[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1124-1125]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            FUTURE OF THE EPA AND NOMINATION OF SCOTT PRUITT

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, last week the Committee on Environment 
and Public Works held a hearing on the nomination of Oklahoma attorney 
general Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. The 
hearing was really about the future of this Agency and how we can get 
it back to doing the job it was meant to do from the very beginning.
  We are blessed in this country with enormous natural resources. Our 
goal should be to use these resources responsibly in ways that protect 
our environment and help make our economy strong.
  Over the past 8 years, the leaders of the Environmental Protection 
Agency created broad and legally questionable new regulations that 
undermined the American people's faith in the Agency. The political 
leaders of this Agency have been reckless, irresponsible, and arrogant.
  A course of correction is long overdue, and it is exactly what we are 
going to get.
  If my colleagues have any doubts that the EPA lost its way, they can 
just look at two of the biggest environmental scandals we have seen in 
a long time. In the summer of 2015, there was what became known as the 
Gold King Mine disaster. The Environmental Protection Agency spilled 3 
million gallons of toxic wastewater into a river in Colorado. This was 
water filled with toxic substances like arsenic and lead. It flowed to 
New Mexico and Utah, through the land of the Navajo Nation and the 
Southern Ute Indian tribe. There are 200,000 people who drink water 
from the river system that the EPA poisoned. Farmers and ranchers 
couldn't use the water for their crops or their animals.
  The other disaster the Environmental Protection Agency helped to 
cause was what happened in Flint, MI. The EPA failed to do the proper 
oversight. As a result, thousands of children were exposed to high 
levels of lead in their drinking water. The Agency knew about the 
dangers to the public health and for months did nothing to warn the 
people.
  These are just two scandals where the Environmental Protection Agency 
actually harmed people's health because the EPA was negligent. There 
are also many ways the Agency has harmed families and the American 
economy, not by accident but intentionally. It has issued thousands of 
pages of regulations trying to shut down the entire coal industry in 
the United States. Since 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency has 
come out with nearly 200 new regulations.
  According to the American Action Forum, the total cost of all of this 
new redtape is about $340 billion. The Agency has piled enormous new 
restrictions and costs onto American families and businesses, all to 
produce miniscule benefits.
  One of them was the so-called Clean Power Plan. States sued to block 
this destructive bureaucratic overreach. The courts had to step in and 
tell Washington not so fast.
  We should be looking for ways to make American energy as clean as we 
can, as fast as we can, without raising costs for American families. 
That is not what the Environmental Protection Agency did with its power 
regulations.
  The EPA also put out a new rule that dramatically expanded its own 
control over what it calls waters of the United States. The Agency 
declared that it has control over things like irrigation ditches and 
backyard ponds all across America. Two different courts have blocked 
this rule from taking effect. Why? Because it goes far beyond the 
Agency's own authority.
  For 8 years now, the leaders of the EPA have not had their priorities 
straight. They have been pursuing a political agenda instead of 
focusing on what should be the Agency's core mission. The Environmental 
Protection Agency was created for a reason. It was created because 
America needed someone to perform this mission. There is a right way to 
do the job. We can strike the right balance so we protect our 
environment while allowing our economy to grow.
  My home State of Wyoming is one of the most pristine States in the 
country, one of the most beautiful places in the world, as well as one 
of the most energy-rich States in the country. Wyoming has struck the 
right balance. We have done it successfully and so have many other 
States. We can address threats to our environment best through the 
cooperation of States, towns, Indian tribes, and Washington--a 
cooperation.
  The quality of America's air, water, and land are local concerns as 
much as they are national concerns. The Environmental Protection Agency 
should not try to dictate regulations from Washington without 
consulting its partners at all levels.
  Much of the work of the EPA was intended to give States a chance to 
take action first. Federal regulators are meant to be a backstop, 
acting when States or communities fail to act. Restoring this proper 
order and restoring the partnership of States with the EPA is essential 
to making sure people see the Agency as legitimate once again. The 
Agency needs to learn to listen before it acts.
  We can also restore the Environmental Protection Agency by restating 
its commitment to the rule of law. That is why the American people 
elect a Congress--because of the rule of law. The Agency must enforce 
the laws as they are written by Congress. The Agency cannot write the 
laws, cannot ignore the parts of the laws it doesn't like, although 
that is exactly what this EPA has been doing.
  We all know the EPA used to do very good work. In the past, it 
protected America's environment while understanding that there need to 
be reasonable regulations that allow people to use our natural 
resources. Every American wants clean air, clean water, and commonsense 
protection for our species. That will not change. We need the

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EPA to do its job, and we need it to do the job right.
  Through 6 hours of questioning before our committee last week, Scott 
Pruitt showed that he understands the need to return the Environmental 
Protection Agency back to its proper course. He showed he is committed 
to working as a partner with Americans all across the country to find 
the best ways to address the threats to our environment. His record as 
the attorney general of Oklahoma showed that he is committed to 
restoring and maintaining the rule of law.
  I am confident that Attorney General Pruitt will be able to right the 
ship at the EPA. I am confident that he can restore the balance between 
the benefits the Agency can deliver for Americans with the costs that 
it imposes.
  As chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, I am 
committed to making sure the Senate exercises appropriate oversight to 
make sure that this happens.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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