Mike Lee Presses DoE Nom On Energy Efficiency Regulations That Impose 'Costly Burdens' On Consumers

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During a Senate Energy Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) spoke about energy efficiency regulations for appliances.

Transcript

00:00Great, thank you. All right, let's go ahead and begin our second round. Mr. Erdos, I'd like to

00:05start the second round with you. You know, you began your career as an environmental technician,

00:12reviewing mine data and maps for accuracy. Since then, you've had years of experience working with

00:18environmental agencies and related stakeholders as well as on abandoned mine lands. I'm always

00:28cautious whenever I say mine lands and not say landmines because it turns out they mean very

00:32different things. Or AML or reclamation efforts and funding disbursement. How does the coal industry

00:40contribute to AML funding and remediation efforts? Well, there are two streams of funds that go into

00:48AML. One is fee basis, how the industry contributes. So currently, I believe it's 22.4 cents for surface

00:56coal that's not lignite. It's 9.6 cents for underground coal, not lignite. And I want to say

01:026.6.4 for lignite coal. So it's based on tonnage, tonnage produced, and they pay that fee on that

01:10tonnage that goes into that particular pool of money for the AML program. And then you have the IIJA,

01:17which is a whole different issue. But you have those two streams.

01:20Thank you. Ms. Robertson, let's talk about appliance regulations.

01:27There are a series of regulations that are

01:30implemented and enforced by the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable

01:35Energy. Some of these regulations, one might say, impose pretty costly burdens on all Americans.

01:42And they certainly reduce market choices. Some would say that in many instances they have,

01:50in the name of efficiency, just produce products that don't work as well and that end up having to

01:55be used two or three cycles at a time instead of one, perhaps resulting in no net energy savings at all.

02:02But making appliances less reliable, harder to use, more expensive, and more difficult to repair.

02:08And they affect almost all appliances in American homes, from refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers,

02:18clothes dryers. Now, the process rule and its product class protections, which allow for separate

02:28regulations for different product features, were overwhelmingly ignored by the previous administration.

02:34And this has stopped the development of helpful features on appliances and essentially killed

02:40certain appliances or household goods like the incandescent light bulb, which itself is a different

02:48thing. Sure, we have other types of light bulbs available, but for the most part you can't get incandescent

02:56light bulbs anymore. And that is a different product. And sometimes you need those.

03:05And so this is somewhat concerning. Will you commit, if confirmed, to assisting the secretary to ensure

03:12that product classes are used to protect features on appliances that are important to American consumers?

03:18Chairman Lee, thank you for that important question. And absolutely, I think I am here and I believe

03:27my panelists here alongside me, we're here because we love America and we love Americans. And putting

03:33burdensome, costly regulations in place that don't have a net benefit to individual Americans can price

03:39people out of the American Dream, depending on appliances, building standards. It's an area within

03:44EERE that I am very much looking forward to working with and I look forward to working with you and your staff on

03:54any specific issues or things that we should be advancing. Thank you. Mr. Erdos, let's go back to you for a

04:02moment. Can you speak of the relationship between states with primacy under SMACRA and OSM?

04:09Thank you for the question, Senator. Certainly. So there are 24 states that currently have primacy or

04:14they have approved state programs. They are the primary regulators within their borders. OSM is

04:20an oversight program relative to those states. OSM is the primary regulator on

04:28Indian tribes and there are a few others where OSM has a federal program, but only one actually

04:34produces a little bit of coal in Tennessee. Primacy states within their borders, they are the primary

04:40regulators. OSM is an oversight program. It's a partnership really, but deference should be given

04:45to the states and it is given to the states. Do you think the 10-day notice rule overrode the authority

04:52of the state mining offices? Somewhat. Somewhat it did. The 2020 and the 2024 rule were

04:59significantly different. So the 2020 rule required OSM to work with the state. So if they receive a

05:07citizen complaint, they were required to coordinate with the state prior to acting on that citizen

05:12complaint, which makes a lot of sense. I'm a state guy. I come from the state, worked there for 31 years,

05:17and I was on the other end of those 10-day notices. So it makes sense for OSM to work with the state,

05:22gather as much information as they can prior to acting on that. So the 2024 rule took that away,

05:28which is pretty significant to me. So to answer your question, I think to some extent it did.

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