Congressional Democrats on Wednesday prodded the Environmental Protection Agency to expand its enforcement actions to help President Biden’s “whole of government” approach to combatting climate change.
The EPA has wide-reaching power over environmental matters but Democratic lawmakers want the agency to push its authority to the limits.
“For the EPA to fully realize its mission, the protection can’t just be on the books,” Rep. Kathleen Rice, New York Democrat, said at a hearing of the Energy and Commerce’s panel on oversight and investigations.
She explained the what’s “on the books” sometimes isn’t enough.
“They have to be enforced and that enforcement isn’t just about ensuring compliance and holding polluters accountable, it’s going to have the impact of protecting the health of our communities and families and the environment,” she said.
The EPA is poised to fully embrace the Biden agenda with the Senate confirmation Wednesday of Michael Regan as the agency’s administrator.
Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone said a major reset was needed at EPA after former President Donald Trump “undermined” the agency’s ability to function.
“They let polluters off the hook by weakening EPA’s enforcement program,” said Mr. Pallone, New Jersey Democrat. “They eroded the EPA’s essential scientific infrastructure … Thankfully, it is a new day at EPA.”
At the hearing, Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican and former New Jersey governor who led the EPA under President George W. Bush, also told the panel “enforcement is critical.”
Republican lawmakers pushed back against the narrative that the Trump administration had failed to properly follow the law.
“Starting in 2011 there was a downward trend in all criminal enforcement [against polluters],” said Rep. David McKinley, a Republican from the coal state of West Virginia. “It wasn’t reversed until the Trump administration … affected twice as much in civil and criminal penalties than the Obama-Biden administration did.”
Mr. McKinley’s comments, which were not directly addressed at the hearing by any of those testifying, underscore the predicament facing the Biden administration.
Republicans said Mr. Trump deserves credit for streamlining environmental regulations.
To the consternation of environmentalists, Mr. Trump exited the Paris Climate Accord and rollbacked or delayed more than 100 environmental regulations. He expanded offshore drilling and sped up the extraction of liquid natural gas.
The result was that in 2019 the U.S. was energy independent for the first time since the late-1950s. In 2019, the U.S. also saw the largest decline in energy-related carbon emissions compared to other countries across the globe.
Republicans are concerned that the progress will be jeopardized by Mr. Biden’s new regulatory regime.
“Within the first few days of office, President Biden issued various Executive Orders that crippled the fossil fuel industry and left thousands of Americans without jobs,” Mr. McKinley told The Washington Times earlier this week. “Unless we can change the dynamic, we expect President Biden and his climate advisors to continue issuing regulations detrimental not only to the fossil fuel industry but also to our national security.”
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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