WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) welcomed Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Director Todd Parfitt before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Senator Barrasso invited Parfitt to testify on the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s (OSM) proposed “stream protection rule.” Parfitt testified alongside Janice Schneider, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for Land and Minerals Management, and three others.
“The Obama administration has botched the stream rulemaking process from the beginning. It has flagrantly violated its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act and, for that reason alone, it should scrap this proposed rule and start over,” said Barrasso. “No one knows this better than Wyoming DEQ Director Todd Parfitt. Director Parfitt can attest firsthand to how the Office of Surface Mining left state agencies out of the rulemaking process for four and a half years. He can also explain how the administration continues to ignore the costs that this job-crushing regulation poses to Wyoming and the entire nation.”
Parfitt, testified about how OSM is understating the cost of this rule that will negatively impact coal states like Wyoming.
“The Regulatory Impact Analysis grossly underestimates the financial impact of implementing the new standards and grossly underestimates the impact of the proposed rule on Wyoming and federal tax revenue, understating that impact by more than $1.3 million per year,” said Parfitt.
Parfitt also discussed OSM’s lack of engagement with state agencies and how they missed an opportunity to work with states to create a more appropriate proposal.
“The proposed rule is a one-size-fits-all regulation imposing nationwide standards without consideration for the fundamental regulatory, environmental, ecological or economic differences amongst the states,” said Parfitt. “In summary, the failure of OSM to engage cooperating agency states throughout this process is reflected in the poor quality of the proposed rule and inaccuracies in the draft EIS [environmental impact statement] and Regulatory Impact Analysis. OSM should withdraw the rule and work in a meaningful way with the states, to put forth a more appropriate proposal.”
You can listen to Parfitt’s entire committee statement here, and Senator Barrasso’s statement and questions here.