The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chaired by Sen. Jim Inhofe is asking for the feedback of states on just how good of a job the Environmental Protection Agency is doing with regards to its regulatory programs. And is the EPA asking the states to do too much?
He sent letters this week to several states asking for their comments.
“The Committee seeks to better understand the impacts of recent EPA regulatory actions on states such as yours and identify ways to ensure the unique interests of states are adequately considered by EPA in its regulatory process,” said the senator in the letters. “Accordingly, the Committee respectfully requests your feedback on the state resources and efforts necessary to comply with EPA regulatory actions, and whether the current regulatory framework between EPA and the states upholds the principal of cooperative federalism.”
Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and Environment Michael Teague was sent one of the letters, dated Jan. 12.
“The committee is particularly interested in hearing your state’s perspective no the current EPA regulatory framework,” wrote Inhofe.
The letter noted that according to the Environmental Council of the States, states are responsible for carrying out 96.5 percent of federal environmental programs. And Oklahoma and other states, according to one report, face nine regulatory deadlines under the Clean Air Act in 2016.
Inhofe wrote that testimony from a Mississippi DEQ regulator last year complained they were being asked to do more with less. Oklahoma was one of 16 states receiving the letter.
