During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Rep. Gary Palmer (R_AL) questioned EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin about Biden assessments on lime manufacturing emissions.
00:00I really hope that the EPA will continue to partner with Congress so we can make sure that
00:04all of our communities have the healthy outcomes that they deserve. With that, I yield back.
00:09Gentleman yields back. I thank him for being efficient with his time. We're running out of
00:12it. And I now recognize the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Palmer, for five minutes. I will
00:18remind everybody that the witness has to leave at approximately 1230, so we're trying to hurry
00:23through. Mr. Palmer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Administrator Zeldin, for being
00:29here. I am, like some of my colleagues, concerned about some of the decisions that the EPA has
00:36made, but I'm looking at it from a little different perspective. For instance, there was a rule
00:45on lime dust emissions that was put forward by the EPA last summer, even though EPA's own
00:54scientific assessment said that emissions from lime manufacturing industry were already
00:59acceptable with an ample margin of safety. This rule would impose $2 billion on the industry,
01:09which gets passed on in multiple ways. Most people think of lime in the context of the
01:17manufacture of cement products, but it's also used to enhance soil quality. There are a number
01:23of other uses for it. Administrator Zeldin, is the EPA now taking a look at some of these rules that I think
01:33have gone outside of what's necessary and imposing unnecessary costs on our economy and on people?
01:41Yes, Congressman. We've received various concerns regarding NESHAPs, including regulations not squarely
01:51ground in the statutory authority. Compliance costly to industry. Deadlines for compliance with some
01:57requirements may be too short. Some of the rules may disproportionately impact small businesses.
02:03Questions exist regarding the science underlying certain standards. Test data used in calculating
02:08standards may not fully reflect variability and or real-world operations. Questions exist regarding the
02:15appropriateness of setting certain technology-based standards rather than health-based standards and
02:20questions exist regarding the appropriateness of setting certain numeric emissions limits rather than work
02:27practice standards. I'm glad you mentioned the technology-based standards because it also involves the
02:34particulate matter standards. Some of the things that EPA has imposed on people require what I jokingly refer to as
02:43as a black-box technology, and people say, well, what's in the box? Nothing. That technology doesn't exist yet, and it
02:50poses enormous costs on the economy, but also on city governments that gets passed on to consumers.
03:01So I'm hoping that the EPA will take a more scientific approach to some of these rules, but also go back and look at the
03:12science behind some of the rules that have been imposed by the past administration and possibly
03:19consider repealing those. There's something else that I want to talk with you about that
03:23that I think is really critical right now, and that is our ability to
03:28have access to rare earth elements. China controls 94 percent of the rare earth refining.
03:34They have the largest deposit of rare earth elements in the world. The United States, I think, seventh on that list, and we're finding
03:44ourselves in a position where
03:47there's not a single major refinery for rare earth elements in the Western Hemisphere. There's only nine in the world. Eight are in China. One's in Malaysia.
03:54I think that we're at a point where we're going to have to look at permitting, look at the
04:00regulations in order for the United States to catch up, to secure the supply chain that we need,
04:07and there are multiple opportunities to do this. You can find rare earth elements in coal ash. You can find them in
04:15things like discarded hard drives, but we need to be able to mine, process, and refine our own rare earth
04:23element supply because it is not just important for our economy. It's important for our national security.
04:28I'd like your comments on that. Congressman, this is one of the issues that
04:34are on the plate, the priority list for the National Energy Dominance Council. EPA has some
04:39equity, equities. The Department of Interior has equities. The Department of Energy has equities,
04:46Department of Commerce. There is an opportunity here for us to be able to not just benefit
04:56economically, but I would also look at it as a matter of national security, for us not to have to
05:02rely on other nations at a moment where it would matter most in the future to make sure that we are
05:09prepared here domestically. So, I think it's an important, it is a very important priority for the
