Rob Bishop

I want to also emphasize the fact that you have three districts of the EPA that are involved in this area.

I expect we will hear the words '1872 Mining Law' repeatedly from both the Administration and the minority, as they attempt to ignore EPA's culpability, shift blame, and pursue action on an agenda that would decimate the mining industry.

If an individual or a private company had done this, EPA would have already made sure there was hell to pay.

Let me be clear. Secretary Jewell's refusal to testify today is especially egregious and disappointing, given the magnitude of this disaster and the breadth of its effect on her agency.

Both the EPA and the Department of the Interior will be held accountable, today and in the future, as the recovery efforts continue.

Refusing to sit alongside representatives of the states and tribes that have traveled across this country to discuss this disaster is simply unheard of, and is wrong.

Over a year ago, EPA began remediation on the Gold King Mine in Colorado that ultimately led to 3 million gallons of orange crap that went down the Animas and San Juan Rivers from Colorado into New Mexico, Utah, and perhaps even into…

EPA documents show the Agency was aware as early as June of 2014 that a massive blowout was possible.

Many examples demonstrate how the Interior Department has been dead wrong in their so-called 'management' of Federal lands.

While production in the Gulf has remained relatively stagnant over the past several years, skyrocketing oil and natural gas production on state and private lands has propelled the United States to surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia to become…

Energy production in the Gulf of Mexico is an energy lifeline for our Nation--today providing 17 percent of our domestic crude and 5 percent of our natural gas.

The bottom line is we could be doing better, we should be doing better, and this Nation must have us do better.

I would note that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time.

To date, the EPA has not asked the [Fish and Wildlife Service] to engage in section 7 consultation on the proposed [new source performance standard] rule.

We will hold the Federal agencies accountable until we actually do get that.

I would consider him to be arrogant, self-righteous, ineffective, unresponsive, and a jerk.

If EPA thinks that this action is acceptable as compliance, they are crazy.

It is still hypocritical for agencies like EPA to expect everyday Americans to follow the regulations while they are able to evade them.

Instead of focusing on saving species, it has become a political tool for radical special interest groups.

No agency has perhaps expanded the Federal regulatory burden more than the EPA.

Every agency seems to be enjoying this continuous onslaught of regulatory activity at a fever pitch.

EPA had not requested consultation on the rule for existing power plants.

We need to try that. I realize we have had a lot of conversation about Forest Service, but BLM has the same situation.

If there is a sideshow, it is this Administration, who rejects reality to enforce some kind of dogma.

This is the second of a series of oversight hearings on policies that involve the National Environmental Policy Act.