President Biden's nominee to lead EPA's waste office has set his sights on bolstering the agency's work on contaminated sites and ramping up regulations targeting so-called forever chemicals.
During a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing yesterday, Carlton Waterhouse listed cracking down on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as a key agenda item for the Office of Land and Emergency Management.
In an exchange with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Waterhouse said his office was working "as quickly as we can" on hazardous substance designation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act for the chemicals PFOA and PFOS. Getting that rulemaking done, he said in later remarks, is one of his top priorities.
Waterhouse laid out what he plans to focus on at OLEM. He highlighted the agency's Brownfields program, which revitalizes contaminated areas, along with cleaning up Superfund sites under CERCLA.
"This is a really vital program," Waterhouse told EPW Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.). "And I want to focus attention on it, in addition to focusing on getting cleanups done more quickly and more efficiently under the CERCLA program, so that we can make sure that communities aren't suffering environmental injustices from being overburdened with pollution."
Waterhouse, who currently serves as a deputy assistant administrator in the waste office, appeared alongside fellow EPA nominees Amanda Howe, tapped to lead the mission support office, and David Uhlmann, the president's pick for agency enforcement chief.
The largely quiet hearing yielded few fireworks, apart from a question posed by ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who prodded Waterhouse about a 2015 tweet referencing energy issues with the hashtag #ResistCapitalism.
"This came to my attention and also sort of raised my ears a little bit because you are going to be dealing in your position with a lot of private entities," said Capito, who added, "What does 'resist capitalism' mean to you?"
Waterhouse responded that he did not remember the tweet but said he recognized "the value of capitalism as a way of making sure that goods and services are made available to people."
He continued: "I think reasonable and responsible regulation allows us to make sure that people can be safe and protected in the environment, and in their daily lives."
That exchange reflected some of the scrutiny that has fallen on Waterhouse in conservative circles. The Howard University law professor has built a career rooted in environmental justice as well as issues around systemic racism. Advocates have warmly supported Waterhouse and see him as one of their own (Greenwire, Aug. 2). But conservative media has criticized the nominee over issues like police funding.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who is not on the EPW committee, also labeled Waterhouse "a political activist who supports fringe environmental and racist policies" in comments to Fox News, with similar claims made by Thomas Jones, the co-founder of the conservative group American Accountability Foundation. Waterhouse pushed back on the criticism in an interview with BuzzFeed News.
Praise for Trump-founded office
Kelly of Arizona also probed Waterhouse on an EPA office created by the Trump administration, the Office of Mountains, Deserts and Plains. At the time of its founding, EPA touted the office as critical for issues across the West, including cleaning up abandoned mining sites (Greenwire, Sept. 2, 2020).
But environmental advocates worried the office would serve as a handout to industry and allow hardrock mining companies to evade responsibility for Superfund cleanup — with outsize implications for Native communities (Greenwire, Sept. 3, 2020).
Kelly noted that the Navajo Nation is grappling with uranium mine cleanup and asked Waterhouse about progress. "What can you share about the work [that office] has done over the past year?" Kelly asked.
Waterhouse offered praise for the Trump-era move. "We're really excited about the office, senator, because that office is able to bring resources [to provide assistance] to those communities," the waste nominee said, adding that "it also is helping us coordinate with our tribal partners, with our federal family members, with local resources, and across the regions."
While rising COVID-19 cases prevented Waterhouse from visiting the Navajo Nation last week, he praised the office's "amazing staff" and current pace at addressing issues like Superfund sites. He also welcomed more funding and staff for the office "that would help them with building capacity to be even more effective than they have been so far."
Questions on climate change, staffing
Uhlmann, a University of Michigan environmental law professor who won renown as a federal prosecutor, was up for EPA's enforcement job at yesterday's hearing (Greenwire, Sept. 13).
Capito quizzed him for his thoughts on climate change policy, citing a paper he authored that advocated for a clean energy standard and carbon tax.
"How do you think those opinions would play into this position" as chief of EPA's enforcement office, the West Virginia senator asked.
Uhlmann said climate change is "a clear and present danger," noting the California wildfires and damage from Hurricane Ida for the United States' Gulf Coast and East Coast. But the nominee said he wouldn't be involved in crafting the agency's policies.
"What I hope to do is everything we can in my office to help companies comply with the laws that Congress passes and any regulations that EPA passes to address climate change, and to bring appropriate enforcement actions against anybody who violates those laws," Uhlmann said.
Later at yesterday's hearing, Uhlmann noted his role in one of EPA's biggest enforcement cases, serving as counselor to the compliance monitor for the Volkswagen AG emissions cheating scandal.
"A company, one of the largest companies in the world, that changed the software on its vehicles so that when they were out in the street, they were polluting. When they were being tested, they seemed to be in compliance," Uhlmann said.
He added, "I was honored to serve on the compliance team after the fact trying to help Volkswagen develop ethics, integrity and sustainability programs so that they could be environmental leaders rather than environmental criminals."
Uhlmann also said, if confirmed, he wants to strengthen EPA's enforcement office. He noted enforcement figures had "dropped significantly" with the number of criminal investigators dwindling.
"We may all differ about our political views, but in enforcement, there's no role for politics," Uhlmann said. "It's about the law and the facts, following both and delivering results for the American people."
From Dem operative to managing EPA office?
Howe, nominated to head up EPA's mission support office, has a long record in Democratic politics, including serving as chief operating officer for Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.
She also has served as a top aide to then-Virginia Govs. Mark Warner (D) and Tim Kaine (D), both now in the Senate. Warner introduced Howe at yesterday's hearing, noting he performed the marriage ceremony for her and her wife while he was governor.
Capito noted Howe's time in politics, asking what attracted her to "a federal agency in a managerial sense of environmental policies." Howe said during time spent in political campaigns and at various levels of government, she always considered herself "a public servant" and could think of no better place to use her skills than at EPA.
"Well, certainly one of the areas that is going to be a big challenge for whoever, as your position is, is this desire by the administration and the EPA administrator to hire, if not hundreds, at least a thousand new people," Capito said.
Another challenge for Howe, if she is confirmed at EPA, will be managing return-to-office plans for agency employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the EPA workforce has been teleworking since March 2020 to avoid exposure to the virus.
Howe told Carper that EPA will follow the science on when to have its staff return to the workplace, acknowledging it will be "a tremendous change" for employees.
"I know this pandemic has been hard on everyone," Howe said. "So you have my commitment, if confirmed, that I will be approaching this whole process with openness and empathy."