OPENING STATEMENT Senator Jim Inhofe
Chairman, Senate Clean Air Subcommittee
Hearing on the Reauthorization of the Clean Air Act
Wednesday September 27, 2000

The Hearing will come to order.

Today is the third Clean Air Reauthorization Hearing this Congress. The first hearing last October addressed broad policy issues such as Cost/Benefit, Risk, and Exposure. The second Hearing was held in May and concentrated on the effect of multiple regulations addressing the same pollutants, and we looked specifically at the Utility industry as an example.

Today's Hearing addresses the role of the States and the local governments in implementing the Clean Air Act. As a former Mayor of a major metropolitan city, Tulsa, Oklahoma, I have a good understanding of the partnership between the Federal government and the local and State governments. I also understand the problems associated with implementing Federal mandates, and when I say Federal mandates I don't just mean the associated costs of the mandates, but the problem of the "one-size fits all" bias of Federal regulations.

I have often criticized federal bureaucrats, within the Washington beltway, for writing regulations without understanding how they get implemented out in the States. Part of the problem is the fact that what works in one State or one Region, may not necessarily work in another.

In the 1990 Clean Air Act, Congress decided to give the authority to set the environmental standards to the EPA here in Washington D.C., and the States were given the role of implementing the programs, through the State Implementation Planning process. Unfortunately, I think the EPA has tried to micro-manage the implementation too much and has not given the States the flexibility Congress envisioned.

For the purposes of today's hearing, I have two main questions.

1. From the State and local government point of view, what aspects of the Clean Air Act are currently working well.

2. What needs to be improved in the Act in order to provide you more flexibility and responsibility.

We often say our States serve as national laboratories to test new programs and new approaches. I'm sure we will hear a lot of positive feedback today, and in the comings months which will help shape the next version of the Clean Air Act.