Diana DeGette Apologizes To EPA Administrator Regan For ‘Unnecessary Abuse’ From GOP Colleagues

4 months ago

During a House Energy Committee hearing last week, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) questioned EPA Administrator Michael Regan about methane.

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Transcript

00:00Gentleman yields. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from Colorado

00:04Representative DeGette for five minutes of questioning. Thank you so much

00:08Administrator Reagan. I myself want to thank you and your entire agency for the

00:13work you do to protect the health and welfare of all Americans and in

00:17particular my constituents and I want to apologize for the unnecessary abuse that

00:25you are suffering in this hearing from some of my colleagues on the other side

00:29of the aisle asking you questions that have multiple parts that you can't

00:34possibly answer in order just to get a sound bite at so I apologize for that

00:38and I also think it's kind of ironic that that my colleagues are 100% opposed

00:44to what the EPA does unless of course it's cleaning up environmental

00:48contamination in their districts and then they want to know why you didn't do

00:52it yesterday even though they keep trying to cut your budget so you don't

00:56have to respond to that I just want to let you know it does not go unnoticed so

01:01so the Mr. Palmer was asked was referring a little bit to methane and I

01:07want to talk to you just for a few minutes about methane because it's

01:11something I've worked a lot on methane is responsible for about one-third of

01:16the current warming our planet is experiencing is that right it is and

01:21it's true that no oil and natural gas operations are our nation's largest

01:27industrial source of methane is that right it is now in 2021 June of 2021

01:34President Biden signed into law a Congressional Review Act involved in

01:39validating the Trump administration's 2020 methane rescission rule which tried

01:44to block EPA's authority to regulate methane from existing sources now I led

01:52the effort to invalidate this rule on the House side and what it did was it

01:59reinstated to Obama era methane emissions rules that set stricter limits

02:04on the amount of methane the oil and gas industry can release from drilling sites

02:07now so Administrator Reagan the administration's final methane rule

02:12addresses emissions from both new and existing oil and gas operations is that

02:17right yes it is and and this enforcement the EPA takes it's within the purview of

02:25the authorities that is given to it by Congress is that right yes now why is it

02:31important to address existing sources of methane in the oil and gas industry well

02:37these existing sources as you've correctly pointed out are some of the

02:41most potent contributors to greenhouse gas emissions which are exacerbating not

02:45only climate disadvantages but also disparate impacts to health as well and

02:52so we're focused on these existing sources and these new sources because

02:56we're reducing not only methane we're also capturing the volatile organic

03:00chemicals and other toxic pollutants that are disproportionately impacting

03:04neighborhoods around them that's right and speaking about some of those

03:08neighborhoods it's it's not just methane in many districts including mine

03:13there the there are community there are really vulnerable communities typically

03:21they're low-income disadvantaged minority communities they face multiple

03:26sources of pollution that compound upon one another which has a negative effect

03:30on a community's health and I think you know about one of those communities

03:36Globeville Elyria Swansea which is in North Denver and I invited you to come

03:42there I think you went there but I was voting so I'm inviting you to come back

03:46with me to see some of the impacts there I'm wondering what actions EPA plans to

03:52take to alleviate the environmental and health risks of cumulative impacts for

03:57environmental justice communities well we're laser focused on these cumulative

04:02impacts coming from multiple sources thankfully we started cross programmatic

04:08efforts to take into account cumulative impacts but but Congress through the

04:12Inflation Reduction Act and bill have given us the resources to empower

04:16communities to also help us help them with solutions that they've had for

04:21decades so we have carrots as well as sticks in order to encourage the best

04:26behavior possible to reduce these pollutants and how does the fiscal year

04:302025 budget in tandem with these investments that you just referred to

04:34allow the EPA to work towards achieving those goals well it helps us to really

04:39focus on the areas that were not funded by bill and IRA we have some very core

04:45programs whether it's looking at our emergency response we have situations

04:50unfortunately like East Palestine or like the bridge in Baltimore or the

04:54wildfires in Maui we want to keep pace with Tosca to be sure that we don't have

04:59some of these chemicals that are not the best out on the market and give us

05:04the ability to review and put new chemicals out there we want to be sure

05:08that some of these congressionally mandated projects that are happening in

05:12districts all across the country have the technical resources and availability

05:16to carry out that spending and so we really need some core functions that

05:21benefit from the appropriated budget that were not accounted for nor should

05:26they have been in the Inflation Reduction Act and bill thank you thank

05:29you so much I yield back

Diana DeGette Apologizes To EPA Administrator Regan For ‘Unnecessary Abuse’ From GOP Colleagues

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