‘Prioritizing Profit Over The Well-Being Of Our Planet’: Merkley Slams Fossil, Gas & Oil Industry

4 months ago

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) gave opening remarks about protecting the planet & environment.

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00:00As stewards of this planet, it's our duty to protect it, not only from pollution, but

00:05from the ravages of shortsightedness and neglect.

00:08Yet, as we gather here today, we are confronted with a stark reality, reality that our commitment

00:13to environmental protection is being undermined by the decisions of fossil, gas, and oil industry

00:19that are prioritizing profit over the well-being of our planet and the well-being of our people.

00:27Mr. Reagan, I commend you for your dedication to public service, the challenges we face

00:32demand bold action and unwavering resolve.

00:37Let me start with the topic of methane.

00:40The alarming rise in methane emissions poses a significant threat to our climate and to

00:45our public health.

00:47Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, sometimes referred to as natural gas, but there is nothing

00:53natural about it once it's taken out of the ground.

00:56It is pouring fuel on the fire of climate chaos and making extreme weather more frequent

01:01and more devastating.

01:03We know that EPA's estimates of methane emissions are far lower than what are being observed

01:09with the latest monitoring tools.

01:12So we need better modeling, better modeling using better technology.

01:18We can't use old estimates to justify projects that shouldn't be justified.

01:24Thankfully, EPA has finalized the super emitter program, well done, and created the methane

01:29emission reduction program through the Inflation Reduction Act.

01:34Together, the super emitter program and the methane emissions reduction program have the

01:38potential to significantly reduce methane emissions from oil and gas wells, but only

01:43if we use modern technologies.

01:46I'm deeply concerned that EPA, given its deep expertise regarding human health impacts,

01:51has deferred its role in obtaining and securing the technology that has been funded through

02:01the work of Congress.

02:03It's important to ensure we maximize the super emitter's program in taking on this challenge.

02:12And we're also learning more about methane from landfills.

02:16Landfills provide an important cost-effective opportunity for us to reduce emissions now,

02:21and EPA needs to take a look at and update its regulations regarding landfills.

02:26Well, next, wildfires.

02:31In Oregon, we see wildfires becoming more powerful, more ferocious, and the wildfire

02:37season being longer, and that is a challenge.

02:41In that challenge, citizens are much more willing to use prescribed fire as a tool in

02:46our arsenal to protect our towns and our cities.

02:51It mitigates the risk of catastrophic blazes.

02:54And we need both strong science-based standards for clean air and regulatory clarity for exceptional

02:59events like prescribed fire.

03:01If the particles that are in the air from prescribed fire are then used to force communities

03:08to adopt stronger standards on other things, as if that was the same particles from a natural

03:15fire, then there's an incentive for these communities not to use prescribed fire, which

03:20makes the whole situation worse.

03:22So that's a piece that I hope we'll take on.

03:27Plastic pollution and toxic chemicals pose another formidable challenge.

03:32We know we are failing in our vulnerable communities, especially on the Gulf Coast, which are being

03:36overburdened by toxic chemicals from plastic production.

03:40We need to do more to protect those communities.

03:43On this committee, I'll do all I can to increase EPA funding so we can implement and enforce

03:46our existing laws better.

03:49But then EPA must act.

03:52One place one can start, the EPA can start, is by reexamining significant impact levels

03:58for air quality standards for permitting petrochemical facilities.

04:02The evidence is clear that the substances that are carcinogenic to humans and States

04:08have abused the permitting process to the detriment of frontline communities.

04:14Let's not impose even more pollutants on those frontline communities.

04:18This is a key issue of environmental justice.

04:23I was in Ottawa last week for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting, where countries

04:27from around the world are gathered to reach agreement to address the plastic crisis.

04:31Plastics which are choking our oceans, our rivers, our landfills.

04:36Plastics which are being digested by marine life and land life, infecting our ecosystems.

04:42Plastic, which in its micro form and nano form, are providing even more dangerous pollution

04:49and it's infiltrating our food and water, even breast milk.

04:54Meanwhile, leaching dangerous chemicals into the organizations, organisms that digest it,

05:00including us.

05:02It's estimated that each of us consumes about a credit card of plastic a week.

05:07Plastic is an endocrine disruptor, has strong associations with a series of health issues.

05:13So, we're encouraging our government to take the ambitious track in having a vision

05:20for international treaty on plastics that will result in measurable goals

05:26with accountability for reaching those goals.

05:30Right now, our State Department is saying they want a Paris structure,

05:34where everyone says, we will go and do our best.

05:37Going and doing our best hasn't worked on climate and it won't work on plastics.

05:42So, we need to have a more concrete, detailed approach and there's a whole group of nations

05:48that are seeking to have a concrete goals and measurable results and accountability

05:53and we should join them and I encourage EPA to help us pivot

05:59to be part of the solution in that area.

06:04I wanted to turn to EPA's new method of testing for 6PPD, Quenone.

06:12This is a chemical in tires and it was found to be a chemical that has a huge impact on salmon

06:23and there was a whole mystery as to why after rainstorms there was a die-off

06:29and finally it was traced to the runoff from parking lots with tire dust.

06:35This is a big deal for us and it's not an easy thing to address

06:40but identifying and understanding it is a great first step in that direction.

06:45So, I encourage EPA to continue down that road, not just to understand the chemical

06:50and what alternatives there might be, what the impact of those alternatives might be,

06:55how we can cure this problem because it is a big environmental impact

06:59that few of us were aware of until the last couple of years.

07:06So, as we go forward, let's continue to have an ambitious approach

07:13or a more ambitious approach to taking on these multiple challenges.

07:19We need an international treaty that decreases plastics,

07:23plastics that are produced, plastics that get into our waterways,

07:26plastics that get into our ecosystems and into our bodies.

07:30We need to continue our work on toxic chemicals through TSCA

07:34and not have it take a decade to address a single toxic chemical

07:38in an overly complicated system.

07:41I am concerned that EPA staffing levels have dropped 20 percent over the last 13 years.

07:45It makes it a lot harder to do all this work on very complicated issues

07:48when you're understaffed.

07:50So, thank you for being a strong advocate, for having the team that you need

07:54and certainly that resonates with me and with many of us.

07:59In 2010, you had 17,300 FTEs at EPA.

08:04Since then, we're down to 14,000,

08:073,300 people with a lot more complicated work to do now than then.

08:14I'm pleased that the FY25 request would increase permanent positions

08:19by more than 2,000 FTEs,

08:21which would start to rebuild the permanent capacity EPA needs.

08:26Those Americans with the least resources

08:28who have chronically suffered from injustice

08:30are often most affected by pollution, toxic chemicals and climate chaos.

08:34So, I say well done to having $100 million for environmental justice

08:39in the FY24 bill.

08:41You all advocated and we delivered.

08:44But I know that on the environmental justice front,

08:47a lot more remains to be done.

‘Prioritizing Profit Over The Well-Being Of Our Planet’: Merkley Slams Fossil, Gas & Oil Industry

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