[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 125 (Thursday, July 20, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3443-S3444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of David M. Uhlmann

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, while the Senator from Massachusetts is 
still on the floor, he and I have been friends for, gosh, 35 years. We 
served together in the House. We used to travel all over Latin America 
and South America during the contra war. We are still friends and 
compadres today in a different war--a war to save or planet and to make 
sure that we do that and that we provide a lot of jobs and economic 
opportunity.
  I am here to talk about the nomination of David Uhlmann to serve as 
Assistant Administrator. But before I do that, let me say that, among 
the most important things that we are working on--it is not 
legislation, but it is legislation that we have already passed. And it 
is the climate provisions that are part of the bipartisan 
infrastructure bill that we adopted and the President signed a year 
ago. And there are climate provisions there that are enormously 
important, and we want to make sure that that legislation is fully 
enacted. Part of that is the responsibility of the administration, but 
it is the chair's responsibility. So that is hugely important.

  The other thing that is hugely important is the implementation of the 
Inflation Reduction Act, which has extraordinary provisions that deal 
with climate change, sea level, and all.
  So it is not enough just to introduce legislation. It is not enough 
to enact legislation. We have to make sure it is implemented, and that 
is what our responsibilities and our oversight responsibilities 
include.
  Having said that, I want to rise today in support of the nomination 
of David Uhlmann to serve as Assistant Administrator for the EPA's 
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
  Over the last 6 years, some of our greatest achievements--some of 
Congress's greatest achievements--have been passed in a series of 
bedrock environmental laws. I just mentioned a couple of them a minute 
ago. They are laws that have revolutionized how to protect our natural 
environment and our people--people who live in this country and around 
the world--from the dangers of pollution.
  These laws, such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act--
also known as CERCLA--have made the air that we breathe cleaner, the 
water that we drink safer, and the lands that we live on healthier. And 
in the process, we have revolutionized ecosystems, we have improved the 
living conditions of entire communities throughout this country, and we 
have saved countless of lives.
  However, these indispensable lifesaving environmental laws are only 
as effective, as I have mentioned, as our ability to enforce them and 
to make sure that they are complied with. And in the years immediately 
before President Biden took office, enforcement of our environmental 
laws had been dramatically undermined.
  According to the data from EPA, between 2018 and, I think, 2021, 
environmental enforcement and compliance actions had fallen to half of 
what they had been during the Bush and the Obama administrations. This 
lack of enforcement presented a threat to public health and a threat to 
the well-being of our environment, potentially letting many big 
polluters off the hook after violating some of the fundamental bedrock 
and environmental laws.
  That is why I am so pleased the Senate is again taking up the 
nomination of David Uhlmann to serve as the EPA's top enforcement 
officer, leading the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. 
There has not been a Senate-confirmed official leading the EPA's 
enforcement efforts for far too long.
  As I said before, Mr. Uhlmann is exceptionally qualified to do this 
job. He brings to this position a long career that includes 17 years 
with the Department of Justice, serving in both Democratic and 
Republican administrations.
  Let me say that again: a 17-year career with the Department of 
Justice, serving in both Democrat and Republican administrations.
  During seven of those years served, Mr. Uhlmann served as the Chief 
of the Department of Justice's Environmental Crimes Section. In 
addition, Mr. Uhlmann's nomination is supported by five former EPA 
Administrators, including three who served under Republican 
administrations.
  I am going to say that again. Mr. Uhlmann's nomination has earned the 
support of five former EPA Administrators, including three who served 
under Republican administrations: William Reilly, Lee Thomas, and 
Christine Todd Whitman.
  His nomination also earned the support of dozens of other former 
senior EPA and DOJ officials--some from Democratic administrations, 
others from Republican administrations, and some from career officials.
  In the words of former Deputy Attorney General for President George 
W. Bush, Larry Thomson, this what he had to say about David Uhlmann:

       David is a top-notch environmental lawyer and an 
     outstanding leader with unsurpassed integrity, compassion, 
     and commitment to fairness.

  I wish that we could say that about all of us. Those are high words 
of praise. In fact, Mr. Uhlmann received bipartisan support from the 
majority of this body nearly 1 year ago when we voted to discharge his 
nomination from the Environment and Public Works Committee.
  Let me close by saying that I am confident that David Uhlmann will 
make an outstanding--an outstanding--Assistant Administrator for

[[Page S3444]]

Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at EPA. I am eager to see him 
confirmed. I encourage my colleagues to join us in supporting his 
nomination.
  I yield the floor.