Superfund is meant to 
make sure there are no more Jimmy Andersons.
  Right now, there are tens of millions of acres of contaminated land 
in America and in places with long industrial histories, like 
Massachusetts, and we have nearly a century's worth of toxic materials 
that have accumulated across our State and across the country. That is 
why we need an Assistant Administrator who will fight to protect 
American communities from these toxic exposures and make sure polluters 
pay for that cleanup.
  Recently, Congress has been debating how to handle a class of 
chemicals known collectively as PFAS, which are everything from Teflon 
to firefighting foams and are often called forever chemicals because of 
how long they stay in the environment, cycling through soil, water, and 
air, until they build up in our food and in our bodies. Certain PFAS 
chemicals are associated with a host of dreaded diseases: cancer, 
thyroid hormone disruption, low infant birth rates, and immune system 
problems. PFAS should really be ``poisonous for all species'' because 
it poisons fish and it poisons cows. It poisons the water. Ultimately, 
it begins to affect human beings as well. PFAS--``poisonous for all 
species.''
  Massachusetts has documented PFAS contamination in Ayer, Barnstable, 
Mashpee, Shirley, Middleton--all across our Commonwealth. Polluters 
should pay to clean up their messes, but right now, it is the public 
that pays. This could change if the EPA would follow up on a promise 
made by Scott Pruitt to designate PFAS as a hazardous substance under 
the Superfund law. More than a year later, we are still waiting.
  We need a champion at the head of the Superfund office. There are 
many Anne Andersons around this country trying to keep their little 
Jimmys protected. Mr. Wright hasn't committed to giving our communities 
the weapons they need to fight back against chemical contamination. 
That is why today I will oppose his nomination on this floor.
  Mr. President, with that, I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to complete my 
remarks on this nominee before the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, today the Senate is considering the 
nomination of Peter Wright to serve as the Assistant Administrator of 
the Environmental Protection Agency for the Office of Land and 
Emergency Management. If confirmed, Mr. Wright will lead this critical 
EPA office that provides policy, provides guidance, and provides 
direction for the EPA's emergency response and waste programs. Mr. 
Wright will play a crucial role in helping the Agency respond to 
disasters and cleanups.
  The Office of Land and Emergency Management oversees the Superfund 
Program, which is a priority for this administration.
  There are currently about 1,300 listed Superfund sites across 
America. On top of those, there are roughly 450,000 brownfield sites 
that need to be addressed. The EPA needs an Assistant Administrator in 
place to prioritize those cleanups. Peter Wright is ready for the task. 
He currently serves as a special counsel at the EPA. Previously, Mr. 
Wright worked as managing counsel to Dow Chemical Company for nearly 20 
years. His nomination has been endorsed by 18 current and former chairs 
of the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and 
Resources, including John Cruden, former Assistant Attorney General in 
President Obama's administration.
  John Milner, the current chair of the section, writing on behalf of 
the former chair, said this of Mr. Wright: ``Peter's career, his 
selfless commitment to the American Bar Association's Section of 
Environment, Energy, and Resources and the members it serves, and his 
well-recognized personal integrity exemplify the high standards of the 
legal profession.'' He goes on to say: ``We enthusiastically and 
without reservation support the consideration of Peter as Assistant 
Administrator for OLEM, and believe Peter will serve the office with 
distinction and honor.''
  He is ready to take on this responsibility, and he has been ready for 
well over a year. President Trump originally nominated Peter Wright to 
serve in this important role on March 6, 2018. That was 493 days ago. 
What is the reason for so long of a delay? Obstruction by Senate 
Democrats. We have seen it before. For over a year, this important EPA 
office has been without confirmed leadership because of political games 
being played by Senate Democrats. Now the games have ended, and it is 
time to get serious.
  Senate Democrats are now saying they would delay this vote further 
because of an error Mr. Wright included on his disclosures. According 
to career EPA ethics officials, Mr. Wright made an inadvertent error 
and immediately corrected it. EPA ethics officials found that he did 
not violate any Federal ethics laws or regulations.
  Justina Fugh, who is a career ethics official at the EPA, concluded 
in her memo reviewing Mr. Wright's action:

       In my opinion, Mr. Wright adhered to the federal ethics 
     laws and regulations. When he became aware of the inadvertent 
     error, he notified me immediately and corrected that error.

  The delays must end. Superfund sites need to be cleaned up, 
emergencies must be responded to, and this important office needs its 
Senate-confirmed leader in place. It is time to confirm Peter Wright to 
be Assistant Administrator of the EPA for the Office of Land and 
Emergency Management, and I strongly encourage Senators to support this 
nomination.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Wright nomination?
  Mr. ROUNDS. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Kansas (Mr. Moran).
  Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Bennet), 
the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker), the Senator from Illinois 
(Mr. Durbin), the Senator from New York (Mrs. Gillibrand), the Senator 
from California (Ms. Harris), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. 
Heinrich), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Manchin), the Senator 
from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. 
Warren) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 52, nays 38, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 203 Ex.]

                                YEAS--52

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     McConnell
     McSally
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts

[[Page S4795]]


     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--38

     Baldwin
     Blumenthal
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Feinstein
     Hassan
     Hirono
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Bennet
     Booker
     Durbin
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Heinrich
     Manchin
     Moran
     Sanders
     Warren
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be 
immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________