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Andrew Wheeler Confirmed as EPA Administrator
The Senate voted on Thursday to confirm Andrew Wheeler, who formerly worked as an energy lobbyist, as the Administrator of the EPA. Wheeler initially started working at the EPA in the 1990's before he worked in the private sector as an energy lobbyist. He recently returned to the EPA and has been working as Acting Administrator of the EPA since July when President Trump's previous EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, resigned in light of his involvement in numerous
scandals. The Senate approved Wheeler's nomination with an almost entirely party-line vote of 52-47. Every voting Democrat voted against his nomination and every Republican, except Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), voted to confirm his nomination. Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) did not vote.
Trump's nomination of Wheeler was extremely controversial. Democrats were wary of Wheeler's history of cutting federal environmental regulations; Republicans praised Wheeler, however, for limiting federal overreach. "It ought to tell us a lot that the Republicans put up a coal lobbyist to represent the people of America, leading the Environmental Protection Agency," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). While Republican Senator Barrasso (R-WY)
stated, "I am pleased President Trump has nominated Andrew Wheeler to be the administrator of the EPA; Acting Administrator Wheeler has done an outstanding job leading EPA and is well qualified to run the agency on a permanent basis. I will work with committee members to get him confirmed."
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI Staff Author Article on EPA Water Financing Program
In two years of its implementation, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) has been hailed as a solution to the daunting infrastructure financing challenge, but lawmakers must allow the program to run its course and provide the necessary funding authorized in the statute before making drastic changes. That is the conclusion of a recent
article
published in Journal AWWA, written by Dr. Sri Vedachalam, Director, Safe Drinking Water Program at NEMWI, and Anna Lindquist, a former student intern.
The article tracks the internal changes at EPA, as well as recent changes to the program through the America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. WIFIA is a promising approach to
addressing financing deficits faced by states and local municipalities, and its popularity is evident in the number of applications received in the first two years of the program's existence. However, it's still too soon to see the program's success in diminishing the financing deficit and reducing the long-term borrowing costs for states and municipalities.
For more information, please contact Dr. Sri Vedachalam, Director of the Safe Drinking Water Research and Policy Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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Trump Administration to Assemble a Panel of Federal Scientists to Reassess Climate Change Findings
According to
The Washington Post, senior administration officials plan to form a panel consisting of select federal scientists to reassess the government's previous assertions on climate change and to offer counter conclusions on the effects of burning fossil fuels regarding the planet's atmosphere. This would not be a formal advisory committee, so it would not have to meet publicly, be composed of a representative membership, or be subject to requests for public records. William Happer, a National Security Council senior director and physicist, is spearheading the program and is a known climate change denier. The plan has yet to be finalized, but National Security Council officials have begun planning to assemble a group of potential researchers.
Francesco Femia, chief executive of the Council on Strategic Risks and co-founder of the Center for Climate and Security, spoke out against creating the panel and claimed it would undermine the current consensus amongst the scientific community. Femia said, "This is the equivalent of setting up a committee on nuclear-weapons proliferation and having someone lead it who doesn't think nuclear weapons exist; It's honestly a blunt-force political tool designed to shut the national security community up on climate change."
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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The Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Great Lakes Commission Host the Great Lakes Day Congressional Breakfast
This year's Great Lakes Day Congressional Breakfast will be held this Thursday, March 7th at 8 a.m. in Rayburn House Office Building, room B338-339. The event will be co-hosted by the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Great Lakes Commission. This year's breakfast, will include discussion on regional legislative issues and appropriations that will benefit the Great Lakes region. Those expected to be in attendance include Members of Congress, their staff, and key Great Lakes stakeholders. Registration for this event is now closed.
For more information,
please contact
Matthew McKenna, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute
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116th Congress: Committee Leadership Profiles
As the 116th Congress gets into full swing, the Northeast-Midwest Institute will profile the Chair and Ranking Member of the Congressional committees most relevant to the region. This newsletter will include the Appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Chairwoman of the Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
Marcy Kaptur is the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 9
th Congressional district. Rep. Kaptur has been serving as a Representative since 1982; she is currently serving her 17
th term and is the longest-serving woman in U.S. House history. Rep. Kaptur
stated that as Chairwoman of the Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee she will, "focus on efforts to protect the natural resource of Lake Erie and will advocate for American energy independence through increased funding for renewable energy programs and research, such as wind and solar." She currently serves on the House Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee and as the Chairwoman of the Interior Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over environmental spending programs including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. As Chairwoman, Rep. Kaptur will continue focusing on efforts to protect the natural resource of Lake Erie and advocating for American energy independence through increased funding for renewable energy programs and research, such as wind and solar.
Rep. Mike Simpson, Ranking Member of the Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
Michael Simpson is the U.S. Representative for Idaho's 2
nd Congressional district. Rep. Simpson has been serving as a Representative since 1998; he is currently serving his 11
th term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Simpson serves on the House Appropriations Committee as the Ranking Member of the Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee and on the Interior and Environment Subcommittee. According to Simpsons
website he, "is one of the House's leading advocates for a new energy policy and a renewed commitment to research and development of improved nuclear energy technologies." As Ranking Member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Simpson wants to ensure that communities have adequate resources to maintain clean and safe water without excessive federal intervention.
For more information, please contact
Eric Heath
, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute
.
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2020 Candidate Profiles: Senator Kamala Harris, Potential Democratic Nominee for President of the United States
Kamala Harris is the Junior Senator from California; she is currently serving her first term and was elected in 2017. Previously she worked as the 32
nd
Attorney General of California from 2011-2017 and before that as the 27
th
District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004-2011. Senator Harris, as the child of a Jamaican father and a Tamil Indian mother, is the first South Asian American Senator in history, as well as the first woman to be California's Attorney General. She serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on the Budget.
As District Attorney of San Francisco, she developed an environmental justice unit which consisted of three staff members who were tasked with
investigating environmental crimes perpetrated in low income areas. She was also one of nineteen senators who penned an
open letter to then-EPA Director Scott Pruitt questioning his reasoning behind repealing the Clean Power Plan. The letter also argued that the math relied on by the EPA over estimated the cost associated with implementing the plan. Harris has also endorsed Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "Green New Deal" and co-sponsored legislation with Senator Elizabeth Warren, called the Climate Risk Disclosure Act, which would leverage market forces to accelerate the national transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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This Week in Washington
In the Senate:
In the House:
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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