Committee Democrats Examine Public Health and Economic Benefits of Federal Regulations
(Washington, DC) – Today the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing titled, “Midnight Regulations: Examining Executive Branch Overreach.” This hearing was another attempt by the Majority to criticize President Obama, and suggest that his Administration is heavy handed; careless; and is in a rush to implement politically motivated regulations. Democrats took this opportunity to explore the environmental and public health benefits that have resulted from the President’s initiatives and proposed regulations, such as EPA’s efforts to reduce methane pollution from new sources in the oil and gas industry; DOE’s efforts to increase energy efficiency standards for a broad range of household and commercial products; and efforts by EPA and the Department of Transportation to extend greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said, “The notion that federal regulations are not necessary because private industry would never harm the financial interests or health of the public is simply false. Federal regulations protect us from public health hazards, our children from unsafe products, communities from environmental dangers, and families from financial collapse. Federal regulations have played an important role in curbing the tobacco industry’s past practices of marketing their knowingly harmful products to children and Wall Street investment practices that led to the 2008 financial crisis with dire economic consequences for millions of Americans. Federal regulations are not necessary or appropriate in every instance, for every issue. However, I believe they are a critical tool in many instances in helping to improve our health, make our children safer, and prevent deadly disasters.”
Members and the witnesses discussed how regulatory certainty and smart policies have spurred innovation and led to technologies that benefit consumers and small business as well as the environment.
Ms. Kateri Callahan, President, Alliance to Save Energy said in her testimony to the Committee, “Thanks to the leadership and visionary work of Congress, American businesses and consumers are wasting less energy and saving money on utility bills and at the pump; and our economy is producing twice as much GDP from each unit of energy consumed then it did in the 1980s. We need to continue this forward progress and double our energy productivity yet again if we are to continue to be the global economic leader. The technologies to do so are available today; what we need is a strong public policy infrastructure. Energy efficiency is an economic driver and the best means of delivering it into the economy is through federal appliance, equipment and vehicle standards.”
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson saw this hearing as an opportunity to bring attention to several environmental and public health issues currently facing the country, including the methane gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in Los Angeles, California owned by the Southern California Gas Company and the lead contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, to show the importance of developing and implementing federal regulations and standards. Ranking Member Johnson announced her intent to send a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting an investigation of the ongoing methane gas leak at the Southern California Gas Company’s facility and the significant public health threat posed by the leak. She noted in her opening statement, “Issues like the methane gas leak in California should be thoroughly investigated to identify measures to prevent them from occurring in the future. In particular, this Committee has a role to play in the technical standards and pipeline safety research governing the country’s natural gas infrastructure.”
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