'Sounds Like You Are Letting Them Off The Hook': Tlaib Grills EPA Administrator On Detroit Pollution

3 months ago

At a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) questioned EPA Administrator Michael Regan about pollution in Detroit.

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Transcript

00:00The Chair now recognizes Ms. Tlaib from Michigan.

00:03Ms. Tlaib. Thank you so much, Chairman. Thank you so much, Administrator Regan, for being

00:08here.

00:10You've been to Detroit, you've been to Michigan several times. I don't think I did get you

00:16to come out to meet some of our residents living on Beneteau Street yet, but Beneteau

00:23Street on the east side of Detroit is a predominantly black, very working class, lowincome, poor

00:31community, and they have a massive Stellantis auto plant complex in their backyard. It's

00:38been making them sick and ruining their quality of life for years. Some can't even have outings

00:45outside with their families, barbecues, birthday parties. The odor is unbearable. I've experienced

00:51it myself, Administrator.

00:55State regulators in Michigan had issued Stellantis air permits. They had the public meetings,

01:01they did the whole process, but they failed to ensure that they complied with the permit

01:06conditions. Stellantis was required to install pollution controls. They failed to install

01:17them correctly. I think they withheld that information for months. I don't know if it

01:23was six months, seven months, it was months. Even though the residents were saying something's

01:27wrong here, the odor, something's wrong here, there's something wrong. Again, they did not

01:32fix it for months.

01:37This is, you know, our residents, one, they didn't feel believed by the State for a long

01:42time, but they also believed, like, wait, why are they always routinely, the State,

01:48approving pollution permits that they know are poisoning predominantly black, brown,

01:53immigrant low-income communities across Michigan? So they worked with a nonprofit organization

01:57called the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, and in November, I believe, or sorry, in 2021,

02:02they filed a Title VI civil rights case, a complaint. Are you familiar at all with it

02:08all?

02:09Yes.

02:10Okay. So Administrator Schor and some of the members of the team at Region 5 talked to

02:16me about this. You know this. I mean, the EPA was pursuing an informal resolution agreement

02:26for more than a year with community members at the table, Administrator, and again, trying

02:33to get towards a resolution with the State. And all of a sudden, the State's like, nah,

02:41we don't want to talk to them anymore. And EPA was like, okay. Do you know why?

02:49Given that this is an active Title VI case, I can't

02:52Microphone, make sure your microphone is on.

02:55Given that it's an active Title VI case, it's improper for me to comment on or speculate.

02:59Yeah, but it sounds like you guys are letting them off the hook. The leverage that we have

03:03is, and I want you to know, I want them to feel like their lives are important under

03:10an administration that says they care about clean air and water, right? And it's hard

03:14for me. And no matter who's the President, I mean, Administrator, I'm going to be very

03:18much always about holding them accountable. So I understand the law is clear. When there's

03:23an informal resolution agreement cannot be reached, EPA must investigate and issue findings

03:27that determine whether or not discrimination occurred. Why aren't we doing that? Why aren't

03:36we doing that?

03:37Let me take this concern back to our Title VI lawyers and team that's working on this.

03:44Please.

03:45And we will keep you apprised as much as we can.

03:47And Administrator Reagan, this is out of love and respect. I grew up in a neighborhood.

03:51Honestly, I would come into my house as a little child, Chairman, smelling like rotten

03:56eggs. All my friends had asthma. I mean, it's awful. So I'm asking the EPA to take

04:03this complaint seriously, set a precedent that you care and watch. No matter who is

04:09the governor, no matter who is in charge, it's important that we're consistent. And

04:14Mr. Reagan, you know this, Administrator Reagan, please fight for them like you live on Beneteau.

04:22Fight for them like you live there. Because they have nobody else but us. And we're blessed

04:28that we have a nonprofit that took the case. But we can't allow, again, politics and all

04:33these kinds of aspects come into play. We have to be consistent. Again, no one told

04:39them to look away when months and months and months went with them not complying with their

04:43own air permits. You know that. Companies put it in there. They sign it. They should

04:48comply with their own air permits, right?

04:52And again, I say this on behalf of many of my residents. We are doing good work in progress.

04:58But many of the young people, I know them. I have an 18-year-old at home. We're not moving

05:02with the urgency still that I think is needed. And implementation matters. You know that.

05:07And a lot of folks are not seeing the change they need immediately. So, again, I'm here

05:11as a partner. And I'm here to bring those folks and those residents at the table with

05:15you.

05:16Thank you so much. I yield.

05:17Thank you.

05:18And I might add, we've gone on our side over about a minute and 45 seconds. I've agreed

05:24to yield that much time to the Ranking Member to get caught up. And then we'll proceed with

05:30the majority.

05:31Thank you kindly, Mr. Chairman.

05:32And I wanted to pose one question to Ms. Tlaib and then one to the Administrator. You just

05:39made a very eloquent and passionate brief on behalf of the significance of enforcement,

05:46aggressive agency enforcement of the rules that we have under Federal legislation.

05:55The Project 2025 plan that everybody is talking about, and our friend and colleague from North

06:03Carolina, Ms. Fox, talked about the importance of deregulation, that is, loosening up regulation.

06:10And I wonder what you would say about that in general, and then also specifically about

06:14deregulation of corporations at a time that we're also hearing from our friends about

06:19the importance of regulating women's bodies and women's choices, with one-third of American

06:25women not being able to get access to an abortion in America, and also further crackdown on

06:32birth control and IVF and so on.

06:34You know, Ranking Member Raskin, it is bizarre. Even today, you know, thinking about the fact

06:39that they consistently want to regulate the bodies of women, but also even the fact that

06:43our bodies are more regulated than even around the gun crisis, around the fact that right

06:47now many of our constituents and our families continue to say to me, we have a right to

06:52breathe clean air, right? We have a right to access clean water, right, Rashida? Why aren't

06:57we working towards that, to allow corporations to have a free will of going ahead? Because

07:01let me tell you, I don't care if you're red or blue state, they will poison your residents

07:06if you let them. They will. And so, you know, shame on those that continue to promote this

07:11Project 2025, and again, the sense that corporations have all this free will, and they don't care

07:16about our public health, they care about the bottom line, they care about profiting off

07:20of the pollution they spew out to residents, especially ones that are currently struggling

07:25to even access health care right now.

07:27Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I'll have to get into questions of you later,

07:31Mr. Minister.

07:32The gentleman's time has expired.

'Sounds Like You Are Letting Them Off The Hook': Tlaib Grills EPA Administrator On Detroit Pollution

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