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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee held a hearing today to consider the nominations of David Fotouhi to serve as Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Aaron Szabo to serve as Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation of the EPA.

Fotouhi served in the EPA as Acting General Counsel during the first Trump administration. Szabo previously served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Council on Environmental Quality. 

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) questioned the witnesses on the difference between the United States’ leadership in emissions compared to the rest of the world. Even as the U.S. grows its economy, manufacturing base, and energy sector, emissions have been reduced. In particular, emissions from the energy sector over the last 20 years have sharply decreased. As Szabo explained in his opening statement, since the enactment of Clean Air Act in 1970, “the United States has made remarkable progress in reducing air pollution. We have seen significant decreases in carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, ground level, ozone, particulate matter, and other hazardous air pollutants.”

Cramer asked Szabo and Fotohui about why companies would invest in the U.S. if there is a noncompetitive regulatory environment and how the United States measures up.

“This isn’t going to be shocking anyone, but we have significantly decreased, both our greenhouse gas and traditional air pollution emissions tremendously, especially over the past 20 years,” said Szabo. “Other countries, such as China, have significantly increased their greenhouse gas emissions as well as their traditionally air pollution emissions over the years. What we are seeing now actually is that international emissions, […] traditional air pollution from China impacts states like California, due to the transport from the Pacific. Generally, if we shut off all greenhouse gas emissions in this country tomorrow, that would not have any real impact with the increases that we've seen from other countries around the world, specifically China.”

“American greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by something like a million tons per year while China’s have increased by something like six to seven million tons per year, completely swamping our hard-earned reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” responded Fotohui. “So I think, to the extent there needs to be work to be done to address that issue, it needs to be done both domestically and globally.”