WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) participated in the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing on the nomination of Andrew Wheeler to be Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator and invited Mr. Wheeler to North Dakota. During the hearing, he touched on important issues such as year-round E-15, the 2022 Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) deadline, and the Senate’s role in confirming Administration nominees.

Below are quotes from Senator Cramer with corresponding video from the hearing:

Sen. Cramer on North Dakota Invitation: “I want to invite you to my state of North Dakota, we’d love to have you. I’d like to especially like to bring you to the Energy and Environment Research Center at the University of North Dakota where we can have a discussion on these and several other important topics.” 

Sen. Cramer on Year-round E15: “With regard to the year-round E-15, that is something for which I have advocated for a long time. Not just as advocates of ethanol, but as conservatives, we like to eliminate barriers to markets. While some might argue over the RFS or they might argue over the volume set, again: the law is the law. I think it was an appropriate move and I congratulate and appreciate what you and what the President did in making that commitment.” 

Mr. Wheeler on RFS Deadline: “If Congress does nothing by 2022, then the implementation operation of the program would be up to the EPA, and we could continue the program as is, or there is a number of different options we could do. We have not started to look at what we might do in 2022. … I think it is always helpful for Congress to write the legislation to direct the agency to implement the programs. Where the agency has gotten in trouble in the past, under the Obama administration with the Clean Power Plan, is when they went beyond the law.”

Sen. Cramer on Senate Confirmations: “Should we bar farmers from being the Secretary of Agriculture? Should we bar doctors from being the head of Health and Human Services, or attorneys from being the Attorney General? Or bankers from being the head of the Treasury Department? I think this is a very funny path to go down.” 

Click Here to Watch the Full Interview

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