HOUSE ENERGY & COMMERCE COMMITTEE HEARING WITH EPA ADMINISTRATOR ZELDIN
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On May 20, the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Environment held a hearing entitled “The Fiscal Year 2026 Environmental Protection Agency Budget,” with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as the witness. Administrator Zeldin’s testimony is available here.
Key Takeaways
- Subcommittee Chairman Griffith (R-VA) outlined how the EPA is undergoing necessary reform to address economically harmful regulatory overreach from the Biden administration. He highlighted Zeldin’s leadership and recent EPA actions, from supporting energy production to permitting reform and guidance review. He criticized the Agency’s quadrupled funding under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), calling for reducing EPA spending and refocusing on its traditional regulatory and environmental functions.
- Subcommittee Chairman Griffith emphasized the importance of co-operative compliance with industry and states to achieve better environmental outcomes and avoid economic disruption, warning that overly stringent regulations offshore businesses and innovation. Zeldin stated that the EPA inherited numerous regulations from 2023 and 2024 that he characterized as economic deterrents, arguing they presented a false choice between environmental protection and economic growth. He emphasized that the Trump EPA seeks to achieve both goals simultaneously and warned that the prior regulations could force companies and entire industries out of operation.
- Zeldin raised that the EPA inherited significant backlogs across multiple areas, including hundreds of delayed small refinery exemption (SRE) requests. He cited this as one example of the EPA’s broader challenge upon arrival and emphasized the EPA’s commitment to addressing these delays. He explained that solutions include hiring more scientists and updating outdated infrastructure, supported in part by $17 million in congressional funding through a continuing resolution, to help accelerate reviews and reduce backlogs. He reiterated his commitment to responsible spending and allocation of EPA resources from funding to personnel, alongside strengthening state implementation plans.
- Zeldin described and referenced how the EPA has worked to advance President Trump’s agenda to eliminate waste, reduce regulatory costs, and reverse rules viewed as overreach while promoting cooperative federalism, regulatory reform, and energy development. He emphasized the administration’s goals of improving agency efficiency under a reduced FY 2026 budget and ensuring measurable environmental outcomes without preserving the regulatory status quo from the Biden administration.
- Representative Miller-Meeks (R-IA) called for the EPA’s budget to prioritize local solutions, science-based policy, and regulatory certainty over expanded federal control, stating that environmental progress can be achieved without undermining economic opportunity. She criticized how the EPA under previous administrations imposed a “one-size-fits-all” regulatory approach that burdened farmers and energy producers, leading to project delays and higher consumer costs.
- Representative Miller-Meeks urged the EPA to release the delayed 2026 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) rule, citing its importance to biofuel production, domestic energy, and job creation, as she questioned Zeldin on the timeline. She highlighted industry requests for 5.25 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel and 15 billion gallons of ethanol, with Zeldin stating that the proposed rulemaking would be issued “very soon.”
- Representative Miller-Meeks also highlighted Iowa’s leadership in E15 retail availability and raised concerns about outdated volatility rules that limit consumer access, calling for a timeline of and support for a permanent, nationwide, voluntary E15 fix. Zeldin stated that while the EPA is managing access through recurring emergency waivers during the summer, a statutory fix from Congress would be the most durable and efficient solution.
- Representative Latta (R-OH) emphasized the need to increase domestic energy production and advance permitting reform, referencing the EPA’s five pillars within “Powering the Great American Comeback.” Administrator Zeldin stated that the Trump EPA is committed to supporting energy dominance and streamlining permitting, citing the administration’s creation of the National Energy Dominance Council to coordinate agency actions. He emphasized that permitting delays and previously undisclosed issues between agencies undermines investor confidence and project viability. He outlined how the EPA will support necessary reform, without the need for legislation, by eliminating inherited internal procedures designed to slow approvals, aiming to reduce costs, increase certainty, and prevent regulatory duplication.
- Subcommittee Ranking Member Tonko (D-NY) raised concerns about maintaining scientific integrity if the Office of Research and Development (ORD) is significantly reorganized or eliminated, noting that the EPA Inspector General identified protecting scientific integrity as a top management challenge for FY2024. Zeldin responded that EPA will meet all statutory obligations and emphasized that scientific research is being elevated within individual program offices through the reorganization, including the creation of new offices.