Business Meeting — Committee on Environment and Public Works (S. Hrg. 117-220, January 12, 2022)
Summary
Senate Hearing 117-220, the printed record of a January 12, 2022 business meeting of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, with Chairman Carper presiding. The committee voted to report favorably Presidential Nomination 1557, Martha Williams of Montana to be Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, with yeas 16 and nays 4. It reported Presidential Nomination 1562, Henry Christopher Frey to be Assistant Administrator of Research and Development of the Environmental Protection Agency, with yeas 11 and nays 9. Chairman Carper did not call up the nomination of David Uhlmann, and 18 GSA Resolutions were approved en bloc by voice vote. Senator Capito states opposition to the Frey nomination over outstanding oversight requests to EPA.
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“Business Meeting — Committee on Environment and Public Works (S. Hrg. 117-220, January 12, 2022).”
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[Senate Hearing 117-220]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-220
BUSINESS MEETING
=======================================================================
MEETING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JANUARY 12, 2022
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
56-155 PDF WASHINGTON : 2024
COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont Virginia
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island Ranking Member
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama
MARK KELLY, Arizona JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
ALEX PADILLA, California ROGER WICKER, Mississippi
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
JONI ERNST, Iowa
LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
Mary Frances Repko, Democratic Staff Director
Adam Tomlinson, Republican Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
NOVEMBER 3, 2021
OPENING STATEMENTS
Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware.. 1
Capito, Hon. Shelly Moore, U.S. Senator from the State of West
Virginia....................................................... 2
LEGISLATION
Nomination Reference and Report.................................. 7
General Services Administration Resolutions...................... 11
BUSINESS MEETING
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2022
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Washington, DC.
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
Washington, DC.
The committee, met, pursuant to notice, at 2:49 p.m., in
room 106, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas R. Carper
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senators Carper, Capito, Cardin, Sanders,
Whitehouse, Merkley, Markey, Duckworth, Stabenow, Kelly,
Padilla, Inhofe, and Boozman.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS R. CARPER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF DELAWARE
Senator Carper. Good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to
call this business meeting to order.
I am pleased to welcome everyone back as we get started
with another busy year, hopefully a productive year on our
committee with plenty of important work behind us. I am proud
of what we have accomplished and plenty of work ahead of us.
This afternoon, we begin by voting on a couple of
nominations. After discussions with our friends on the
Republican side, I will not be calling up one of the
nominations that have been noticed. That is the nomination of
David Uhlmann today.
This morning, one of my colleagues informed me that she is
still waiting on an outstanding information request that had
been made of EPA, information that she needs in order to
consider whether she can support the nomination. The requested
information has nothing to do with the qualifications or the
conduct of the nominee. Nor is it related to the position the
nominee would serve in once confirmed. There is no correlation
there.
But I promised that my staff and I would work with the EPA
to try to ensure, the best we can, that this information is
provided promptly, so that Mr. Uhlmann's nomination can be
considered in an upcoming business meeting as soon as possible.
As I think you know, Senator Capito and I always try to
work with our committee colleagues to address needs for
information and I have committed to doing so in this case as
well. However, the EPA and other agencies we oversee need
qualified nominees, as you know, to fill the key positions. We
have a responsibility as well to ensure that those positions
are filled.
We will now consider the nomination of Christopher Frey. I
asked Christopher, how do we remember to call you ``Frey'' and
not ``Fry.'' He said, the band, there is a band called The
Frey. If you just call me after the band, we will keep it
straight.
Christopher Frey has been nominated to be the Assistant
Administrator for Research and Development of the Environmental
Protection Agency, and Martha Williams to be Director of the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Since the adjournment of the first session of the 117th
Congress, President Biden has re-nominated these two
individuals to the same positions they were nominated for in
the previous session. Just last month, this committee favorably
reported the nomination of Mr. Frey, and I am hopeful we will
do so again this afternoon.
We will also be voting on Ms. Williams' nomination. This is
the first time I believe we will be considering her nomination.
So I would like to say a few brief words about her if I could.
As we heard during her nomination hearing in November, Ms.
Williams has a proven track record of bringing people together
to solve complicated conservation challenges. That is why her
nomination enjoys broad stakeholder support including from
environmental organizations, and sportsmen and women alike,
including I think both Senators from Montana.
She is ready to roll up her sleeves and get the job done,
should she be confirmed. I plan to vote yes on her nomination.
I would urge our colleagues to do the same.
In addition to voting on these two nominations, we will
also consider 18 GSA resolutions. When we have completed our
votes, we will immediately move on to today's hearing on the
Water Resources Development Act. I am looking forward to that.
I want to thank everyone for your input to help us get to this
day.
With that, let me turn to turn to Senator Capito for any
comments she would like to make. After that, we will recognize
other members in order of seniority until we have a quorum and
then we will be voting.
Senator Capito.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. SHELLY MOORE CAPITO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon and
thank you for calling the business meeting today. Welcome to
the committee for our first meeting of the year.
It is an understatement to say we accomplished a lot in our
last year together. I look forward to many more ways that we
can work together in 2022.
Today, we are gathered to consider a number of GSA
resolutions, as you mentioned, and a nominee I am pleased to
support, Martha Williams, to serve as Director of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife. In my discussions with her, Ms. Williams would
agree to preserve opportunities for hunting, fishing and other
outdoor pursuits important to many West Virginians and across
this Country.
She has very much shown a willingness to work with
Congress. She has provided detailed responses in my letter
asking how the Fish and Wildlife Service would use its American
Rescue Plan funds and also provided substantive, thoughtful
responses to the questions I submitted for the record following
her hearing. I thank her for that. Equally important, her staff
has been responsive to mine when my staff has had policy
questions or requests for additional information.
Ms. Williams and I will not agree on everything, but she
has shown she takes her responsibility to be accountable to
Congress very seriously and I commend her for that.
Those same principles of transparency and accountability
guide my decision to vote no on the nominee for U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, as we are considering him
today, Dr. Chris Frey, as I did the last time his nomination
came up.
My basis for opposition remains unchanged. It is not really
what Chris Frey, how he testified or what direction I think he
might go. It is really the fact that the EPA simply will not be
transparent about its plans to pursue policies that could raise
already surging energy prices for workers in West Virginia and
across the Country and make America, I believe, less
competitive.
Almost a year ago when the committee considered EPA
Administrator Michael Regan's nomination, I feared that he
would be walking into an Administration where he wouldn't be
able to call the shots, where unaccountable climate czars,
including Gina McCarthy, would set the agenda. Unfortunately,
that prediction has played out exactly as I had thought.
Just last week, McCarthy stated to the New York Times about
how she had spent the last year ``overseeing a whole-of-
government effort to put our country on a path to tackle the
climate crisis.''
President Biden has not even bothered to nominate someone
to lead EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. That is the EPA
office that is in charge of climate issues. No incoming
Administration has waited this long to send up a nominee for
this critical position. The previous record was 260 days set by
former President Clinton. Instead, Ms. McCarthy is directing
climate policy shielded from the public eye with no
accountability to Congress or really to the American people.
Last April, Administrator Regan appeared before this very
committee and promised to provide me and our committee with the
EPA analysis developed to support the U.S. nationally
determined contribution, the NDC. In that new NDC, the
agreement that was under the Paris agreement, President Biden
pledged to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50 to 52
percent from 2005 levels to 2030. Now, 9 months later,
Administrator Regan still has not provided us with the
analysis.
Senator Inhofe also requested information shortly after
that hearing. In August, EPA staff responded to him in a letter
on behalf of the White House admitting an analysis existed but
claiming that Gina McCarthy and her office ultimately call the
shots on the NDC.
So in September, Senator Inhofe and I, along with House
Energy and Commerce chairs Cathy McMorris Rodgers and David
McKinley of West Virginia asked the White House for more
information. No response. Now it is 2022 and we still have no
information about how the NDC, which is supposed to guide all
of the Administration's climate policies, how it was
calculated. This stonewalling by EPA and the White House is
just unacceptable.
We know the analysis has been done, so why hasn't it been
shared with us? Well, here are two possibilities. Either it
shows they cannot meet their goals at all, or it shows that
meeting the NDC would be politically and economically
devastating through aggressive, top-down regulations across all
aspects of American lives.
While EPA and the White House have kept any information
about development of the target in the shadows, outside groups
have tried to crunch the numbers. In December, the New York
Times reported that current policies would only get our Country
halfway there. Analysis shows that even the now stalled tax and
spending spree known as Build Back Better may not fully close
the gap despite its proponents' promises.
We know the bill would further raise prices, kill jobs in
States across the Country, and lead to more wasted taxpayer
dollars without meeting pie-in-the-sky climate goals. Even so,
hiding the analysis in the shadows is not fair. The American
people deserve to know the supposed benefits, and especially
the outside costs of what the Administration has committed to
internationally, what that will mean to their lives, and how
the Administration plans to fundamentally alter our economy to
achieve those goals.
With that in mind, unless my outstanding oversight requests
are fully responded to, I cannot support advancing this EPA
nomination.
Thank you.
Senator Carper. As tempted as I am respond, I am not going
to do that at this point in time.
I think Senator Sanders has joined us now. I believe, Mary
Francis, that is 13. So that puts us in position. I just want
to say thank you so much for coming. Thank you for being
punctual.
I would like to call up Presidential Nomination 1557, that
of Martha Williams of Montana to be Director of the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service. I move to approve and report
the nomination favorably to the Senate. Is there a second?
Senator Cardin. Second.
Senator Carper. It has been moved and seconded. The Clerk
will please call the roll.
The Clerk. Mr. Boozman?
Senator Boozman. No.
The Clerk. Mrs. Capito?
Senator Capito. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Cardin?
Senator Cardin. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Cramer?
Senator Capito. No.
The Clerk. Ms. Duckworth?
Senator Duckworth. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Ernst?
Senator Capito. Yes, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Graham?
Senator Capito. Yes, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Inhofe?
Senator Inhofe. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Kelly?
Senator Kelly. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Lummis?
Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Markey?
Senator Markey. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Merkley?
Senator Merkley. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Padilla?
Senator Padilla. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Sanders?
Senator Sanders. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Shelby?
Senator Capito. Aye, by proxy.
The Clerk. Ms. Stabenow?
Senator Stabenow. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Sullivan?
Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Whitehouse?
Senator Whitehouse. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Wicker?
Senator Capito. Aye, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman?
Senator Carper. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, the yeas are 16, the nays are 4.
Senator Carper. Thank you very much.
Next let me call up the Presidential Nomination 1562, that
of Henry Christopher Frey of North Carolina to be Assistant
Administrator of Research and Development of the Environmental
Protection Agency. I move to approve and report the nomination
favorably to the Senate. Is there a second?
Senator Cardin. Second.
Senator Carper. It has been moved and seconded. The Clerk
will call the roll, please.
The Clerk. Mr. Boozman?
Senator Boozman. No.
The Clerk. Mrs. Capito?
Senator Capito. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Cardin?
Senator Cardin. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Cramer?
Senator Cramer. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Duckworth?
Senator Duckworth. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Ernst?
Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Graham?
Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Inhofe?
Senator Inhofe. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Kelly?
Senator Kelly. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Lummis?
Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Markey?
Senator Markey. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Merkley?
Senator Merkley. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Padilla?
Senator Padilla. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Sanders?
Senator Sanders. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Shelby?
Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Ms. Stabenow?
Senator Stabenow. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Sullivan?
Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Whitehouse?
Senator Whitehouse. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Wicker?
Senator Capito. No, by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman?
Senator Carper. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, the yeas are 11, the nays are 9.
Senator Carper. Very good. Thank you, colleagues.
Last, I want to call up 18 GSA Resolutions to consider en
bloc by voice vote. For the record, the Chair observes that a
quorum is present in the room. Given the presence of a quorum,
I move to approve and report these matters favorably to the
Senate. Is there a second?
Senator Inhofe. Second.
Senator Carper. It has been moved and seconded. All in
favor, say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Senator Carper. All opposed say nay.
[No audible response.]
Senator Carper. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have
it. The measures are approved and favorably reported.
The business meeting portion of today's committee meeting
is concluded. I want to thank everyone for attending and being
so prompt. Let us now turn to today's hearing.
Thank you all.
[Whereupon, at 3:02 p.m., the committee proceeded to other
business.]
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