VIDEO: Capito Participates in Interior Subcommittee Hearing on EPA Budget

To watch Senator Capito's line of questioning, click here or the image above.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a leader on the Appropriations Committee, participated in an Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee hearing with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin. The purpose of the hearing was to consider President Donald Trump's Fiscal Year 2027 budget request for the EPA, as well as the many priorities of the agency.

HIGHLIGHTS:

ON EPA'S 2024 FINAL RULE ON WASTEWATER DISCHARGE FROM COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS AND WAYS TO ADDRESS THIS RULE:

Senator Capito:

"You heard from our energy producers about the Biden administration ELG rule for power plants. The 2024 rule was very egregious to try to eliminate coal from our nation's energy mix, because it came on the heels of a regulation that said ELG for the same power plants in 2020, and many of the plants made those investments in dollars with the 2020 standard that required water discharged would meet drinking water standards, only to have those requirements shift a few years later. The Biden rule took a completely different approach by requiring plans to eliminate discharges altogether, which would meet stranding those investments that were made in 2020. At the end of 2025, you finalized a rule that extended compliance periods for 2020 and 2024 ELG rules and provided a pathway for the coal plants to come into compliance. These actions were extremely helpful, and preserving baseload power, which we desperately needed this winter we saw, and also protecting rate payers. So, looking forward, it will be important to provide assurance that the 2024 liquid discharge standard will not go into effect, especially in areas where it's more humid, which may make it even more than impossible to meet that standard. Can you give us an update on the EPA's next steps addressing the ELG rule for our coal plants?"

Administrator Zeldin:

"it's a multi-step process. The 1st was extending a compliance as we go through reconsideration. There were tremendous costs, as you well know, impacted greatly by your own people, with the added costs that was estimated into the billions of dollars. We are current, and the finalization of that rule that you cited was December 23rd. We are moving through the next phase of EPA's reconsideration of the '24 rule. It will reevaluate the effluent limitations for unmanaged combustion residual leachate, and unlike the Biden administration, we are going to follow the law in assessing the best available technology economically achievable, which is an important priority that are heard on the ground with you during our visit in West Virginia. So, we will heed that feedback that we got directly from your people as we go to the next phase."

ON WOTUS RULE:

Senator Capito:

"The court decision in Sackett v. EPA correctly interpreted the Clean Water Act, and last year, the EPA and the core under your leadership, proposed a rule to bring those regulations in line with the Sackett decision. That proposed rule faithfully applies the Clean Water Act and the Sackett decision. Not only is EPA doing the right thing by following the best reading of that statute. But the proposal also has the added benefit of providing certainty and durability to the WOTUS definition because of the Supreme Court's decision and Loper Bight. So, I think one of the greatest gifts that you and the president could give to our farmers and those who deal with the WOTUS rule consistently, is to have something that has a durable standard that we can kind of lay this to rest, at least for a short or at least for a period of time. So, do I have your commitment that that is what you are trying to do, fidelity to the statutory text, which you've already said in your opening statement, but also to try to lock in that durable standard that will provide that certainty to the regulatory committee, and then any other comments you have on the WOTUS rule right now?"

Administrator Zeldin:

"It is absolutely our commitment. It is our desire for as simple. of a definition. Following Sackett to a tee and making sure that we have a new reality in this country where farmers and ranchers and landowners and states don't have to go out and hire attorneys and consultants pay them money to tell them whether or not there's a Water of the United States on their property. We've gone through the public comment period. We take those public comments very seriously. There are a lot of discussions that go on internally, not just within the agency, but also the interagency process, on making sure that every single word of every sentence of this definition is thought, is thought through, is done correctly and is made as durable as possible."

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