Luz Rivas Presses Harvard Law Professor On 'Harmful Impacts' From Changes To NEPA In BBB

5 months ago

During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Luz Rivas (D-CA) questioned Harvard Law Professor, Andrew Mergen on the Republican budget.

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00:00The Chair now recognizes Representative Rivas for five minutes.

00:07Thank you, Mr. Chair, for recognizing me.

00:09Mr. Mergan, can you confirm that section 60026 of the Republicans' One Big Ugly Bill allows

00:19project sponsors to pay a fee to expedite their project's environmental analysis and

00:24environmental impact studies?

00:26Yes, that's correct.

00:28Mr. Mergan, can you confirm that section 50101 of the Republicans' One Big Ugly Bill resumes

00:35non-competitive leasing and mandatory quarterly lease sales for onshore oil and gas drilling?

00:42That's correct.

00:44Mr. Mergan, can you confirm that section 50102 of the Republicans' One Big Ugly Bill mandates

00:51two offshore lease sales off the Gulf of Mexico every year until 2039?

00:57Yes, that's correct.

00:58Mr. Mergan, can you confirm that section 50201 of the Republicans' One Big Ugly Bill removes

01:06the Department of Interior's discretion in coal leasing and mandates that the lease be granted?

01:12Yes, that's correct.

01:13Thank you for confirming these facts.

01:15It's deeply unsettling to see how President Trump and his House Republicans are attacking our climate

01:23and our communities.

01:25Can you talk about the harmful impacts that the One Big Ugly Bill will have on working class

01:31communities like mine in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles that have carried the environmental

01:38burden for decades?

01:39Yeah, I think it's...

01:41Oh, sorry.

01:43Yes, yes, thank you.

01:47I think one of the great advantages of the NEPA process, right, is the public engagement

01:53development and the ability to hear from communities about how they may be impacted by oil and gas

02:01leasing or oil and gas refinery.

02:03And we know that there are substantial health effects to children, to people, as a result

02:08of those sorts of developments.

02:10And so the NEPA process that is engaged in oil and gas leasing and coal leasing in the development

02:20of fossil fuels is profoundly important to educating the public and the decision maker to the health

02:26effects.

02:27And those health effects may be able to be mitigated or avoided.

02:29There are all sorts of innovations that can be taken to help these communities.

02:34One thing I want to mention, too, is that as the administration has been aggressive in

02:40taking information down from public sites, from sites maintained by EPA, from sites maintained

02:47by the Department of Interior, by sites maintained by the Department of Commerce, and on and on

02:51and on.

02:52This is really damaging to communities in general.

02:55And this is something that this committee can do something about in with regard to oversight.

03:00Right.

03:01If you want quick permitting, if you want efficient decision making, you need information, you

03:07need an informed public, you need an informed decision makers, and we're losing some of that.

03:12I'll stop there.

03:14Thank you for your responses.

03:16I agree that taking down information and not providing communities, especially those that

03:23have been burdened by these environmental injustices for years because they didn't have information

03:31and weren't allowed to even give their own input.

03:35And now, you know, after years of doing outreach and working with community groups and trusted

03:43community environmental organizations that have a way of making sure that community members

03:50are able to give their input and now I feel like we're going backwards in just to expedite the process.

03:58Right.

03:59But there are reasons, you know, these communities have high asthma rates, some of the highest in

04:06the country.

04:08They have higher cancer rates.

04:11They have higher rates of heart disease in the country.

04:14And this is why we need to hear from them.

04:18And you know, this is not about permitting purgatory.

04:22This is like a health care hell that communities like mine have for too long carried the burden

04:28of these polluters harmful impacts on the community and policies like NEPA provide us with objective

04:35facts on the ground and begin the conversation between community members, stakeholders and industry.

04:41And that's why I don't think we should be dismantling NEPA.

04:45We need to properly fund it with science driven expertise, you know, the same hardworking experts

04:51that the Trump administration has fired.

04:55I yield back.

04:56I yield back.

04:57I yield back.

04:58I yield back.

04:59I yield back.

05:00I yield back.

05:01I yield back.

05:02I yield back.

05:03I yield back.

05:04I yield back.

05:05I yield back.

05:06I yield back.

05:07I yield back.

05:08I yield back.

05:09I yield back.

05:10I yield back.

05:11I yield back.

05:12I yield back.

05:13I yield back.

05:14I yield back.

05:15I yield back.

05:16I yield back.

05:17I yield back.

05:18I yield back.

05:19I yield back.

05:20I yield back.

05:21I yield back.

05:22I yield back.

Luz Rivas Presses Harvard Law Professor On 'Harmful Impacts' From Changes To NEPA In BBB

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