Response and Recovery to Environmental Concerns from the 2017 Hurricane Season
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RESPONSE AND RECOVERY TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS FROM THE 2017 HURRICANE SEASON HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 14, 2017 Serial No. 115–78 ( Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce energycommerce.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 28–388 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 15 2010 09:38 Feb 01, 2018 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 I:\HIF FILES\WS_FTP\28388.TXT WAYNE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE GREG WALDEN, Oregon Chairman JOE BARTON, Texas FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey Vice Chairman Ranking Member FRED UPTON, Michigan BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois ANNA G. ESHOO, California MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee GENE GREEN, Texas STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS, Washington JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois GREGG HARPER, Mississippi G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey DORIS O. MATSUI, California BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky KATHY CASTOR, Florida PETE OLSON, Texas JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland DAVID B. MCKINLEY, West Virginia JERRY MCNERNEY, California ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois PETER WELCH, Vermont H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia BEN RAY LUJA´ N, New Mexico GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida PAUL TONKO, New York BILL JOHNSON, Ohio YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York BILLY LONG, Missouri DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana KURT SCHRADER, Oregon BILL FLORES, Texas JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, III, Massachusetts SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana TONY CA´ RDENAS, California MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma RAUL RUIZ, California RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina SCOTT H. PETERS, California CHRIS COLLINS, New York DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota TIM WALBERG, Michigan MIMI WALTERS, California RYAN A. COSTELLO, Pennsylvania EARL L. ‘‘BUDDY’’ CARTER, Georgia JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois Chairman DAVID B. MCKINLEY, West Virginia PAUL TONKO, New York Vice Chairman Ranking Member JOE BARTON, Texas RAUL RUIZ, California MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee SCOTT H. PETERS, California GREGG HARPER, Mississippi GENE GREEN, Texas PETE OLSON, Texas DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado BILL JOHNSON, Ohio JERRY MCNERNEY, California BILL FLORES, Texas TONY CA´ RDENAS, California RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota DORIS O. MATSUI, California TIM WALBERG, Michigan FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey (ex EARL L. ‘‘BUDDY’’ CARTER, Georgia officio) GREG WALDEN, Oregon (ex officio) (II) VerDate Mar 15 2010 09:38 Feb 01, 2018 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 5904 I:\HIF FILES\WS_FTP\28388.TXT WAYNE CONTENTS Page Hon. John Shimkus, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, opening statement ................................................................................................ 1 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 3 Hon. Paul Tonko, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York, opening statement ................................................................................................ 4 Hon. Greg Walden, a Representative in Congress from the State of Oregon, opening statement ................................................................................................ 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 7 Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, opening statement .......................................................................... 9 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 WITNESSES Peter D. Lopez, Regional Administrator, Region 2, Environmental Protection Agency ................................................................................................................... 11 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 Answers to submitted questions 1 ................................................................... 149 Trey Glenn, Regional Administrator, Region 4, Environmental Protection Agency ................................................................................................................... 21 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 24 Answers to submitted questions 1 Samuel J. Coleman, Acting Regional Administrator, Region 6, Environmental Protection Agency ................................................................................................. 31 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 34 Answers to submitted questions 1 Bryan W. Shaw, Ph.D., Chairman, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality .................................................................................................................. 39 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 42 Mike Howe, Executive Director, Texas Section, American Water Works Asso- ciation .................................................................................................................... 81 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 83 Mark Lichtenstein, Chief Sustainability Officer and Chief of Staff, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York ......... 92 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 94 Lyvia N. Rodrı´guez Del Valle, Executive Director, Corporacio´n Del Proyecto ENLACE Del Can˜ o Martı´n Pen˜ a ........................................................................ 123 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 126 Trent Epperson, Assistant City Manager, City of Pearland, Texas .................... 134 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 137 1 Mr. Lopez, Mr. Glenn, and Mr. Coleman jointly answered submitted ques- tions. (III) VerDate Mar 15 2010 09:38 Feb 01, 2018 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 I:\HIF FILES\WS_FTP\28388.TXT WAYNE VerDate Mar 15 2010 09:38 Feb 01, 2018 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 I:\HIF FILES\WS_FTP\28388.TXT WAYNE RESPONSE AND RECOVERY TO ENVIRON- MENTAL CONCERNS FROM THE 2017 HURRI- CANE SEASON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2017 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., in Room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. John Shimkus (chair- man of the subcommittee) presiding. Members present: Representatives Shimkus, McKinley, Barton, Blackburn, Olson, Johnson, Flores, Hudson, Walberg, Carter, Wal- den (ex officio), Tonko, Ruiz, Peters, Green, DeGette, Dingell, Mat- sui, and Pallone (ex officio). Staff present: Ray Baum, Staff Director; Mike Bloomquist, Dep- uty Staff Director; Allie Bury, Legislative Clerk, Energy and Envi- ronment; Karen Christian, General Counsel; Jerry Couri, Deputy Chief Counsel, Environment; Wyatt Ellertson, Professional Staff Member, Energy and Environment; Adam Fromm, Director of Out- reach and Coalitions; Theresa Gambo, Human Resources and Office Administrator; Jordan Haverly, Policy Coordinator, Environment; A.T. Johnston, Senior Policy Advisor, Energy; Mary Martin, Chief Counsel, Energy and Environment; Alex Miller, Video Production Aide and Press Assistant; Tina Richards, Counsel, Environment; Dan Schneider, Press Secretary; Hamlin Wade, Special Advisor for External Affairs; Everett Winnick, Director of Information Tech- nology; Andy Zach, Senior Professional Staff Member, Environ- ment; Jeff Carroll, Minority Staff Director; Jacqueline Cohen, Mi- nority Senior Counsel; Caitlin Haberman, Minority Professional Staff Member; Rick Kessler, Minority Senior Advisor and Staff Di- rector, Energy and Environment; Jon Monger, Minority Counsel; Alexander Ratner, Minority Policy Analyst; Andrew Souvall, Minor- ity Director of Communications, Member Services, and Outreach; Tuley Wright, Minority Energy and Environment Policy Advisor; C.J. Young, Minority Press Secretary; and Catherine Zander, Mi- nority Environment Fellow. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN SHIMKUS, A REP- RESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS Mr. SHIMKUS. We will ask staff to close the back door, please, and ask the committee to now come to order, and I will recognize myself for 5 minutes for an opening statement. (1) VerDate Mar 15 2010 09:38 Feb 01, 2018 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 I:\HIF FILES\WS_FTP\28388.TXT WAYNE 2 I want to thank all our witnesses for joining us today. We are especially grateful for those of you who have traveled significant distances to be with us today to share your stories about the hurri- canes that tore through our country this