News
House E&E Subcommittee to Split Environmental and Energy Roles
01/09/2013
The House Science Committee announced on January 8th that it will split its Energy and Environment Subcommittee into two separate panels with separate oversight and policy responsibilities.
The head of the new Environment Panel will be Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD). Representative Harris has questioned EPA’s science advisory processes and its approach to the science underlying hydraulic fracturing studies and air regulations.
Heading up the new Energy Panel will be Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). Representative Lummis has supported increased judicial oversight of EPA’s risk assessments and its science in general. She hails from Wyoming – a state in the center of an ongoing controversy over hydraulic fracturing and its impacts on water supplies.
Both Harris and Lummis have participated in the GOP’s condemnation of risk assessments and scientific studies/analyses, etc. used by EPA, maintaining that flawed science underlies many of the agency’s more costly regulations.
A formal division of responsibilities between the two panels has not yet been announced. A meeting has been schedule for next week to consider the issue.