In The News
The first day President Obama took office in 2009 the White House website declared his Administration would become "the most open and transparent in history." Obama issued high-profile orders pledging "a new era" and "an unprecedented level of openness" across the massive federal government.
During "Sunshine Week," March 10 - 16, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans are working to remind the Administration of their transparency pledge to the American people.
EPA E-mail Practices
Internal policy regarding e-mail practices for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) instructs employees to "not use any outside e-mail account to conduct official Agency business."
EPW Republicans have uncovered the use of alias and private e-mail accounts to conduct Agency business, which violates Agency policy. These questionable and widespread practices are used to avoid transparency laws and keep the public and Congress in the dark.
EPA's Transparency Troubles
Complete Disregard for Transparency: The most infamous example of the EPA's complete disregard for transparency is outgoing Administrator Lisa Jackson's Richard Windsor emails. Richard Windsor has become the poster child for this troubling episode, which has been steadily broadening.
Improper Collusion: Recent uncovered emails show high level officials collaborating with environmental groups. Administrator Martin, who has since resigned, regularly communicated with far-left environmental groups like the Environmental Defense Fund on his personal email account to circumvent federal transparency laws. His emails exposed the EPA's efforts to further bury coal plants under crushing regulations.
Widespread Misconduct: Multiple EPA employees have used non-EPA e-mail accounts to conduct agency business, including: Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe using perciasepe.org; Region 8 Administrator James Martin used me.com; Region 9 Administrator Jared Blumenfeld used comcast.net; and former Deputy General Counsel Tseming Yang used gmail.com.
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The first day President Obama took office in 2009 the White House website declared his Administration would become "the most open and transparent in history." Obama issued high-profile orders pledging "a new era" and "an unprecedented level of openness" across the massive federal government.
During "Sunshine Week," March 10 - 16, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans are working to remind the Administration of their transparency pledge to the American people.
Unified Agenda
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, federal agencies are required to publish a regulatory agenda each April and October. Per an Executive Order, the agendas are published with the biannual Unified Agenda. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is tasked with collecting each agency's agenda in preparation of the Unified Agenda. Guess who hasn't submitted theirs yet?
Hiding Rules from American Public
Disregard Regulatory Process: The 2012 Spring Unified Agenda was delayed for an unprecedented ten months. To date the 2012 Fall Unified Agenda is still unpublished.
Play the Blame Game: OIRA told Congress in October that agencies were still submitting their agendas; yet EPA has failed to respond to Congressional requests for basic submission dates. It appears OIRA withheld the Agenda until after the 2012 election and decided to publish the agenda on the last business day before Christmas, when they believed as few people as possible might see it.
Economic Consequences: The Agenda is designed to give job creators the opportunity to plan ahead for new regulations, without proper lead-time, businesses are left with uncertainty, which can halt capital investments and job growth. Even a conservative estimate of EPA regulations in the Agenda show nearly $350 billion in annual compliance costs.
To stay updated, follow @EPWRepublicans on Twitter!
The first day President Obama took office in 2009 the White House website declared his Administration would become "the most open and transparent in history." Obama issued high-profile orders pledging "a new era" and "an unprecedented level of openness" across the massive federal government.
During "Sunshine Week," March 10 - 16, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans are working to remind the Administration of their transparency pledge to the American people.
"Sue-and-Settle"
"Sue-and-settle" refers to a practice in which environmental groups file lawsuits against a federal agency in a friendly court demanding the agency take action. The agency being sued agrees to move forward with the requested action to get the issue out of court. While the environmental group has a seat at the table, private property owners and other affected states and communities are not given the opportunity to take part in the settlements.
The Obama Administration has used the "sue-and-settle" tactic to create a significant portion of its regulatory policy behind closed doors, the majority involving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Sen. Vitter is calling on Congress to cut off money for the enforcement of these settlements.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed further dissecting the Administration's use of "sue-and-settle."
EPA's Secret Tactic: Sue-and-Settle
Limits Transparency: With "sue-and-settle" agreements, other stakeholders or representatives of the public are left out of negotiations. They are denied the opportunity to shed light on how they may be impacted. So far, thirteen state Attorney Generals in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request have asked for any and all correspondence between EPA and a list of 80 environmental organizations involved in this tactic. In addition to joining the request to EPA, Senator Vitter requested that the FOIA be expanded to include USFWS.
Expands ESA Without Explanation: Using "sue-and-settle," in 2011 USFWS agreed to list more than 250 species as endangered or threatened and make determinations for 500 additional species, without input from businesses, private landowners, and the states and counties where the impacted lands sit. This will impact millions of acres of private and public land and will ultimately limit the way that land is used. In addition, USFWS has refused to respond to congressional inquiries for information related to the settlement agreements will lead to species recovery.
Dampens Job Creation: The agreements with environmental groups coming out of "sue-and-settle" are an attempt to lock up millions of acres of land, which stops development of public and private lands, costing hundreds-of-thousands of jobs.
Contact: Luke Bolar (202) 224-4623
To stay updated, follow @EPWRepublicans on Twitter!
The first day President Obama took office in 2009 the White House website declared his Administration would become "the most open and transparent in history." Obama issued high-profile orders pledging "a new era" and "an unprecedented level of openness" across the massive federal government.
During "Sunshine Week," March 10 - 16, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans are working to remind the Administration of their transparency pledge to the American people.
Clean Air Act (CAA)
The Clean Air Act (CAA) provides EPA the legal authority to craft rules and regulations, to address air pollution, which are to be based on sound science.
However, during the Obama Administration, the EPA has consistently ignored Congressional requests, avoided transparency, and relied on flawed science when proposing and finalizing some of the costliest regulations ever issued by the federal government.
EPA puts forward rules with significant price tags, arguing that the benefits to public health and welfare far outweigh the costs. However, EPA refuses to publicly release the basic scientific data underlying virtually all of the Agency's claimed benefits from new CAA rules. The Agency's dependence on "secret data" contradicts the promises by the President to lead the most transparent Administration in history.
EPA Lacks Accountability for CAA
Ignore Requests: EPA continues to evade Congressional requests aimed at transparency. EPA failed to deliver documents pursuant to FOIA involving its role in Dr. Al Armendariz's August 2011 letter to U.S. Representatives about permit uncertainties for the proposed Las Brisas Energy Center in Corpus Christi, TX.
Undermine Transparency: After Congress did not receive a response from the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs regarding the delayed 2012 Unified Agendas, Senator Vitter sought answers directly from EPA. More than six weeks later, EPA has yet to respond to the simple questions of when the Agency submitted its Spring 2012 and Fall 2012 regulatory agendas to OIRA and in the case of a delay, why they were delayed.
Secret Science: In June 2011 Senator Vitter asked for the scientific methods used to justify EPA's regulatory agenda and to evaluate the science underlying the establishment of and revisions to National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). 20 months later, the inquiry still outstanding, the Agency has still not confirmed that their rule-making does not suffer from scientific defects and instead is based on high-quality, unbiased scientific results.
Disregard Comprehensive Economic Analysis: A February 2013 study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reveals the Agency's disregard for economy-wide impacts, as well as any negative impacts, rendering their cost-benefit analyses to be misleading and based on manipulated data in order to justify some of the costliest regulations.
Contact: Luke Bolar (202) 224-4623
To stay updated, follow @EPWRepublicans on Twitter!
The first day President Obama took office in 2009 the White House website declared his Administration would become "the most open and transparent in history." Obama issued high-profile orders pledging "a new era" and "an unprecedented level of openness" across the massive federal government.
During "Sunshine Week," March 10 - 16, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans are working to remind the Administration of their transparency pledge to the American people.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law that gives the public the right to know "what the government is up to" and access information from the federal government.
All federal agencies are subject to FOIA; yet the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) seems to feel they are above FOIA. In a recent production of emails by "Richard Windsor," the EPA claims they can redact whatever information they want. Click here to see an example of the emails provided by the EPA in response to a recent FOIA request.
EPA's FOIA Fail
Intentional Delays: The EPA has delayed the FOIA process in a way that conflicts with official guidance by developing an internal protocol that automatically informs a petitioner that their request is over broad and that the fees will be more than what the requestor agreed to pay.
Mismanagement: EPA employees are not receiving adequate support from their Office of General Counsel (OGC) and FOIA officers while processing FOIA responses.
Untrained: The EPA has failed to properly train staff on how to process FOIA requests, which has led to improper production of documents. In emails between the EPA Region 6 (home to former Regional Administrator Al Armendariz) officials, one employee stated, "I cannot provide guidance on what can be released... we should have taken that training and are apparently on our own."
Disrespect: Armendariz's had a blatant disrespect for the FOIA, referring to the process as "FOIA nonsense."
Contact: Luke Bolar (202) 224-4623
To stay updated, follow @EPWRepublicans on Twitter!
ICYMI: Vitter says he won’t miss Salazar
By Darren Goode January 16, 2013
Wednesday January 16, 2013
Politico Pro
Sen. David Vitter went there again.The Louisiana Republican certainly wasn't the only one on Capitol Hill to butt heads with outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. But while Republican colleagues mainly took the high road, Vitter was blunt about his former colleague's announcement to leave the Obama administration and return back home to Colorado.
"I wish Ken Salazar, a Senate classmate, all the best," Vitter began in a statement. "But I honestly won't miss him as Interior secretary."
Vitter has frequently criticized Salazar and his department for a months-long federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling permits that followed the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident and massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. "He supported the drilling moratorium overreaction to the BP disaster that cost us so many jobs," Vitter reiterated in his statement Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Vitter in a statement said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "has again revealed himself to be an idiot" after the Nevada Democrat - in a speech calling for action on an emergency supplemental spending bill to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy - opined that that storm created more suffering than Hurricane Katrina, which slammed the Gulf coast in 2005.
Reid later backtracked on the comment, saying he "simply misspoke."
Top Republicans on the House and Senate natural resources panels also weighed in on Salazar's departure Wednesday.
House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) - whose panel has probed the justification Salazar and others in the administration used to justify the federal drilling permit moratorium and other departmental actions - said that while he and Salazar "may not have always seen eye to eye on the issues, I thank Secretary [Ken] Salazar for his service to our country and wish him all the best in his future endeavors." He added that President Barack Obama must "nominate a secretary of the Interior who will realize the job- and revenue-creating potential of all-of-the-above energy production, will use sound science to guide decision making, and will protect public access to public lands for recreation and economic development."
Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) - who also didn't agree with much of what Salazar did or did not do on the job - similarly noted in a statement, "Being the nation's top steward, responsible for one-fifth of all the land in the United States, is no easy task and Secretary Salazar performed it with the upmost dedication to his principles."
WATCH: FoxNews: President doing an 'end run' around Congress over energy?
Inhofe Continues Oversight Efforts to Rein in Obama-EPA
Friday December 7, 2012
Washington DC
Posted by Matt Dempsey matt_dempsey@epw.senate.gov
In the News...
Fox News
Energy industry concerned Obama could pursue end-run on climate change rules
By Shannon Bream
Published December 06, 2012
FoxNews.com
WSJ Editorial: Here Comes the Regulatory Flood
Senate Report Reveals Economic Pain of Obama-EPA Regulations Put on Hold Until After the Election
The United States has joined nearly 200 countries at a
United Nations climate summit in Doha, Qatar, this week with the primary goal
of coming together on a treaty aimed at preventing what activists are calling
dangerous climate change.
Some point to superstorm Sandy as a primary example of the need to curb emissions that they believe are fundamentally disrupting the way Earth's ecosystem works. They would like to have a treaty signed by 2015.
But many in the energy industry are concerned the Obama
administration, fresh off a re-election win, will go too far with a radical
environmental strategy that will have a negative impact on U.S. businesses and
consumers – not just through the U.N., but executive edict.
"They brought hundreds of millions of dollars into
his re-election campaign," said Michael Whatley, vice president of the
Consumer Energy Alliance. He believes the president delayed consideration of
the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL Pipeline because he couldn't afford to lose
allies in the environmental sector, and may now feel pressure to deliver to
those groups. Indeed, on the night of his re-election, Obama vowed the U.S.
would be a leader in combating a "warming planet."
For years, both Democrats and Republicans have blocked
cap-and-trade legislation on Capitol Hill which would set emissions limits and
fees for those who exceed them. Now, a growing number of lawmakers are
sounding an alarm about what they believe will be the Executive Branch's
"end run" around Congress. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., believes,
whether via a U.N. treaty or domestic regulations, Obama will continue to work
toward reining in domestic energy production. "The president couldn't get
it done through legislation, so now he's doing it through regulation using our
tax dollars to make it happen,” he said.
Inhofe sent a scathing recorded message to the U.N.
gathering in Doha, chastising the administration for "quietly handing over
billions of dollars to the United Nations in the name of global warming"
as Washington runs up against a fiscal crisis.
But environmental groups say the president is simply doing his job. Bob Deans, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said they've found a partner in Obama.
"He understands that increased drought, record heat, wildfires, storms like Sandy ... are threats we need to do something about,” he said.
The Environmental Protection Agency is taking the federal lead, beefing up enforcement actions under the Clean Water Act and issuing new regulations. Inhofe is keeping a close eye on those regulations, but says the administration is stonewalling.
Under current law, the administration is supposed to
provide a full accounting every April and October of any proposed regulations
that will have a "significant" economic impact. That hasn't happened
since 2011.
Inhofe continues to push the White House for an
explanation. A source at the White House, while not explaining the lapse, told
Fox News that federal agencies are currently in the process of pulling together
that information.
WATCH INHOFE VIDEO FOR UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE:Obama Quietly Handing Over Billions of Dollars to the UN in the Name of Global Warming
Conference Really About Spreading the Wealth Around
Thursday December 6, 2012
Washington DC
While all of the attention today in Washington is on the looming fiscal cliff, President Obama’s administration is quietly handing over billions of dollars to the United Nations in the name of global warming.Hello, I am Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican Senator from Oklahoma, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and chief critic of President Obama’s far left green agenda
Over the past decade, I have been leading the charge in Washington to make sure the global warming hoax is exposed. A big part of that effort has been putting the spotlight on what takes place at the UN’s annual global warming conferences. While I have been unable to travel to the last few conferences, I have counted on groups like CFACT to provide “on the ground” reports. This year’s UN conference is in Doha, Qatar and I’m pleased that Lord Christopher Monckton is there working with his partners, including CFACT Executive Director Craig Rucker and Marc Morano of ClimateDepot.com. I’m certainly looking forward to the release of Climate Depot’s new report that debunks the alarmists’ extreme weather claims.
Emissions legislation poised to make a comeback in new Congress -- Boxer
E&E; News
Tuesday November 27, 2012
Washington DC
One of the Senate's top proponents of action on climate change said today that several of her colleagues intend to introduce climate change bills in the next Congress, spurred on by the recent experience with Superstorm Sandy."I think we'll have many," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), adding that the storm that menaced the East Coast last month had raised the profile of climate change both on and off Capitol Hill. "So I have a lot of people working on legislation."
She predicted that several senators would release legislation in the first five months of the new Congress.
Inhofe calls U.N. talks a 'party,' vows to take skepticism to voters
Greenwire
Tuesday November 27, 2012
Washington DC
Inhofe spoke as U.N. climate talks are under way in Doha, Qatar. No U.S. lawmakers are currently scheduled to attend the talks, which Inhofe dismissed as "an annual party" for bureaucrats.Inhofe's office has not ruled out the possibility of his attending the talks via video message, as he did last year. But a trip to Qatar would be wasted, he told reporters yesterday, because there is no possibility that the United States will pass comprehensive climate change legislation in the coming years.
"That is a promise," he said. "It's not going to happen. So why go down there and waste a lot of time?"
