Some of the questions you have been asked are, I think, based on a faulty premise, which is that environmental regulation and caution in terms of how we proceed with respect to potential impact on the environment is inherently inimical to economic development and jobs, when in fact there is a tremendous amount of economic benefit that comes from smart stewardship of our environment.
Sarbanes argues that environmental regulations can coexist with economic growth.
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I hope that today's hearing is the first step in continuing that legacy of strong bipartisan support for the Chesapeake Bay in this Congress.
Congress gave EPA this role more than 50 years ago under the Clean Air Act and reaffirmed that responsibility in 2005 under the Energy Policy Act.
This bill takes important steps to support the ongoing restoration of the Chesapeake Bay by reauthorizing NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office and authorizing the agency's long-running Bay Watershed Education and Training, or B-WET Grant program.
It is important to be clear that EPA's proposed standards are reasonable, performance-based emissions standards and constitute neither a national electric vehicle mandate nor an internal combustion ban.
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