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EPA Administrator Addresses Climate Change, Environmental Issues In Interview With KSMU

Michele Skalicky

The administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler, is in the Ozarks this week.  Thursday, he visited several Brownfield sites in Springfield.  His visit comes the same week that his boss, President Donald Trump, was asked by California officials about climate change and rising temperatures as they relate to historic wildfires.  The president said, “It’ll start getting cooler. Just you watch.” He also said, “I don’t think science knows, actually.”

According to NASA’s Vital Signs of the Planet, global temperatures have risen two degrees since 1980.  Carbon dioxide levels are at their highest in 650,000 years.  And global average sea level has risen nearly seven inches over the past 100 years.

KSMU's Michele Skalicky talked with Wheeler at Jordan Valley West Meadows in Springfield and asked him about the president's comments and Wheeler's views on climate change as it relates to the natural disasters affecting the U.S.

Reporter:  Right now, a lot of people have their minds on the fires out west and the hurricanes on the Gulf Coast. What is your view on climate change in their connection to that? And what is the EPA's role in helping to mitigate it?

Wheeler:  Well, climate certainly has an impact on the weather, absolutely.  I meant to say mankind has an impact on the climate, which is having an impact on the weather. But we have taken, under this administration, the EPA has put forward four different regulations to help address greenhouse gases. The press rarely covers it. And thank you for asking me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this.  We finalized three regulations, and we proposed a fourth one that will address greenhouse gases.  We finalized regulations for CO2 emissions from the power plant sector. We finalized regulations dealing with CO2 emissions from the automotive sector, and we finalized regulations dealing with methane, which will reduce VOCs, which will also, in turn, reduce methane emissions. And then the fourth one, which is the first time the EPA has ever done this, taking a look at CO2 emissions from aircraft. And we proposed a new regulation for that this summer. So we've taken four concrete actions as EPA over the last three and a half years to address climate change. But in addition, we aren't just focusing on climate change. I would actually say that the previous administration, all they talked about, all they looked at was climate change. And they ignored a lot of the other environmental problems across the country, such as the Superfund program. We delisted, cleaned up 27 Superfund sites last year, the most in any one year since 2001. Air pollution under this administration is down seven percent and we've invested over thirty eight billion dollars in water infrastructure needs across the country. And earlier this week, I announced enforcement action against Diemler and that brought our total for enforcement actions, both civil and criminal. We have we have collected more in enforcement--fines and penalties from companies than the Obama administration, almost twice as much as they did in their first term. So we are we're enforcing the environmental laws.  We’re cleaning up the air. We're helping communities across the country with the water infrastructure needs, and we're getting Superfund sites and brownfield sites cleaned up whilee still addressing CO2.

Reporter:  There have been some rules, regulations that have been repealed or replaced, that the Obama administration put in place. Why was that necessary?   And are we doing enough to address climate change?

Wheeler:  You know, The New York Times ran an article accusing this administration of rolling back 100 regulations, but they didn't tell the other half of the equation, which is in almost every instance, we replace those with more cost effective regulations that still get environmental improvements. The poster child for that is the Clean Power Plan under the Obama administration. We did repeal that. But to be honest, it never took effect because the Supreme Court, when the Obama administration issued their clean power plan, the Supreme Court stepped in first time they've ever done that for environmental regulation. They issued a stay, so it never took effect. So when we came in, we looked at it. We said ‘this actually, we agree with the Supreme Court. It went beyond the Clean Air Act. It wasn't going to stand up in court.’ So we went ahead and officially repealed it and we replaced it with the ACE rule, the affordable clean energy bill, which will get CO2 reductions from the electric power sector. So, you know, The New York Times likes to criticize us, but they only ever give half the story, you know, what's there all the news fit to print, all the news fit to print on half a page, I guess, is that is the new slogan for them.

Reporter:  President Trump just recently said, ‘it'll start getting cooler. You just watch.’ How do you respond to that?

Wheeler:  The climate is constantly changing. Man does play a role in it, and we do have an impact on it. But, you know, there's a lot of--there are a lot of issues with the climate models. The last climate assessment that the federal government did use, what's called the RCP 8.5, which is the worst case scenario model, instead of using models that are more predictive of outcomes that we anticipate over the next 50 or 100 years. So we are taking a hard look at the models that we use to try to figure out what the impacts would be long term. But at the same time, as I said in a speech last year at the Wilson Center, I believe the biggest environmental problem facing the world today is water. And I was just virtually with the G20 environmental ministers this past Saturday where I gave a speech on water across the world.  One thousand children die every day across the world because of lack of drinking water. And that is a problem that we know what the technology is and we know it's a resource issue. And I wish the other G20 countries and I wish the United Nations focused more on real world problems today, which is such as providing those children with safe drinking water. Those children have names. And instead we focus more on climate change as a world instead of looking at what I think is a tragedy and not having potable drinking water for children in parts of Asia in Africa.

Reporter:  I think a lot of people would argue that they're both important because with climate change we’re going to see a lot of devastating effects potentially.

Wheeler:  We could see, we could see potentially, but we are seeing a thousand children, they all have names, you know, they're dying 1000 children every single day from lack of drinking water. And that has nothing to do with climate change. That was a problem long before climate change is a problem, providing safe drinking water to children across the across the world.

Reporter:  What do you think about this site (Jordan Valley West Meadows) and what's being done?

Wheeler:  I'm really impressed with this.  I’m impressed with the fact they're going to be able to connect the parkland to provide I believe it's about seven miles of trail--walking trail here. We took a look at the Jordan Creek and trying to get that back out into the open, get some sunlight back into the creek. And we started today at the museum and downtown.  I was very impressed with the museum.  It really captures what I believe is the spirit of the city, at least the history of the city. And it was an older building that we were using brownfields grant money. We were able to save that building and repurpose it. You know, so often communities around the country have torn down historic structures and built new things that, you know, would be much better to save some of the older buildings. That really provides the character of these cities.  Too much we are tearing down the character of our communities and making them mirror images of each other across the country. And I love to see when a community such as this town has kept their heritage, kept their structures and addressed the environmental contamination while at the same time repurposing the buildings for something such as the museum, which is just if your listeners haven’t and viewers haven't visited the museum, I strongly recommend you go look at the museum.  There’s a really good exhibit right now in coordination with the Smithsonian Institute on the women winning the right to vote 100 years ago. And it's a fascinating exhibit and I strongly urge all your viewers to come to the museum and take a look at it.

Michele Skalicky has worked at KSMU since the station occupied the old white house at National and Grand. She enjoys working on both the announcing side and in news and has been the recipient of statewide and national awards for news reporting. She likes to tell stories that make a difference. Michele enjoys outdoor activities, including hiking, camping and leisurely kayaking.