During a House Energy Committee hearing last week, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) spoke about the relocation of an EPA laboratory from Houston to Oklahoma.
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00:00Texas, Ms. Fletcher, for her three minutes.
00:02Thank you so much, Chairman Griffith, Ranking Member Tonko, and Administrator Zeldin.
00:07And thank you for extending the time to hear from all of us who are waving on.
00:12With the limited time, I do want to raise an issue for you, Administrator.
00:18I represent the energy capital of the world in Houston,
00:21and our region is home to the largest petrochemical complex in the United States,
00:27the second largest in the world.
00:28And we have the benefit of having the EPA's Region 6 lab located in Houston.
00:33This has been a particularly important issue for us in the Houston region.
00:39As I'm sure you know, we are right there on the Gulf
00:42and subject to extreme weather events with too much frequency.
00:47And so the Region 6 lab plays a critical role in helping us during these disasters.
00:53We had a hurricane last summer.
00:54We've had just record hurricanes and flooding over the last decade.
00:59In 2019, EPA announced that it was going to close the Region 6 lab in Houston and move the lab
01:05and all the employees to Ada, Oklahoma.
01:08I believe you're familiar with that facility and testified about it last week in appropriations.
01:11But I've been fighting this move ever since I got here, ever since the announcement,
01:16because it's bad for our region to have to send those samples of air and water in these potentially in disasters,
01:24but all the time as we experience these things in our region.
01:28It's also bad for EPA.
01:29I think the studies show that you'll lose a lot of really talented, experienced professionals
01:34who don't want to move from Houston to Ada, Oklahoma.
01:38And so I think those are huge challenges both for our region and for the agency.
01:43I've gotten several responses over the years that people agree that we need to keep a Region 6 lab in Houston,
01:49and EPA leaders have confirmed multiple times that there will be a Region 6 lab presence in Houston.
01:57So can you confirm for me today that we can work together to make sure that EPA will keep a Region 6 lab in the Houston region?
02:06I can tell you that at no point since I was confirmed have I had any conversation with anyone
02:12about closing the Region 6 lab in Houston.
02:17It hasn't been broached to me.
02:19I'm not aware of conversations going on at the agency on the topic.
02:24Happy to be in touch with you, work with you.
02:27And I'll look into it and let you know if anyone else has had any conversations that haven't been brought up to me.
02:33Well, and I can tell you it's being done pursuant to the 2015 law,
02:39the federal asset sales transfer from, I guess, 2017.
02:43And so that's the idea of moving folks to Ada.
02:46It's critically important that we keep this lab in Houston, both for the agency and for our region.
02:53So I appreciate your willingness to engage on this.
02:56Many people have agreed at the agency that it is a problem that we need to keep this lab in Houston.
03:02And, of course, we want to make sure that we keep a qualified and talented workforce there, too.
03:07So I appreciate the opportunity to raise this and to work with you on this to ensure that we keep this lab in Houston.
03:11I'll look into it as soon as the hearing is over and we'll get back in touch.