January 14, 2013

ICYMI: Vitter moves up on key environment committee (Shreveport Times)

In Case You Missed It: David Vitter moves up on key environment committee (Shreveport Times)
Note: This article also appeared in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser, Alexandria Town Talk and Monroe News Star

Excerpts: “Sen. David Vitter’s new role as top Republican on a key environment committee could benefit Louisiana as Congress considers important energy measures this year, according to environmentalists, oil industry officials and others…

…At the top of the committee’s agenda is a new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes water projects, flood protection, navigation programs and other projects…

…Vitter, a frequent critic of the EPA, said he’s worried the agency has based its regulations on “political ideology or tabloid science versus real, sound, peer-reviewed science.’’

Vitter said he’s also concerned about potential regulations on hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting natural gas from shale formations.”

 
Shreveport Times
David Vitter moves up on key environment committee
4:23 PM, Jan 12, 2013  
Deborah Barfield Berry

WASHINGTON – Sen. David Vitter’s new role as top Republican on a key environment committee could benefit Louisiana as Congress considers important energy measures this year, according to environmentalists, oil industry officials and others.

Vitter became the top GOP member of the Environment and Public Works Committee earlier this month. His predecessor, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, stepped down after his six-year term as ranking Republican expired.

“It’s important to have Vitter there to try to speak up for Louisiana’s interest,’’ said Pearson Cross, head of the political science department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. “It’s not a bad spot for him to be, as much as Louisiana interacts with the Army Corps of Engineers and water resources development.’’

The committee assignment is the highest post the two-term senator has held. Vitter also served in the House from 1999 to 2004.

At the top of the committee’s agenda is a new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes water projects, flood protection, navigation programs and other projects. Projects administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are critical to commerce and economic development in many communities, including coastal states.

“We’re already working on what I hope will be a good, solid, bipartisan WRDA bill,’’ Vitter said.

Vitter said he hopes the bill will streamline reforms at the Army Corps of Engineers. He said he’s working with Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida to set up a pilot project to give state and local officials more control over such projects.

Vitter said he’s also pushing to include legislation proposed by Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, to send more money from the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to dredging and maintenance projects in Louisiana and elsewhere.

Beyond the legislation, Vitter said he will also look to fight administration efforts to impose tougher clean air and water regulations.

“It’s important to make sure that’s done based on sound science and real facts so that over-regulation, which can hurt jobs and a lot industries, doesn’t happen,’’ Vitter said. “Louisiana has a number of industries that are directly related to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations. ’’
Vitter, a frequent critic of the EPA, said he’s worried the agency has based its regulations on “political ideology or tabloid science versus real, sound, peer-reviewed science.’’

Vitter said he’s also concerned about potential regulations on hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting natural gas from shale formations.

“That’s under attack from the left and I’m concerned that the EPA and other federal agencies may again, by administrative fiat, try to over-regulate or even shut down that activity,’’ he said.

Pearson said Vitter’s positions echo Inhofe’s, one of the Senate’s most conservative members.

“This will give Vitter a chance to make a conservative argument against excessive regulation by the EPA,’’ he said. “That’s an argument he will be very comfortable in making and has made in the past.’’

That position will pit Vitter against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, the committee’s liberal chairwoman.

Vitter says he has a good relationship with Boxer, but acknowledges there are major differences.

“On national and environmental stuff we’re going to disagree very, very strongly and most every Republican on the committee is going to disagree on most of that stuff with Democrats,’’ he said.

But on infrastructure legislation, Vitter said, “we can work much more effectively together and produce good bipartisan bills.’’

Boxer agrees, saying she expects to work well with Vitter on the WRDA bill.
Vitter and others cite the committee’s bipartisan efforts on the RESTORE Act, under which Louisiana and the other four Gulf states will receive 80 percent of the fine money levied against BP for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to finance recovery efforts.

“The RESTORE Act showed us that if the issue is important enough and the legislation is well-meaning enough, that there can be some consensus,’’ said Chris Macaluso, coastal outreach coordinator for the Louisiana Wildlife Federation.

In addition to the Environment and Public Works Committee, Vitter will continue to serve on the Armed Services Committee, the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, called Vitter’s new committee post “a very good thing for Louisiana.’’

He noted that Louisiana has 18 refineries and a significant petrochemical industry, and is one of the largest producers of natural gas in the country. Regulations imposed by the EPA and other federal agencies have a major impact on those industries, he said.

“It’s a good thing that Sen. Vitter is on board, because he has a good understanding of our industry and not just oil and gas, but petrochemical and the refining industry,’’ Briggs said.

Macaluso said he hopes Vitter and other lawmakers will work to better clarify construction and funding of projects under the 2007 Water Resources Development Act.

Maculuso said he’s encouraged by evidence that Vitter supports coastal restoration efforts and has shown a “willingness to put some heat on the Corps of Engineers and to put some pressure on federal agencies.’’

“He’s been very vocal about insisting that these bureaucracies that are stalling getting these projects off the ground somehow be resolved,’’ Macaluso said. “He understands the urgency of the situation — that just getting the money is not enough.’’

Vitter has also been critical of the administration, particularly its six-month moratorium on new deep-water drilling permits after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Vitter and other Gulf Coast lawmakers complained the ban hurt the region’s economy.

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