I was very pleased when President-elect George W. Bush nominated you to be the Administrator of the EPA. I believe your common sense approach to solving problems, your experience as a Governor, your desire for cost effective programs, and your environmental beliefs will make you an outstanding Administrator. You are going to need all of your skills as you begin your new job because you are inheriting a host of problems which makes this position one of the hardest and most important jobs in the new Administration.
Over the last eight years science has suffered at EPA, the States have become second class citizens, the enforcement office has been more concerned about penalties and fines instead of compliance with the laws, and the EPA has been in the practice of funding lawsuits against itself. In addition, over the last few weeks the Clinton Administration has rushed through a number of "so-called" midnight regulations. In some cases the OMB review process has been superficial at best. For example, the final sulfur diesel rule spent just two weeks at OMB instead of the customary 90 days, even though the rule was over 2,000 pages long. I don't see how anybody could claim that rule was properly vetted. You will need to carefully examine all of these last minute regulations and proposed regulations.
On the enforcement side, I am pleased with your record in New Jersey where you put compliance with the regulations first. The Enforcement Office under Carol Browner has been out of control, they are more concerned about issuing penalties and fines than they are about complying with the laws. Last year enforcement officials were found guilty of tampering with evidence in an enforcement case, and the Agency was forced to pay the victims legal costs.
When our environmental laws were first enacted thirty years ago most States had no environmental experience. Today they all have experience and we should not just treat them as partners, but recognize the fact that they are the front line for environmental protection.
The EPA can not continue to operate in a vacuum. They have ignored the impact of environmental regulations on our nation's military and energy supply. You will need to develop strong working relations with the Department's of Energy and Defense. In addition to my duties on this Committee, I also serve as the Chairman of the Armed Forces Readiness Subcommittee. Vital training areas have been closed to our military because of environmental issues, jeopardizing our nation's readiness. The enforcement office has initiated controversial enforcement actions against our nations utilities, demanding hundreds of millions in fines and corrective actions; at the same time that the American public is experiencing brownouts and blackouts in California and a tripling of utility bills elsewhere in the country. While we need to ensure that utilities continue to clean up their emissions, and I am committed to working with Senator's Smith and Voinovich on that issue, these out of control enforcement actions are not the answer. Too many times EPA has acted without regard to the consequences of their actions.
I look forward to working with you on these issues and helping you implement some much needed reforms at the EPA.