EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Rails Against Biden Era EPA Panel Spending Record

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During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-TX) questioned EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin about Biden EPA spending.

Transcript

00:00I now recognize the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Guthrie, five minutes question.

00:05Thank you. Thank you, Administrator Zeldin. Thanks for being back here amongst your colleagues.

00:10We welcome you back here to Capitol Hill and so happy you're in the position you are.

00:15Last night, you talked about new technologies moving forward.

00:18We had, last night, we had a rule, a CR Congressional Review Act I defended before rules,

00:24and it was if you're a major source and you had new technology or new operational procedures

00:29that lowered your standard, your emissions, then you could go into the area source,

00:35and we were accused of doing everything of giving kids asthma and things like that,

00:39which is unfortunate because what we want to do is we see new technology coming

00:43and we see the opportunities for people to improve, and that's what we want.

00:49And I went to college in your home state and right down the river from the ranking member,

00:54and when I was in the Hudson River in the 1980s, you couldn't swim in it,

00:57at least even around 50 miles up from Manhattan at West Point because it was contaminated.

01:03And the first time I remember hearing of the HHS secretary, of course, I'd heard of his family,

01:08was he was the leader of Clean Up the Hudson River, the River Keepers,

01:12which was a group that I kind of followed because I was dismayed that such a beautiful piece of our country

01:18was in the position it was in because of industry.

01:20And we all agree, and there's nobody saying anywhere on our side of the aisle,

01:26and you're in the administration, that those types of things absolutely cannot happen.

01:31And so we're all there.

01:32So now we're getting on to things you're trying to fix where the small regulatory,

01:37it seems like small regulatory that costs a fortune,

01:40that you were talking about with PFAS and some other things we're seeing with our water plants.

01:44But getting back to the greenhouse gas fund, could you kind of walk us through again,

01:47there was at least one, if not many, agents, non-profit that essentially was formed after the IRA,

01:56had $100 in his checking account, got $2,000, I mean $2 billion grant.

02:03So it seems like here's the money, go form your thing and get it.

02:06Instead of trying to invest, they talk about investing in known technologies to improve the environment.

02:10But people were creating businesses who were politically connected to chase the money.

02:16Could you talk, you said if you had 20 minutes, you have like 245, if you want to talk more about it.

02:21Great. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to be able to continue to go through the list.

02:27And I would encourage anyone at home who doesn't want to hear it to put their finger in their ear,

02:32because we'll keep going through specific examples that the New York Times says doesn't exist.

02:39This is an EPA panel. This is the Biden EPA.

02:43The Biden EPA panel reviewing the application for power forward communities.

02:48That's the one that you referenced.

02:49They received $100 in 2023 and then they get $2 billion in 2024.

02:54The Biden EPA panel was questioning the salaries it planned to pay its executives.

02:58The salary structure for top officers, this is a quote from the Biden EPA.

03:02The salary structure for top officers seems high for a nonprofit.

03:07Wondering if this could be a problem with public perception, the reviewer noted.

03:12Another comment on a part of power forward communities.

03:15I hate to interrupt you, administrator. Do you know what the top salary was?

03:19Thank you for asking.

03:23Another comment, which was part of the application, a reviewer writes, quote,

03:28For such an important section, it was pithy, though not always in a good way.

03:32Many of the costs were just presented, but little or no explanation as to why they are reasonable.

03:37I would have preferred they omitted the travel discussion and explained why they need to pay the CEO $800,000,

03:44growing to $948,000 in year seven, and chief operations officer $455,000 per year.

03:55It was reported that 22 of power forward communities' employees were slated to earn more than $150,000.

04:02Reviewers also criticized powerful communities for, by the way, this is the Biden EPA.

04:09Biden EPA criticized powerful communities for its lack of planning for, quote, proactive oversight.

04:17So the Biden EPA is giving this entity that made $100 in 2023, $2 billion in 2024,

04:24and the Biden EPA is concerned that this entity isn't going to be able to conduct proper oversight.

04:32That's just an example of going down the list a bit more on one of the eight NGOs.

04:39So the group didn't exist.

04:42They came into being in 2023, had $100 in their check account, gets a $2 billion grant,

04:47and the CEO gets almost $900,000, and over a year will get over $900,000?

04:52Yes, Chairman.

04:53That's what your testimony is today.

04:55Yes, Chairman.

04:56Well, we only have about six seconds left, so I will yield back.

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