'The Rules... Have To Be Rooted In Reality': Tester Questions EPA Administrator On New Regulations

4 months ago

At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) questioned EPA Administrator Regan about

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Transcript

00:00 Senator Tester. Thank you Mr. Chairman,

00:02 Ranking Member for holding this hearing

00:04 and Administrator Reagan, thank you for

00:06 being here. I appreciate you coming for

00:08 the committee today. Look, as a farmer,

00:11 somebody whose family's been on this

00:13 land since it broke for 114 years, I know

00:19 the value of clean air and clean water.

00:20 There's just no doubt about that. But I

00:23 will tell you that the rules that come

00:26 out of Washington have to be

00:27 rooted in reality. If you can't

00:32 meet them, it really is a huge problem.

00:35 And that's why I want to talk a little

00:38 bit today about the Matt's rule. Now in

00:42 this rule, you acknowledge that

00:46 the only power plant this is really

00:48 affecting is one in Colstrip, Montana.

00:50 Okay? That's the only one. You also

00:56 acknowledge it will take a hundred

00:57 hundreds of millions of dollars to meet

00:59 the standards and this is a power plant

01:01 with a public depreciation date of 2042.

01:06 You and I both know there's no way they

01:08 make hundreds of millions of dollars in

01:10 investment in a power plant that has

01:12 that depreciation date. I would just just

01:19 tell you that when it comes to jobs, when

01:22 it comes to this community, when it comes

01:26 to power, this is all really important as

01:30 we try to meet that happy medium between

01:31 clean air and clean water. Okay?

01:34 But in your rule, you also provide

01:37 additional flexibilities. I want to flesh

01:39 that out a little bit. These are

01:41 additional flexibilities to bring

01:43 sources into compliance. It doesn't go into

01:45 detail what these are. So my question to

01:48 you is what are, and don't filibuster

01:51 me, I know you won't, but what are these

01:53 additional flexibilities? Well, and I

01:55 won't filibuster. I'll say that the

01:58 flexibilities that are in there are

02:01 number one, different types of control

02:04 technology options and combinations.

02:06 Yeah. Timing and looking at some of the

02:11 unique aspects of the state of Montana.

02:15 We have had direct conversations with

02:17 this facility. Yes. And what I'll say is

02:19 I'm not quite sure if my team would

02:21 agree that it would take a hundred

02:22 million dollars of investment. I think if

02:24 our teams, your team, are talking with

02:26 this facility and we look at these

02:28 combinations of control technologies

02:30 that we've helped other states do like

02:32 Kentucky and Oklahoma, I believe that we

02:35 can get there. Okay. And then

02:38 the question becomes can we get there

02:41 and still have it so that when it turns

02:45 40 below zero we got power? You know,

02:47 unfortunately because of climate change we

02:50 don't have those times very often

02:51 anymore, but we had one last winter. Yeah.

02:53 And you know what happens with peak power

02:56 prices and things like that when it and

02:58 if you don't have the juice I'm telling

03:00 you it's over with. You got big

03:03 costs. So my question is,

03:07 is there any thought, since this only

03:10 impacts one power plant in the United

03:12 States, the whole damn country, just one

03:14 power plant, of potentially moving the

03:18 date forward and giving some flexibility

03:20 to maybe 2032? Well let me let me say I

03:25 think it does impact more than one, but

03:28 listen. No, the rule actually

03:31 points out it impacts one. Yeah, 93% of

03:34 coal plants in this country we believe

03:36 will be able to meet. Yeah, this is the

03:39 one that won't. Let me say this, I'd

03:42 love for our staffs to talk. Okay.

03:44 They've been having some very technical

03:46 conversations and I do believe there's a

03:48 path forward. We need to visit. Now I want to

03:50 make something really clear. I talked to

03:51 a lot of people about this. There's

03:53 nobody that said let's just throw the

03:55 rule out. We think this rule is a bunch

03:56 of garbage and we should throw it out.

03:58 All of them said I see what they're

04:00 trying to do, they just need to

04:02 understand that a one-size-fits-all

04:04 rule doesn't necessarily work all the

04:06 time. Okay, and so if you're willing to

04:08 work with my staff and we're willing to

04:10 move this thing forward in a way that

04:12 really ensures both climate, find that

04:16 sweet spot, ensures both climate

04:19 stability and energy stability without

04:22 totally torching this community, it'd be

04:25 a big win for everybody. Okay, sounds good

04:27 to me. We thank you for that. It's

04:30 this is really, really important and I

04:34 get it. I mean I get it. I understand

04:36 climate. I mean I've been through two of

04:39 the worst droughts I've ever had on our

04:41 farm and that's in a hundred and fourteen

04:43 years. Okay, and we're still laying out of

04:45 it by the way. It could be another one

04:47 this year and hope not, but it looks like

04:49 it might be. So making sure that this

04:51 stuff works for everybody is really,

04:55 really, really important. I appreciate you.

04:57 My time's run out. I want to talk about

04:59 Superfund sites too, but we'll do that

05:01 when we come in and talk about mats. Okay?

05:03 That sounds great, Senator. Thank you.

'The Rules... Have To Be Rooted In Reality': Tester Questions EPA Administrator On New Regulations

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