Attorney General Drummond Delivers Testimony to Congress to Oppose EPA Rule Expansion

WASHINGTON DC (May 7, 2024) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond told a U.S. House subcommittee this morning how a revised rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will have devastating consequences for Oklahoma and other states. Drummond had been invited by the House Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials to deliver testimony for a hearing titled “EPA’s RMP Rule: Failures to Protect the American People and American Manufacturing.” The subcommittee is part of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Drummond told subcommittee members he has filed a number of lawsuits against the Biden Administration for federal overreach, but the agency he has litigated more than any other is the EPA.

“Unfortunately, EPA consistently promotes policies and issues rules that are bad for businesses, harmful to consumers, and outright hostile to America’s oil and gas industry,” he said. “The rule under review today is no exception.”

Slated to take effect Friday, the expanded final rule of the EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) will impact facilities that handle threshold quantities of specific chemicals.

“Adding to the regulatory burden of any private enterprise without providing sufficient corresponding benefit is a recipe for economic drag. The final RMP rule is a new burden that potentially applies to a wide range of businesses and facilities in my state and across the country,” Drummond testified.

“The obvious and most concerning entities are petroleum refineries and chemical manufacturers, but the list does not end there. Also subject to the new rule would be chemical and petroleum wholesalers and terminals; midstream gas plants; agricultural chemical distributors; food manufacturers and packing plants; and a wide range of other businesses that use substances covered by the new rule.”

While the EPA estimates that compliance to the rule will cost businesses more than $250 million annually, the Attorney General noted that American consumers will be subject to far greater costs, especially at the gas pump.

“There would have to be a very substantial benefit to justify these costs,” said Drummond. “Unfortunately, the new rule provides none. It is the proverbial solution in search of a problem.”