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The Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (“Subcommittee”) is holding a hearing today entitled:

States’ Role in Protecting Air Quality: Principles of Cooperative Federalism

United States Senator John Boozman of Arkansas serves on this Subcommittee.

The three witnesses include personnel from North Dakota, Arkansas, and California environmental agencies.

Ms. Becky Keogh who serves as Director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) is one of the witnesses. Besides serving as Director of ADEQ, she is also President of the Environmental Council of the States.

Points raised in Director Keogh’s prepared remarks included:

• Three years ago states were excluded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) from environmental-policy solutions.
• States are now advocating for a standard-operating procedure of shared decision making/problem solving/programmatic development with EPA.
• States’ challenges are at the same time unique to the locality but universal to a larger national community.
• A position of decentralization of environmental regulations is suggested.
• Federal government needs to create clear and legally defined opportunities for state and local experimentation.
• A decentralized approach would be more efficient, effective and equitable.
• The states’ ability to address environmental issues has been dramatically transformed since the 1960s in terms of growth of professional staffs, two-party systems, procedural requirements, etc.
• ADEQ operates 13 federally delegated environmental programs with a 300-plus staff of engineers, ecologists, geologists, biologists, lawyers, accountants, and epidemiologists (including the operation of a state-of-the-art lab).
• Arkansas is in attainment with all Clean Air Act National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
• Arkansas has achieved success in Title V permitting and addresses various compliance concerns swiftly.
• ADEQ’s Office of Air Quality has worked to develop tools and resources to educate and inform the regulated community and public on regulatory requirements and address evolving issues such as the use of fire as a land management tool (addressing air quality consideration).

A link to Director Keogh’s and the other witnesses’ prepared testimony can be found here.