Joe Barton

the official legal representative of the State of Texas representing the Texas Council on Environmental Quality is that the EPA is violating the law because they're clearly ignoring the plain statutory language of the Clean Air Act.

It's amazing to me that the lady from Connecticut can fly 1400 miles and our Region VI Administrator can come to Houston but can't come and actually appear before an official committee of the United States Congress.

Well, we just have a disconnect here because I'm, personally, familiar with several of the plants, again, in my congressional district that have continuous monitoring for SO2 and NOx and ozone.

Because of the lawsuit that the State of Texas has against your agency, you filed an affidavit in Federal court on October the 28th of 2010...

I mean, I just--I can't stress enough, Mr. Chairman, it is important that we have an environmental program Nationally and at the State level that every citizen has confidence in that's going to give us the best air quality and the best…

the Federal Government has no authority to impose on us.

Now, you said in your testimony and you said in response to a question that Texas is not requiring monitoring of their flexible permitting program?

So, there's not any of you that's here to say 'Let's just do what's good for Texas and don't worry about the laws of the United States?'

I don't see in the record where TCEQ or a particular company has knowingly and willfully violated the Clean Air Act on the regulated pollutants.

These regulations, members, are proven in their cost but they are questionable in their benefit.

If you doubt that we can do it, then just consider the iPhone again.

I concur with your statement.

President Obama has vowed to double exports in 5 years, but that is simply not going to happen if we continue to allow free trade agreements to be held hostage by organized labor and to languish in limbo.

We need to enforce our existing free trade agreements. That is easier said than done, obviously.

Unfortunately, my friends on the Minority seem to be able to only create jobs in the government sector, and those on my side would rather we create as many jobs as possible in the private sector.

Let me be clear: long-stalled trade promotion agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama should move forward immediately--all of them.

I support the national laboratories, but I do think we ought to begin to reevaluate them in the light of the budget.

Does the President support new nuclear power plant construction in the United States?

I have never seen an analysis, however, of where you get those numbers about lives saved and things like that.

My State is in region 6 of EPA and I think as you know, last summer EPA went in and preempted the State's flexible air quality permitting system.

What we don't support is an EPA that goes beyond its core mission for what I consider to be political purposes.

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