***Click here to download video. Click here for audio.***
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) questioned Janet McCabe, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Deputy Administrator, during a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) hearing on her nomination today. Senator Cramer began his time with remarks on grid resiliency.
“Winter is an annual event [in North Dakota], not a vortex. We don’t shut the lights off because it’s cold. We crank up the coal and the gas to stay warm,” said Senator Cramer. “We have been talking about the resiliency of the grid for decades before it was the cool thing to do.”
Senator Cramer then questioned Mrs. McCabe on the Clean Power Plan, which she called her “proudest accomplishment.” During the Obama Administration, Mrs. McCabe served as the Acting Assistant Administrator of the EPA Office of Air and Radiation and was a key architect of the Clean Power Plan, an overreaching federal rule to limit carbon pollution from power plants.
When it was first proposed, the Clean Power Plan required North Dakota to make an 11 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, but the final rule required a 45 percent reduction. In 2016, the Supreme Court ordered the EPA to halt enforcement of the plan. Senator Cramer voiced his concerns on Mrs. McCabe previously promising a federalist approach but creating an overreaching policy without input from states.
“You have a steeper hill to climb. In 2014, you sat before this same committee and promised federalism. You did it again today – promising federalism and listening to the states. And yet, the Clean Power Plan proved to be one of the most overbearing, big government impositions on states ever, which is why 26 states successfully litigated it, including mine,” said Senator Cramer. “The proposed rule in the Clean Power Plan required North Dakota to cut its CO2 emissions by 11 percent ... and then the final rule comes out … and it was 45 percent. Forty-five percent! Just dropped on a state like North Dakota that by the way is one of the handful of states that meet all ambient air quality standards as prescribed by the EPA. We are proud of that, we love our air, we love our land, we rely on all of that.”
Senator Cramer gave Mrs. McCabe an opportunity to defend the Clean Power Plan and explain why she should earn the senator’s support, which she used to highlight her work with stakeholders on other issues. Senator Cramer concluded his remarks reminding the nominee her success came in areas where she worked closely with those most affected by the EPA’s decisions.
“That lack of transparency with stakeholder interaction, particularly middle America, is a tough one for us to get over,” said Senator Cramer. “I would submit to you that you’ve had success in lots of [other] areas … because you worked with states and stakeholders and the innovators that actually do the production of the energy.”
