▶ 0:14:24>> another one, this is good. Good morning everybody, nice to see everybody right on time. I will call this hearing to order. This morning we will hear from three of president's important nominees. I want to first welcome Mr. sean mcmaster, president trump's nominee to serve as fhwa.
▶ 0:14:51Fhwa is an operating administration within the U.S. department of transportation responsible for providing technical support. We lean on them a lot, and funding to states and local entities. Funding provided is critical to facilitating the design and construction of improvements to our transportation network. These improvements rely -- enhance our quality of life and support economic growth. Mr.
▶ 0:15:17Mcmasters relevant professional experience makes them well-qualified to serve as ministry. He brings more than 10 years of government service working in the U.S. house of representatives and agencies including the U.S. department of transportation. He's worked for two private transportation companies. First he served as a national practice consultant and most recently as vice president for commercial aviation and transportation at the boeing company.
▶ 0:15:49One challenge that the fha administrator must quickly tackle the significant backlog of announced grants that do not have signed grant agreements in place. This inherited workload will require diligence and collaboration to resolve. I'm hopeful that if Mr. mcmasters confirmed his experience in leadership at fhwa will accelerate that process. This committee also looks forward to working with the fhwa and others on the long-term bipartisan service transportation reauthorization bill. Next, I want to welcome Mr.
▶ 0:16:18John busterud, the nominee to lead the office of land and emergency management, better known as olum . This exceptional experience has prepared him to leave olm and tackle some of the most pressing environmental challenges. Following a 31 year environmental legal career, he served as regional administrator of the epa specific southwest region. Mr.
▶ 0:16:44Fosterud also served our country with distinction as an officer in the U.S. army, deploying many times and retiring as a decorated colonel after 23 years of service. All his statutory responsibilities, places and at the center of the epa core mission, protecting our air, land and water. If confirmed, Mr. busterud will oversee programs that directly impact america's health and the environment such as were made eating p foss contamination, -- remediating pfas contamination.
▶ 0:17:16Addressing pfas contamination which affects communities in my state and across this country is a priority of mine. The epa recently announced agencywide pfas strategy and olum will play a major role in ensuring its success. Olum is also responsible for cleaning up superfund sites which are some of the nation's most contaminated sites. This committee recently heard about the challenges with cleaning up superfund sites and there's bipartisan support to approve the programs efficiency. I look forward to working with Mr.
▶ 0:17:46Busterud to implement key reforms to ensure faster and more cost-effective superfund cleanups. Finally I want to welcome Mr. adam telle, president trump's nominee to be the assistant secretary of the army for civil war's.
▶ 0:18:05The civil works program based on his two decades of public service in the united states senate, including as my clerk for the homeland security subcommittee and as a special assistant to the president in the first trump administration. He has seen firsthand how the army corps's response to natural disasters can help communities withstand significant weather events and recover from them.
▶ 0:18:28The army corps does critical work across the nation through its navigation flood risk management and ecosystem restoration missions. This work protects the lives and livelihoods of millions of americans and facilitates commerce throughout our country and internationally. If confirmed, Mr. telle will also play an integral role in implementing biennial water resource develop in legislation, better known to all of us on committee as bwrda.
▶ 0:18:59It directs the army corps to carry out various activities to address our nation's water resources and needs. I look forward to working with Mr. telle to timely implementation of these laws consistent with congressional intent and I look forward to hearing from all the nominees this morning about their experiences into the issues that they will prioritize if confirmed to lead these agencies. With that, I recognize renting number white house for his opening statement.
▶ 0:19:23Sen. Whitehouse: We are here today to intraday nominations for top posts of the federal highway administration, the army corps of engineers, and the epa office that administers superfund programs. Those responsibilities are particularly relevant to three major pieces of committee legislation that I hope we can pass this congress.
▶ 0:19:53Sen. Whitehouse: Reauthorization, surface transportation reauthorization, and comprehensive permitting reform. I believe chair o -- chair capito and I can help these nominees with direct executive responsibility. But here is the rub.
▶ 0:20:16Sen. Whitehouse: None of these bipartisan bills will matter if congress is article one authorization and appropriation power is not respected. And this administration has repeatedly, unlawfully disrespected congressionally authorized and appropriated spending. I am happy to see that d.o.t.
▶ 0:20:42Sen. Whitehouse: Appears to be making progress obligating money to previously awarded discretionary grants, and I think the chair for her diligent pursuit of that progress as well. However, the national electric vehicle infrastructure program remains paused and stuck in limbo.
▶ 0:21:02Sen. Whitehouse: At the army corps, erratic, inconsistent and opaque administration of its clean water act permitting program creates uncertainty for the regulated community at large and for renewable energy project developers in particular. Undermining core principles of fairness and neutrality in the permanent program.
▶ 0:21:28Sen. Whitehouse: I've called to restore integrity and transparency to the permitting program and to evaluate each permit action on its own merits in accordance with law and regulation. With no response. And epa, where even to begin. Administrator zeldin continues his assault on clean air and clean water despite his promises to us in this committee to protect air and water.
▶ 0:22:00Sen. Whitehouse: His list of congressionally authorized and appropriated funding that epa insists on continuing to hold hostage is too long to list here today. Obviously the biggest target is the greenhouse gas production fund where administrator zeldin and his enablers at doj continue to set themselves up for legal and professional liability in the way they conduct their assault on the program.
▶ 0:22:31Sen. Whitehouse: I've told my team to start work on common sense bipartisan legislation in all three areas. But the gateway to success to ultimately passing those bills is confidence that this administration will faithfully execute the laws we pass and clear the projects we have already approved, appropriated and obligated.
▶ 0:23:01Sen. Whitehouse: It won't work in permitting reform, for instance, to exclude wind and solar from the very definition of the word energy, violating not just the law, but the dictionary.
▶ 0:23:22Sen. Whitehouse: I should add in closing that we are also now faced with an effort to use the congressional review act to disapprove three clean air act waivers granted by epa to the state of california that had existed for many years. Even though the parliamentarian has already ruled that these waivers are not rules as required for the cra.
▶ 0:23:46Sen. Whitehouse: A decision to overrule her on this matter to deploy the nuclear option will have real consequences. The misuse of the cra to undo long ago past policies adding to the nuclear option of overruling the parliamentarian opens up a can of worms and the senate floor will not be the same if this is where we go.
▶ 0:24:18Sen. Whitehouse: Overruling the parliamentarian is tantamount to eliminating the filibuster said leader through himself in january. There are many avenues for the minority to respond to such a disruption of senate tradition.
▶ 0:24:38Sen. Whitehouse: Simply count how often the presiding officer says without objection on any given day to understand what the response could be to such a disruption. If this is the path republicans want to go down, go down at least with eyes wide open.
▶ 0:25:01Sen. Whitehouse: And also, on the merits, know that climate change is not a hoax, that it's damage has already begun and homeowners insurance markets around the country, that the insurance to mortgage, to property values collapse can't be stopped by rhetoric, and that the sand is fast running through the hourglass to head off that
▶ 0:25:33Sen. Whitehouse: Economic calamity. Thank you chairman.
▶ 0:25:35Chair Capito: Thank you senator whitehouse. We will now turn to introductions to the nominees this morning. We are joined by our friend from tennessee, senator hagerty. Thank you for being here and please proceed with your introductory remarks. >> thank you chairman and ranking member. It is my distinct honor to introduce my good friend and my chief of staff adam telle to be president trump's nominee for assistant secretary of the army for civil works.
▶ 0:26:04Chair Capito: But before I introduce adam I would like to actually address all the staff who sit behind you. Because I want you to look at adam, somebody who's been here serving as you do in the united states senate for the past 20 years. He's made a real impact working here in the senate as I'm sure all of you do. Working night and day over the weekends as I'm sure all of you do as well. And now he's going to take that knowledge, expertise and experience and move on to do even greater things.
▶ 0:26:30Chair Capito: So I hope you take his nomination today as a great inspiration for what you yourself might do. And I also take the privilege of suggesting that chair capito probably shares the same sort of pride I do in seeing adam because adam worked for you, you helped train them to become the person that he is today.
▶ 0:26:51Chair Capito: Can you all know the assistant secretary of the army for civil works provide leadership that is essential for the department and for our nation, especially the american citizens and american businesses depend on the U.S. army corps of engineers. The task to maintain 13,000 miles of coastal navigation channels, 12,000 miles of inland waterways, over 1000 harbors, 745 dams just to name a few of their responsibilities.
▶ 0:27:18Chair Capito: As a native of alabama, he graduated with honors in computer science and communication for mississippi state university's bagley college of engineering. Adam has lived in places where the mission of the army corps is at the forefront of public life. Adam can directly relate to the people who depend on the corps and he knows firsthand why the work matters. Adam has also served in the U.S. government faithfully and with distinction for the past two decades.
▶ 0:27:45Chair Capito: After beginning a senate career in 2005, adam spent 10 years in the office of the late senator cochran of mississippi, earning the roles of deputy chief of staff and legislative director. And then served as the lead staffer on the homeland security subcommittee and senate appropriations subcommittee.
▶ 0:28:07Chair Capito: Serving under the chairmanship of senators thad cochran, richard shelby, john boozman and of course, our chairman shelley . Nearly 20 agencies, 206 2000 personnel and an annual budget of approximately $70 billion. During president trump's first term, adam led the senate team at the white house office of legislative affairs where he managed national security and appropriations matters.
▶ 0:28:36Chair Capito: He played critical roles in the negotiations for the abraham accords and the creation of the U.S. space force, which is the first new branch of the U.S. military created and authorized in more than 70 years. Over the last four years I've had the privilege of watching out of an action on a daily basis, particularly as my chief of staff. His leadership is evident not just in his strategic vision and passion, but also in the ways in which he is trusted by staff and by other colleagues.
▶ 0:29:04Chair Capito: The kindness, the men touring at the heart that he demonstrates with his teams will make him an inspirational leader for this critical organization. Adam is just the leader that our nation needs at the pentagon right now. I urged the kitty to move quickly so that he can assume leadership in this important work as soon as possible and I want to thank all of you for your time this morning.
▶ 0:29:27Chair Capito: Thank you very much for that wonderful introduction. I will now ask the nominees to move up to the witness table when senator hagerty clears. You could remain standing for a minute.
▶ 0:30:09Chair Capito: Before we move to the opening statements, I would like to administer the of sworn testimony. So if you would please stand and raise your right hand and answer the following question. Do you swear the testimony you are about to give to this committee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? Let the record show that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative, so we will now proceed to our opening statement. Thank you for coming here. Mr. telle, you can begin.
▶ 0:30:53Mr. Telle: Thank you, chair capito, ranking member whitehouse, members of the committee and the staff of the environment and public works committee. It is an honor to a been nominated by president trump to serve as the 14th assistant secretary of the army for civil works. I want to begin by thanking president trump whom I was honored to serve during this first administration.
▶ 0:31:14Mr. Telle: In addition I would like to thank secretary pete hegseth, secretary driscoll, my wife shelby, I two beautiful children, my mother and my father. I would also like to thank the U.S. senators with whom I work the closest over the last 20 years, chairman capito, senator wicker, senator rosen, senator shelby, senator thad cochran and senator hagerty whom I've had the privilege to serve over the last four years since he came to the senate.
▶ 0:31:43Mr. Telle: Senator hagerty, you've given the incredible perspective during our time together and I'm so fortunate to have had a front row seat. In 1802 as jefferson was contemplate how to expand our nation westward he keenly understood that our waterways would be the key. To harness the power of these waterways he turned the U.S. military academy west point which was producing america's best engineers. We would no longer rely on european engineers, and the original navigation mission of the army corps of engineers was born.
▶ 0:32:12Mr. Telle: The america we know today is a result of the work of the core, and overtime congress has given them additional missions, primarily flood control and the preservation of natural resources. These missions are also important to our current president. Some of my earliest memories as a young child are of writing with my father and him pointing out the window as we were crossing some of our waterways. The black warrior river, the tendency tom the waterway, the mississippi river.
▶ 0:32:42Mr. Telle: He was always teaching and he would turn my attention to the little tugboats pushing big barges moving the natural resources, opening access to the small communities in our neck of the woods to the rest of the country and to the world. 20 years later I moved to washington because I believed I could make a difference. Helping to represent the views and interests of the americans I grew up with who often felt ignored or forgotten by people in washington.
▶ 0:33:07Mr. Telle: On august 20 9, 2005, exactly one month into my time working in the senate, hurricane katrina made landfall. This was the most costly natural disaster in american history. I stayed up all night that night. I couldn't go to sleep, watching hurricane katrina, sure. A 20 foot storm surge, 1800 american lives lost and hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. Pretty soon senator cochran athlete to run point for hurricane katrina.
▶ 0:33:36Mr. Telle: My years of experience securing resources and untangling bureaucratic messes in the wake of katrina prepared me for my role as a staffer in the senate appropriations committee where I was also given the top role working for chairman capito and chairman bozeman and advising republicans on disaster response.
▶ 0:33:56Mr. Telle: These formative experiences as a child and a young professional are emblematic of why my personal background and passion match the depth and breadth of the missions before the army corps of engineers. Enabling commerce, many getting floods, responding to disasters and most recently by removing debris in the wake of hurricane helene and in response to the los angeles wildfires. A few government agencies missions capture the interest of the american citizens, landowners, communities, states, job creators and the representatives here in washington quite like this one.
▶ 0:34:27Mr. Telle: These are real missions with real outcomes and they matter deeply to americans in places that are very far away from washington decision-makers. It confirmed I tend -- intent to aggressively tackle the missions as it relates to permitting. We are at a moment in history were all americans of all viewpoints crave certainty from the government about whether or not the rules apply to them. We must act with haste, transparency and clarity to give them regulatory certainty without delay. As I mentioned, navigation was the original mission of the corps.
▶ 0:35:00Mr. Telle: Today, managing our waterways will help define how competitive we are and how resilient we are in the 21st century. With regard to flood control we must work together to maintain the investments that you've made to mitigate floods before they happen and to fight them when we must. When it comes to coordination, perhaps like no other. Getting it right for the american public will require focus among dozens of entities across the government.
▶ 0:35:28Mr. Telle: It confirmed, I would devote significant attention to collaboration and coordination across these agencies. I'm honored to be before you. If I have the honor of being confirmed by the senate, would be responsive to our nations politically accountable leaders. The president, the members of this committee, the senate and house of representatives. I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:35:52Chair Capito: Before I go to Mr. mcmaster, can your family stand up so we can see them, because I know your kids are little.
▶ 0:36:00Mr. Telle: They are currently in the hall. I'm sure they are standing.
▶ 0:36:04Chair Capito: You've got them really well trained. Ok, next nominee is Mr. sean mcmaster. As president trump's nominee to lead the critical agency, the federal highway administration, elgin. -- welcome.
▶ 0:36:23Mr. Mcmaster: Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today as you consider my nomination. I am grateful to president trump and secretary duffy for the opportunity to serve in this position. It confirmed a look forward to working with you to achieve the president and secretary's vision of building big, beautiful american infrastructure. With me today is my amazing wife brittany and to have my three children.
▶ 0:36:53Mr. Mcmaster: But also like to mention my oldest son connor who couldn't be here today. He is a newly minted lance corporal in the U.S. marine corps serving our country as an air traffic controller in california. Without their tireless support and understanding, their commitment required to serve would not be possible. We must work to build and restore the big, beautiful roads, bridges and tunnels across the nation.
▶ 0:37:17Mr. Mcmaster: The federal highway administration 2024 national bridge inventory data shows that more than 83,000 out of 147,000 bridges on the national highway system are in fair or poor condition. While he made progress, the current state of our critical infrastructure must further be improved. If confirmed I will work tirelessly to support the secretary's efforts to manage this challenge, this work and all work under my leadership.
▶ 0:37:43Mr. Mcmaster: If confirmed, I will be guided by my top priority in the top priority of the department, safety. As the transportation is aware, data from fhwa national highway construction cost index shows that transportation and construction costs have increased by 67% over the last three years recorded.
▶ 0:38:09Mr. Mcmaster: I saw firsthand these impacts the cost, schedule and delivery of essential infrastructure projects, working directly with state and local leaders as they were challenged to identify and retain federal funding intend to support their critical transportation infrastructure needs. It is essentially build product -- projects more quickly and efficiently. We must further streamline project delivery including the printing process.
▶ 0:38:35Mr. Mcmaster: It confirmed a look forward to working with the secretary on ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs some more of the funds being invested in their infrastructure will go to building infrastructure. I know from experience this is achievable. The I-85 bridge in atlanta real been less than seven weeks after a fire caused its devastating collapse in march of 2017.
▶ 0:39:00Mr. Mcmaster: Thanks to emergency relief funds, the bridge was quickly rebuilt using innovative components that saved the concrete. Significantly the bridge reopened ahead of schedule, demonstrating that time and cost savings are attainable. This is an important moment for fhwa. Fhwa must also look forward as the current surface transportation authorization infrastructure investment and jobs act is set to expire at the end of september, 2026.
▶ 0:39:30Mr. Mcmaster: Surface reauthorization is vital for maintaining and enhancing the safety of our nation roads, bridges and tunnels. It provides U.S. transportation infrastructure with policy direction and consistent multi your funding. While I served as deveney chief of staff I was fortunate to lead the development of its surface reauthorization proposal including fhwa. Through this work I met with key stakeholders to understand the needs and impacts of the reauthorization on our states and local communities.
▶ 0:39:58Mr. Mcmaster: This committee has already started this critical work on surface transportation reauthorization and secretary duffy appeared before this committee last month to discuss these efforts. If confirmed, I look forward to working with the secretary and congress throughout the reauthorization progress so that we can realize the golden age of transportation.
▶ 0:40:16Mr. Mcmaster: As the administration and congress embark on this transformation through the accelerated deployment of critical projects, commonsense solutions for infrastructure needs and reauthorization legislation is critically important, we fully understand the unique challenges affecting states rep the country. Through meetings with state and local leaders during my time at the department, it is clear that states have a unique understanding of their specific needs.
▶ 0:40:46Mr. Mcmaster: Fhwa maintains strong partnerships with states nationwide and if confirmed, I will continue to support those critical partnerships and work to ensure that states receive consistent guidance and support. Thank you for your consideration and I will be happy to answer any questions.
▶ 0:40:59Chair Capito: Thank you Mr. mcmaster. Final nominee is Mr. busterud. Mi pronouncing that correctly?
▶ 0:41:06Mr. Busterud: Yes, senator.
▶ 0:41:08Chair Capito: He is president trump's nominee to leave the epa office of land and emergency management. If confirmed he will oversee vital programs like the superfund to ensure efficient and effective management of our nations land and waste issues. Welcome.
▶ 0:41:25Mr. Busterud: Thank you, all listing with members of this committee. It has been a privilege to meet with you and your staff to learn about the issues of highest concern to you. I intend to work with all of you to ensure that we protect human health and the environment for all americans. I humbly appear before you nominated to serve as the epa assistant administrator of land and emergency management.
▶ 0:41:56Mr. Busterud: I'm grateful for the opportunity to lead the men and women. If confirmed a look forward to working with our dedicated career staff, states, communities and stakeholders to ensure it fills its core statutory mission to clean out historic sites, prevent releases and respond with urgency and compassion when emergencies arise. In this way, all of provides an essential connection between environmental protection and economic prosperity, a linchpin of this administration.
▶ 0:42:28Mr. Busterud: This morning I'm accompanied by my wife, herself a retired attorney, and a great source of personal inspiration and support. Our grown children are here in spirit. I county with a background of commitment to public service and environmental protection. Growing up in northern california I was profoundly influenced by my father, who served in the california legislature and later as chairman of the council on environmental quality under president ford.
▶ 0:42:59Mr. Busterud: Environmental issues were often front and center at the dinner table. It took precedence over partisan politics. At least, as far as I can remember. After law school I chose the practice environmental law, representing businesses who saw environmental compliance and leadership as essential business functions valuable to their customers, employees and shareholders.
▶ 0:43:20Mr. Busterud: In that role I work with state and federal agencies, advocacy organizations, communities and our state legislature to support policy that sought to balance environmental protection with a sustainable business climate in california. After retiring from corporate practice I served on the board of the california council for environmental and economic balance, a public policy organization with members from a fortune 500 company and labor unions.
▶ 0:43:47Mr. Busterud: Defined commonsense, bipartisan solutions to emerging environmental issues. I was also privileged to serve our country as an officer in the army reserve, deploying to iraq in support of operation iraqi freedom and operation enduring freedom and returning as external in 2014. In baghdad I have the unique opportunity to advise the iraqi minister of environment as she developed iraq' first environmental reglet reprograms.
▶ 0:44:14Mr. Busterud: Sthis service not only provided some of the most fulfilling experiences of my life, but taught me that the rule of law essential to peace, prosperity and environmental protection. The first from administration I was honored to serve as regional administrator epa region nine.
▶ 0:44:30Mr. Busterud: I worked with 600 dedicated career staff and administrator wheeler to protect human health and the environment for 50 million americans in california, nevada, arizona, hawaii, 140 eight tribes in the pacific territorial islands. My experience was one of the highlights of my career and I'm looking forward to working again with all our regions to support the offices that are truly the face of epa across our nation. If confirmed I will be responsible for implementing some of the most forward facing programs pa -- in epa.
▶ 0:45:04Mr. Busterud: Olum affects main street america in any tangible and beneficial ways. The superfund program both at civilian and federal facilities remediate sites to provide essential protections for land and groundwater. The popular brownfields program literally addresses environmental conditions on main street across our country, restoring urban land productive use.
▶ 0:45:29Mr. Busterud: An underground tank program ensure that we do not create future superfund sites by preventing releases of hazardous materials from currently operating facilities. The office of mountains, deserts and planes uses across media, across agency approach to address abandoned hard rock mines in the office of emergency management works alongside other federal agencies, states, cities and communities to plan for and respond to emergencies.
▶ 0:45:57Mr. Busterud: Through these programs, olum has the opportunity to provide essential human health and environmental protections for all americans and to do so in a nonpartisan, common sense manner that promotes our great american comeback. I look forward to working with all of you to fulfill this mission. Thank you, chair capito, ranking member whitehouse and all the members of this committee. I look forward to answering your questions.
▶ 0:46:23Chair Capito: Thank you all very much, I appreciate that. Before we begin with a question from each member, there are three standing yes or no questions that I will ask the three of you, if you could just respond. Do you agree if confirmed to appear before this committee or designated members of this committee and other appropriate committees of this congress to provide information subject to appropriate and necessary security protections with respect to your responsibilities? >> yes.
▶ 0:46:54Chair Capito: Thank you. Do you agree to ensure the testimony briefings document and electronic and other forms of communication of information provided to this committee and its staff and other appropriate committees in a timely manner? >> yes, senator.
▶ 0:47:09Chair Capito: Finally do you know of any matters which you may or may not have disclosed that may place you any conflict of interest if you are confirmed.
▶ 0:47:16Mr. Mcmaster: No.
▶ 0:47:17Mr. Busterud: No.
▶ 0:47:18Mr. Telle: No.
▶ 0:47:20Chair Capito: Ok, I'm going to start my round of questions and I'm going to start with Mr. mcmaster. You mentioned bridges and I think you and I talked about for when we had our meeting in the office and I appreciate all of you for coming to visit. How geography requires to have a lot of those bridges. So we need a strong federal partner. It's critical to our success.
▶ 0:47:46Chair Capito: A lot of progress was made and has been made and is being made, but are there any policy and funding proposals that we should consider including in the next reauthorization to further address regionally significant bridge projects?
▶ 0:48:06Mr. Mcmaster: I appreciate the question.
▶ 0:48:08Chair Capito: Is your microphone on?
▶ 0:48:10Mr. Mcmaster: It is. I appreciate your question, I'm a champion for bridges and bridge safety is of paramount importance, it is critical to the safety of our travel in public, it is critical to our supply chain. As we look to support reauthorization, there is work yet to be done.
▶ 0:48:35Mr. Mcmaster: Tremendous progress of the last few years when I was fortunate to work in support of the bridge which after 20 years is now finally realizing development. I look forward to supporting you if I'm confirmed.
▶ 0:48:51Mr. Mcmaster: I know it's of paramount importance for the federal highway administration, and I look forward if confirmed to supporting your efforts to reauthorization to identify additional ways we can accelerate the maintenance and enhancement of our nations bridge systems.
▶ 0:49:07Chair Capito: Thank you Mr. busteruf busterud addressing pfas is a top priority I share with administrator zeldin. I was pleased to see the epa release and agencywide plan setting bold goals to tackle this crisis.
▶ 0:49:27Chair Capito: If confirmed he will be responsible for leading olum's major role in the strategy from updating pfas destruction guidance to enforcing the polluter pays principle. How would you lead in this way and help us tackle this very difficult and far-reaching problem of contamination?
▶ 0:49:56Chair Capito: >> pfas is a high priority in the administrator, as you noted, announced a suite of programs basically taking a poll of epa approach to addressing it across major program offices. As you noted and as we discussed in our conversation in your office, olum will play an important role to increase the frequency of guidance we give.
▶ 0:50:25Chair Capito: It has been every three years, we are going to commit to providing those updates on an annual basis. Olum will also look at and examine its authorities to prevent releases of olum -- pfas from other facilities which use pfas.
▶ 0:50:50Chair Capito: You mentioned the polluter pays issue, and I support that entirely and we will continue with that approach. The notion of passive receiver, the issue of passive receiver is very important to a number of senators on your committee and others.
▶ 0:51:11Chair Capito: That is an issue that if confirmed, I pledge to work with our dedicated career staff and to look at ways in which we can avoid a situation in which customers of water utilities would be forced to pay for contamination they didn't put in the water to begin with, never forward to working with your committee on that.
▶ 0:51:29Chair Capito: Thank you. Mr. telle, we had a hearing on the corps of engineers and the implementation of some of their programs. This is a daunting challenge, I think, to step into the position that you are in because the slowness and the sluggishness of some of the work that we know is critical is, I think, universally felt by all of us.
▶ 0:52:00Chair Capito: This goes to the fact that the army corps is actively working on nearly 100 ongoing feasibility studies and general reevaluation reports. These will result in projects later on, as you know, and authorizations and appropriations. How will you ensure that projects and other activities are appropriately prioritized and balance the competing water resources in the country?
▶ 0:52:26Mr. Busterud: You've identified the fundamental issue, which is that this is a complex --
▶ 0:52:32Mr. Telle: An exhaustive set of challenges. The demand is greater than the supply. Congress is incredibly interested in the projects and the work of the corps of engineers as you have identified and the core principle when it comes to prioritization and the constrained budget environment is to follow the law. And the losses that the primary missions are navigation, enabling commerce on america's waterways, flood mitigation and control and system restoration.
▶ 0:53:04Mr. Telle: So those have to be the primary beacons when it comes to prioritization. Examining how the projects meet those missions as congress has laid them out, setting priorities on the basis of benefits vs. Cost, life and safety and other factors that ultimately will play into all the visions. It is a complicated one.
▶ 0:53:24Chair Capito: Thank you. Senator whitehouse?
▶ 0:53:27Sen. Whitehouse: Mr. mcmaster, the chair and I both intend to deliver to you a robust bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization as we discussed in my office. In order for that to happen, we need assurances that whatever bipartisan legislation might get enacted into law will be implemented by the executive branch in a faithful and unbiased way, and in particular, we need to clear the illegal funding freezes that have jammed
▶ 0:53:59Sen. Whitehouse: Up so many already appropriated projects. Will you commit to implementing any and all authorized programs in a faithful and unbiased manner?
▶ 0:54:10Mr. Mcmaster: I appreciate your comment in your question. It's an important one. I give you my full commitment if I'm confirmed to implement the law with the intent of congress.
▶ 0:54:22Sen. Whitehouse: You understand how it would be hard for the minority to agree to a bipartisan bill if the upshot of that agreement was that only the majority parts of the bill were actually implemented and everything that we wanted got binned by the executive branch.
▶ 0:54:42Mr. Mcmaster: I think at the secretary pointed out, infrastructure is not partisan. And you have my full commitment to implement the law in accordance with the intent of congress.
▶ 0:54:55Sen. Whitehouse: Thank you. Mr. telle, I've referred to the army corps of engineers is the bureaucratic tributary of the mississippi river. That's a rhetorical point that I make to highlight the extent to which the army corps appears to favor inland over coastal flooding projects.
▶ 0:55:18Sen. Whitehouse: We've looked back at the inland and coastal flooding account at the army corps and it's best year was $20 for inland for every one dollar for flooding coastal. That was our best year as coastal states. The worst year was $100 for inland flooding for every one dollar for coastal flooding. When island sea level is up about 11 inches, that's not a debatable proposition.
▶ 0:55:48Sen. Whitehouse: You measure that the same way you measure the height of your kid on the doorway. It's really simple. It is inches and rulers. And so we have real coastal flooding issues. And I would like your assurance that you will take these inland vs. Coastal concerns seriously as coastal flooding becomes more and more of a danger for coastal communities.
▶ 0:56:17Mr. Telle: Senator whitehouse, thank you for raising this issue and I look forward to and an year two, if confirmed, make sure we have our hands around this data and understand it. I think historically flooding has been easier to predict, perhaps, then the locations of coastal flooding but that doesn't mean we shouldn't invest a greater amount and coastal flooding.
▶ 0:56:43Mr. Telle: This is obviously an issue near and dear to my heart working on hurricane recovery my entire career, as well as inland flooding. I would just say that I think you are right. As we work to justify and prioritize the projects that are of the greatest benefit to the public, we have to be able to consider things that have in the past and unpredictable and try to predict them more accurately.
▶ 0:57:05Sen. Whitehouse: I would also add that fema's mapping has been such a flagrant disaster that states like mine have had to do their own flood mapping because fema's mapping simply wasn't worthy of belief. You don't have to look much beyond fema's flood mapping of the houston area vs.
▶ 0:57:29Sen. Whitehouse: The actual repeated flooding in the houston area which is a relieving area in the last decade to see how bad fema has been. So part of the problem is to fix the mapping as well as to fix the priorities. So I look forward to working with you on that.
▶ 0:57:52Mr. Telle: Really quickly, this is an issue I've worked on in the past and I would say there's a great deal of frustration in the public around fema's mapping programs. It's not something that I would be in charge of if confirmed, but certainly something I would work on.
▶ 0:58:06Sen. Whitehouse: To rely on them, you need to go in I guaido open that they are a failure.
▶ 0:58:11Mr. Telle: One of the frustrations is it doesn't accurately consider flash flooding, rain storms are only considered storm surges. In many cases it doesn't adequately consider flood control infrastructure. So these are issues that have to be addressed in order to regain public confidence.
▶ 0:58:28Sen. Whitehouse: I would also like to work with y and the chairman on a priorities list where committee members feel that a project has gotten lost in the army corps bureaucracy can get a regular scheduled briefing from the army corps where we put our projects on that list and you know that those projects are on that list and if you're going to have to come in and support to us on them on a regular basis, so that project that are important to members of this committee get
▶ 0:58:58Sen. Whitehouse: The attention that they deserve.
▶ 0:58:58Mr. Telle: Senator, when congress passes a law and the president signs it, there is some expectation that it be followed and I look forward to working with that.
▶ 0:59:07Sen. Whitehouse: Good. This is an issue where the chair and I are going to work together, and we certainly encourage the senior army corps folks turn out for those briefings on those projects once before that without looks like.
▶ 0:59:19Chair Capito: And I would add to the second question that I asked you all with timely responses back, there's nothing more frustrating the matter who is in charge then to not get an answer. That happens. And it is very frustrating. So we will go to senator ricketts.
▶ 0:59:38Sen. Ricketts: Thank you chairman and ranking member. Welcome to all of our nominees, congratulations. I chaired the subcommittee on fisheries and water and wildlife and I look forward to hearing from each of you how you plan to serve nebraskans and americans in your new rules should you be confirmed. The endangered species act as a law that impacts each one of you as nominees.
▶ 1:00:07Sen. Ricketts: You and I share concerns about the american beetle and its impact on infrastructure. Mr. telle, you heard about the surging impact on the missouri river. And Mr. busterud, you are no stranger to compliance.
▶ 1:00:33Sen. Ricketts: I would like each of the nominees to talk about how you plan to implement species protection and recovery but is not prohibited to your respective offices.
▶ 1:00:50Mr. Telle: I detected a bit of frustration from you and I detected from the public in my time working in the senate about when the laws apply or decisions are made within the government on the basis of something that the government didn't afford, and I think that is the case here what you're talking about where the governments work actually increase the habitat and then created a problem where before it didn't exist. So we have to be better at predicting these things and having a management plan that looks at second and third effects of the governments work and gets it right.
▶ 1:01:25Mr. Telle: >> I appreciated the conversation the other day. I will say the administration has a robust process to find ways to expedite project delivery but at the same time, respect and conserve the environment in that process.
▶ 1:01:41Mr. Telle: If confirmed I look forward to learning more from you on the specific issues you raised in person, working closely with the faa in partnership with the state to make sure those challenges are conserve, maintain and respected while he look to move projects forward quicker, faster and better for the benefit of the state.
▶ 1:02:03Mr. Busterud: Senator, based on my environmental legal experience, and I would bring that to bear here with epa, I believe that early consultation and engagement on endangered species issues in the planning phase before shovels even go in the ground is essential in terms of planning out an expedited schedule that is not impaired by the presence of listed species.
▶ 1:02:35Sen. Ricketts: We are beginning to work on the surface transportation reauthorization bill and a focus on improving efficiency in the system. I've heard from nebraskans that one reason projects are slowed this because too many agencies are required to take action to approve a single project. Often these approvals are being done consecutively instead of concurrently, adding unnecessary delays. Mr.
▶ 1:03:00Sen. Ricketts: Mcmaster, how important is streamlining processes to deliver on project delivery, and what can congress do to help?
▶ 1:03:08Mr. Mcmaster: It's a tremendous priority of this administration to find ways to move projects faster, better, and more cost-effectively. This tremendous, historic backlog that is awaiting great agreements in no small way is a tremendous priority that needs to be addressed. Over the last couple of weeks we've seen two different tranches of back towards totaling more than $5 billion.
▶ 1:03:39Mr. Mcmaster: The secretary is also interested in reducing the regulatory burden on these awards and future awards so that when we say we want to build we are able to build and we are able to build more cost-effectively. In addition, the administration is looking at updating its guidance and looking for additional streamlined positions. If confirmed I look forward to working closely with you and the congress as you engage in your efforts to reauthorize the transportation programs.
▶ 1:04:07Sen. Ricketts: I'm running out of time here, but Mr. telle, obviously as governor I sat through the 500 year flood in nebraska in 2019. Tell us how you can work with sister agencies like fish and wildlife to ensure they prioritize people and property, to make sure we are protecting life.
▶ 1:04:33Mr. Telle: Thank you for the question and thank you for your leadership as governor. That flood that affected large swaths of the country, especially nebraska. With the missouri river, which I told senator fischer yesterday is america's longest river, edging out the mississippi by one mile, it requires management from montana to missouri and your state is right in the middle.
▶ 1:04:59Mr. Telle: There are competing interests that have to do with navigation interest and flood control interests at the system as well as water supply interests, especially in the farther west regions of the river. It's a challenge.
▶ 1:05:14Mr. Telle: The corps of engineers often has to make decisions about whether agricultural interests, weighing those against commercial interest and safety interests, and I would just say that life and safety and protection of property has to always be a primary concern as these issues are balanced.
▶ 1:05:33Mr. Telle: The corps of engineers has manuals that dictate how they operate these facilities, but senator, I think our elected leadership, I think there's an expectation that they will use good judgment in times of crisis like this one to deliver the best result for the public and I hope that we can get it right.
▶ 1:05:53Chair Capito: Senator ricketts. Excuse me, senator padilla.
▶ 1:05:59Senator Padilla: Thank you, madam chair. People confuse us all the time.
▶ 1:06:04Chair Capito: I think it is the accent.
▶ 1:06:08Senator Padilla: I appreciated in our meeting that you're tracking the proposed $1 billion cut to the harbor maintenance trust fund. As you may know the port of los angeles and long beach are the busiest in the western hemisphere. Receiving 40% of the nations imports. There's other parts, but those two alone account for 40%.
▶ 1:06:35Senator Padilla: They are also considered donor ports which generate nearly half the revenue into the harbor maintenance trust fund to receive only a small fraction in return. Now if congress directed the court to ensure more equitable distribution of the trust funds and finally in the fiscal year 24 work plan, funding was made available.
▶ 1:06:58Senator Padilla: Can you provide some assurances that the obligations will continue to be met this year and going forward in that more equitable fashion?
▶ 1:07:11Mr. Telle: Thank you for the question. You have identified an issue here that is important. Congress and the executive branch have had dates and congress has weighted heavily on the harbor maintenance trust fund is collected and expended, and congress did recently enact a provision, as you referenced, that says reports like the ones in your state which have continued to get traffic but fewer dredging needs, that they
▶ 1:07:42Mr. Telle: Have the ability to use harbor maintenance revenue and expenditures on nontraditional depth and width projects which help facilitate commerce in areas of the part of the corps of engineers has traditionally worked. So I intend to follow the law in this regard and certainly look forward to working with you on how the harbor maintenance trust fund is managed.
▶ 1:08:10Mr. Telle: >> and they very much appreciate your answer in regards to following the law. Following the directions as set by congress. I hate to even have to ask, but you know as well as I do what we thin through the last four months where despite congressional action, not just authorization, but appropriations, sometimes the administration thinks they know better and directs departments and agencies to do different.
▶ 1:08:37Mr. Telle: I believe you when you say you will stick to the letter of the law and look forward to following up with you to ensure that and on specific projects. Speaking of specific projects, the los angeles county drainage area project is a dynamic flood conveyance system that provides flood risk benefits to the 10 million people living los angeles county and frankly a large number of people if you look at the greater metropolitan area.
▶ 1:09:05Mr. Telle: However, the core owned and maintained portion of the system has a significant backlog of maintenance. Which leaves the entire system vulnerable to extreme weather events. The annual budget cannot keep up. It's not even close.
▶ 1:09:21Mr. Telle: And as a result, the county of los angeles, department of public works is currently engaged with the corps to transfer some of the core maintain sections of the system to ensure the long-term viability and safety of the critical system. We've been working on this for a couple of years.
▶ 1:09:39Mr. Telle: Given the 100 billion dollars backlog of authorized but unfunded projects, I'm encouraged when I see partners like los angeles county want to step up and work together to address the challenges. As a member of this committee of is proud to support provisions in 2022 and 2024 to help address the operational efficiencies of the l.a. County drainage area system.
▶ 1:10:07Mr. Telle: So all that being said, my question is do you commit to work at me and los angeles county to ensure the seamless transfer of those assets to the county as has been agreed to?
▶ 1:10:20Mr. Telle: Thank you for your advocacy. As a general principle I agree with the notion that federal responsibilities to the degree that a state or locality has the capacity to deal with an issue or operate a facility, we ought to be pushing authority and responsibilities to the local entity because they understand the needs of their citizens much better than we can here in washington. In general, I agree with you on that principle.
▶ 1:10:47Mr. Telle: I don't have the details in terms of how this could affect the system as the california water system. I would like to take a look at that but I can commit to taking a look at that to make sure that we get it right for your state and of course, the surrounding states in the west to all share water resources.
▶ 1:11:03Sen. Padilla: I share the rank-and-file professionals of the court agreed this makes sense and hope that it seems to continue to finish the transfer process. A couple questions I'd love to ask my time is up, so I will submit questions in writing.
▶ 1:11:22Mr. Telle: Thank you senator. >> I will take over for the chair while voting. >> very well done Mr. interim chair. Mr. telle, let's talk about wastewater treatment program project that involves the state of mississippi.
▶ 1:11:46Mr. Telle: As everyone knows, memphis and shelby county amount to one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country and certainly the largest in the state of tennessee. Just below memphis and shelby county is de soto county, one of the fastest growing counties in mississippi. Including on the state line of the cities of south haven and certain unincorporated areas.
▶ 1:12:19Mr. Telle: About 48 years ago, a wastewater treatment facility was federally funded, addressing the wastewater treatment needs in both of those areas. It was funded to the extent possible based on population numbers from the mississippi area as well as the memphis area.
▶ 1:12:45Mr. Telle: Some years ago, the folks north of the state line brought a suit and asked that the mississippi customers be excluded from that treatment plan. This went to court.
▶ 1:13:04Mr. Telle: We didn't feel it was fair, but the federal judge ruled that the mississippi areas have to get on their own water treatment system by the year 2031. The only way we could possibly do that is to look at this metropolitan area did 50 years ago, to the federal government.
▶ 1:13:33Mr. Telle: The army corps of engineers is a valuable part of this project. Can you please commit to me that the army corps of engineers will do everything possible to assist the de soto county regional utility authority in building a new wastewater system for this judicially imposed 2031
▶ 1:14:02Mr. Telle: Thank you for the question. It is an issue I have familiarity with from both sides of the state line. In 1992 -- taking over projects describe as infrastructure. These are not the traditional flood control types of projects that the corps of engineers have done but it has a great deal of interest from congress.
▶ 1:14:28Mr. Telle: I think that will continue and I committed to work with you in an area of shelby county that I know well to make sure we get it right and we can facilitate to the degree -- meet the directive.
▶ 1:14:42Sen. Wicker: I assume if this project is not done by 2031, sewage might start to run in the streets of desoto county, mississippi. With your help will try to comply with this. Let's talk about the bonnie carey spillway.
▶ 1:15:11Sen. Wicker: We have already talked about how long the mississippi are is and the missouri river. 31 states contribute to what runs by the state of louisiana as it gets almost to the golf. By the time it gets there, it is full of bacteria, nutrients, fertilizer runoff, sediment, it leads to algae blooms in the gulf.
▶ 1:15:38Sen. Wicker: When the water gets high, there are a number of spillways that can be opened to prevent flooding a number of very important areas. In 2019, the bonnie carey spillway was open for a total of 123 days.
▶ 1:15:59Sen. Wicker: It spilled into the mississippi eastbound -- sound, an area for fishing, changing it more into freshwater. Hugely damaging, costing many jobs. We cannot possibly have this happen again.
▶ 1:16:21Sen. Wicker: There are times when the spillway can be opened, take some of the freshwater into a salt water but not that much. Will you agree the army corps should include stakeholders such as the mississippi sound coalition and stakeholders in both louisiana, arkansas and mississippi in a comprehensive study of which is spillways are open?
▶ 1:16:49Mr. Telle: Senator wicker I would gladly take input from stakeholders. The spillway of last resort is the bonnet carre, which diverts water into a lake and the mississippi sound, which affects the commercial ecosystem and the recreational ecosystem. These are the types of trade-offs we have to discuss.
▶ 1:17:18Mr. Telle: Preventing a flood upstream may have affects on places like the mississippi sound. It is very important that the corps of engineers has clear input for stakeholders from across a waterway, up and down, understand impacts. These are complex systems. We could use as much input to get as we could.
▶ 1:17:43Sen. Wicker: Thank you for that answer. I realize we have gone over but it is a matter of thousands of jobs up and down the mississippi are.
▶ 1:17:53Sen. Blunt Rochester: Thank you for being here. I would like to start with Mr. mcmaster. Thank you for the opportunity to meet. When we were in my office you indicated your willingness to be transparent about the status of grants in my state is confirmed. You mentioned secretary duffy recently shared the grant obligation announcements.
▶ 1:18:23Sen. Blunt Rochester: Missing from that list were any projects in delaware. During his confirmation, he committed to getting discretionary grants out the door and abiding by the law. I am sure this is an easy question for you. Will you make the same commitment?
▶ 1:18:43Mr. Mcmaster: Yes, senator, absolutely. You have my full commitment. If I am confirmed, to support the secretary's efforts and look into any specific projects you might have.
▶ 1:18:54Sen. Blunt Rochester: Thank you so much. I made a point during my meeting with him as well that this funding was already awarded, much of it. I understand we are reviewing some of the grants. I hope, again, for me, that is not as efficient. I'm looking forward and I'm grateful for your commitment and we will follow up. My next question is for Mr. busterud.
▶ 1:19:26Sen. Blunt Rochester: If confirmed you will oversee the epa's superfund program. As of now there are over 1300 sites on the priority list. Delaware has 17 spread across the state. Given your commitment to putting public health and the environment at the center of your work, and the limited resources for a very complex program, how would you prioritize the completion of superfund projects under your leadership?
▶ 1:19:53Mr. Busterud: Senator, thank you. I am committed to protecting human health and the environment, as I told your staff during the visit. I will make a priority in enhancing and improving the pace and efficiency of our superfund cleanups. There are two essential components. 1 is a number of process improvements. There are opportunities for that. We spoke about that very issue.
▶ 1:20:26Mr. Busterud: Providing enhanced project management tools to the regions so they can explore ways in which we can take phases of the investigations and move them in parallel rather than in sequence. There is also great opportunities for using ai and producing reports and not necessarily spending time drafting documents.
▶ 1:20:52Mr. Busterud: I want to say, too, in addition to those enhancements I want to acknowledge there is a human element to superfund. Superfund affects children, families, communities, tribes, businesses and their employees. If confirmed, I will make that a priority for me in terms of implementation.
▶ 1:21:19Mr. Busterud: I know our dedicated staff feels that way and I look forward to working with them and the communities we serve.
▶ 1:21:23Sen. Blunt Rochester: Thank you for the commitment. Mr. telle, as a former staffer, I was impressed by Mr. hagerty acknowledging everyone around this room. I am sure they are proud and inspired. Delaware, as you probably know, is the lowest laying state in the country which makes the army corps's work critical to us as a state.
▶ 1:21:53Sen. Blunt Rochester: The high federal cost share is critical to helping our local communities, like those in my state, mitigate disaster risk. This approach has been essential to funding beach nourishment and restoration projects across the delaware bay beach communities, and that really gets inland as well. Do you commit to following criteria is confirmed to protect local communities?
▶ 1:22:21Mr. Telle: Senator blunt rochester, thank you for your comments and you raise an important issue. Part of the reason I am so honored to have been nominated is the corps of engineers's mission reaches into the smallest communities in america and some of the biggest cities and has a very real impact to all of them.
▶ 1:22:43Mr. Telle: Oftentimes it reaches into the small communities, in many cases economically disadvantaged communities, along the mississippi are, the coast, tributaries. These communities might not have -- that is why it is incumbent upon the core as it works with communities to provide technical assistance along the way. And where necessary tailor the cost share to meet needs as appropriate.
▶ 1:23:13Sen. Blunt Rochester: Thank you. I have additional questions on reconnecting communities, the port of wilmington and dredging but I will submit those questions for the record. I also am in a commerce committee hearing on the faa right now. I think I heard Mr. mcmaster mentioned that your son is an air traffic controller?
▶ 1:23:37Mr. Mcmaster: That is correct.
▶ 1:23:39Sen. Blunt Rochester: Tell him thank you on behalf of our country.
▶ 1:23:42Mr. Mcmaster: I appreciate that. I will. >> senator bozeman.
▶ 1:23:48Sen. Boozman: I want to congratulate Mr. telle on his being nominated. I had the opportunity to work with them. I feel like I worked for him at homeland security. He did a tremendous job but I know he will bring the same work ethic in leading the core -- leaving the corps. I really believe he is the right person for the job.
▶ 1:24:21Sen. Boozman: The home of the f-35 training mission. The recent passing of the resolution includes funding for projects -- responsible under tight time. I have to compliment them. They have been a tremendous job so far and working so hard to expedite this. This was an all hands on deck approach.
▶ 1:24:52Sen. Boozman: Would you commit to ensuring little rock receives full support? These mission-critical projects to stay on schedule?
▶ 1:25:05Mr. Telle: Thank you very much for the compliment. I absolutely work for you. The first time I came into your office I saw a sign on your desk that said arkansas first and we followed that practice at all times.
▶ 1:25:23Mr. Telle: With regard to the little rock district I commit to working with you to make sure that congressional intent, your interests, identify to you by your constituents, we visit arkansas when I was working for you and I look forward to visiting the district if confirmed.
▶ 1:25:41Sen. Boozman: I want to publicly thank them for doing a really good job and pushing things forward. In 2024, the corps of engineers welcomed approximately 260 million visitors nationwide including lakes and parks in arkansas and throughout the country.
▶ 1:26:06Sen. Boozman: These are vital to local economies, providing safe and affordable access for fishing, boating and camping. Many sites face aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance. Fees collected on site most of the time are not reinvested were generated. I know the corps has missions but this has grown to a tremendous extent.
▶ 1:26:34Sen. Boozman: You fix things and prevent them from getting bad, it does not cost a lot of money. If you let them go and have to be replaced it costs a fortune. If confirmed, would you prioritize helping us figure out a better path forward so we could maybe take some of the burden off things like public/ private partnerships, thinking outside the box?
▶ 1:27:03Sen. Boozman: Also maybe looking at the fact these are generating money for the cohort. Keep a percentage of that money in the areas where they are generated.
▶ 1:27:12Mr. Telle: Thank you for the question. You hit the nail on the head. The corps of engineers's facilities have more annual visitors of the national park system. It is a great benefit to the public. It is a secondary mission.
▶ 1:27:32Mr. Telle: When the corps of engineers takes on projects, they are often recreational benefits that come along with the benefits that do not add significant funding to the cost of the project. We need to be smart in trying to meet the needs when it comes to maintaining, operating and improving the recreational facilities. I look forward to working with you and I hope it is in a creative way to help solve the issue you have identified.
▶ 1:27:59Sen. Boozman: Thank you. Mr. mcmaster, very quickly, as you are aware -- fatalities from works on crashes each year. How does U.S. dot plan to improve worker safety? You have any plans about worker safety and works on awareness in these areas?
▶ 1:28:28Mr. Mcmaster: You highlight an extremelym -- an extremely important issue. I will say I look forward to upon confirmation getting briefed by the federal highway administration on the current challenges, where the data is.
▶ 1:28:54Mr. Mcmaster: I look forward to working with the congress directly to improve our work zone safety challenges that we have throughout the country. You raise an important point. It is not something that has been solved to date. We have to work to protect workers as they build on our infrastructure across the country.
▶ 1:29:12Sen. Boozman: I thank you for your willingness to serve. >> senator alsobrooks?
▶ 1:29:19Sen. Alsobrooks: Thank you, Mr. chair, and thank you to the nominees. Congratulations to you and your families on the nominations. The three offices you are being nominated for are critical to maryland so I am excited to get the chance to ask some questions. I will start with Mr. mcmaster. I have a question regarding the university transportation centers. Last week the U.S.
▶ 1:29:46Sen. Alsobrooks: Department of transportation actually terminated grants for seven university transportation centers related to advancing a so-called "woke" agenda. Johns hopkins university, one of the seven universities impacted, revised work plans to align with the administration's priorities and these grants required a dollar for dollar match, meaning the universities made
▶ 1:30:18Sen. Alsobrooks: Significant commitments based on the promise of a five-year federal partnership. I am concerned not just about the terminations themselves but how it was handled in the justification provided in what this says about the federal government's willingness to honor its commitments?
▶ 1:30:38Sen. Alsobrooks: Given some of the universities have revised their work plans and others have expressed a willingness to do so, can you commit today to working with these institutions to reverse the terminations and instead pursue a path that allows these universities to fulfill their mission under the revised terms?
▶ 1:30:55Mr. Mcmaster: Thank you, senator. I understand how important this issue is to you. I'm not familiar with the recent terminations so I can commit to following up directly with the federal administration and the secretary in the department to understand more fully what the justifications and interests were in doubt and would be happy to follow up with you directly.
▶ 1:31:18Sen. Alsobrooks: Perfect, thank you. So much Mr. mcmaster, one other question regarding maryland and the freezing of funds. Maryland's bridge infrastructure presents a challenge and there are structures that requiring attention. The program established under the bipartisan infrastructure law is important to our state.
▶ 1:31:45Sen. Alsobrooks: The trump administration froze this program at the beginning of the year and then quickly reinstated the program. The freezing of funds cause confusion, uncertainty and also added to some project delay. Can you commit the federal highway administration will keep congressionally appropriated federal funds flowing?
▶ 1:32:06Mr. Mcmaster: Yes, senator, I appreciate the question. I can confirm, if I am confirmed I will carry out these programs in accordance with the law.
▶ 1:32:20Sen. Alsobrooks: Thank you. Third, Mr. telle, I want to ask you a question about sustainability and climate projects. Many of maryland's projects are related to climate change and designed to enhance resilience. In the baltimore district, it is working on projects that mitigate risks from sea level rise, coastal storms and flooding.
▶ 1:32:45Sen. Alsobrooks: I suspect you have familiarity with similar projects given your time working in both mississippi and alabama's congressional delegation. The question is whether or not you would commit to working with my office to ensure maryland congressionally authorized army corps projects that focus on sustainability and climate resilience are completed?
▶ 1:33:07Mr. Telle: Senator, thank you for the question. With regard to climate resiliency, it is a question of -- the corps of engineers, it does not set the policy on why or the root cause of a particular project. It only looks at the data and trends.
▶ 1:33:30Mr. Telle: The real hard information can make decisions about how to plan for now in the future so they can make states like maryland more resilient. I commit to following congressional intent and working with you to advance the projects important to your state.
▶ 1:33:44Sen. Alsobrooks: Thank you. I yield. >> thank you. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. I know you will hear from me what will be a broken record -- time is money. The faster we go, the more money we save, the more quickly we begin to improve life.
▶ 1:34:15Sen. Alsobrooks: You have roles that impact the environment and the economy and the faster we get solutions to the problems you are addressing, the better off we will all be. If you take the previous four years -- although the latest inflation numbers show inflation is at a low for the past five years -- if you take the previous four years, the average inflation rate was 5%, that is a 20% cost increase over the
▶ 1:34:45Sen. Alsobrooks: Previous four years. My point about how quickly we make these decisions, the more money we save, the more quickly we can improve our environmental circumstance.
▶ 1:35:06Sen. Alsobrooks: I saw some of the details, it is hard for me to digest all that has happened, but I first became aware of this in ohio in terms of pfas disruption to their technology.
▶ 1:35:31Sen. Alsobrooks: With pfas, it has a dramatic health concern and health challenges. Tell me about your plans to fast-track that evaluation and get some of these new technologies in place as quickly as possible so we can get pfas out of our water systems.
▶ 1:35:51Mr. Busterud: I could not agree more that it is an urgent issue. As part of the role in the epa's approach to pfas, we are committed to providing disruption guidance on a much more frequent basis than we had historically. We were doing it every three years and we will do it at least annually going forward.
▶ 1:36:18Mr. Busterud: If confirmed I commit to working with our staff to ensure we and our scientists -- ensure we are considering and providing guidance on emerging technologies that have real promise.
▶ 1:36:34Sen. Husted: I appreciate that. It is amazing how quick -- quickly the technology can be developed. Mr. mcmaster, again with the theme of time is money, we mentioned the brent spence bridge.
▶ 1:37:09Sen. Husted: I believe the last bridge built across the ohio river took 10 years to design and three to build. With all of these construction projects, particularly bridges, give us a sense of confidence and direction about what you will be able to do to improve the speed with which these projects can be completed. What advice do you have for us about how we can help you?
▶ 1:37:40Mr. Mcmaster: I appreciate the commentary. I appreciate that you brought up inflation. I have that in my testimony. The last three years reported on a national construction cost index shows there has been a 67% increase in construction for infrastructure budgets.
▶ 1:38:03Sen. Husted: It affects the state revenue -- in ohio we had a plan but inflation ate the cost so much that the funding mechanisms are not sufficient for the plan.
▶ 1:38:18Mr. Mcmaster: Absolutely. There is a tremendous impact in the ability to deliver these projects in a timely way. Ultimately, you deliver less projects. What I will say as far as project delivery, you could not have a more support of administration in this effort. The secretary has a tremendous effort underway to take these thousands of awards and move them to agreements.
▶ 1:38:48Mr. Mcmaster: As part of the process there is a review and a process to reduce the regulatory burden where there are not statutory demands and intent of congress. He has taken it upon himself to clean up those grant awards so the ultimate project awardee can move those projects quicker, faster, better. You have a tremendous advocate in the administration.
▶ 1:39:17Mr. Mcmaster: I look forward to supporting his efforts strongly to expedite the backlog to completion and support you all to consider additional opportunities for streamlining projects and accelerating project delivery.
▶ 1:39:32Sen. Husted: Thank you very much. I am sorry I did not get to you, time is money.
▶ 1:39:41Chair Capito: Thank you, senator. Thank you for taking the gavel. We are all running back and forth.
▶ 1:39:50Sen. Kelly: Mr. telle, good seeing you again. Thank you for coming by my office. I want to talk about some infrastructure projects we have in arizona. As we discussed in my office, we talked about winslow -- the winslow levy project.
▶ 1:40:12Sen. Kelly: The army corps of engineers is -- it will move the town from a one hundred year floodplain. It is fully funded under bipartisan infrastructure law. They have the local match. Will you commit to ensuring the corps moves as quickly as possible to complete this infrastructure project?
▶ 1:40:36Mr. Telle: If confirmed I will follow the law and work with your constituents to make sure we provide that facility as quickly as we can.
▶ 1:40:44Sen. Kelly: . Thank you in a bill last year we secured some new emergency authorities to make sure the corps can exercise your regulatory authorities differently in regions experiencing drought. I'm talking about the flood control curves we discussed. These changes have the potential to save hundreds of thousands of feet of water in certain years in the west.
▶ 1:41:12Sen. Kelly: Will you commit to working with my office to make sure the corps 's implementation guidance reflects congressional intent so the corps moves quickly to respond to conditions in drought stricken regions?
▶ 1:41:28Mr. Telle: Thank you for the question. As I have testified today the primary mission of the corps of engineers is navigation, flood control and ecosystem restoration. Water supply can be a secondary mission of the corps. I would point out the provision in a recent bill that sent in times of drought emergency, there can be an exception made to that policy.
▶ 1:41:54Mr. Telle: I think it makes sense especially for communities in areas like your state that at times can be so desperate for water. I look forward to working with you to make sure we follow the law and get deprivation implemented and other processes required. I look forward to working with you to make sure we get it right.
▶ 1:42:16Sen. Kelly: Thank you. Finally, we talked about another flooding issue in flagstaff, arizona. We have this project, it is down's down, -- it is downtown flagstaff. We might run into an issue with the 902 limit.
▶ 1:42:46Sen. Kelly: . Is post-authorization is required will you commit to working with the city of flagstaff to find a way to continue advancing phase 1 without delay?
▶ 1:42:57Mr. Telle: I look forward to learning more about the change you describe and across the board that has been discussed on numerous occasions today. He -- I look forward to working with you and I commit to doing everything we can to get it right even with changes.
▶ 1:43:15Sen. Kelly: Will you commit to ensuring the report is completed as quickly as possible so it is provided to congress in time for 2026?
▶ 1:43:29Mr. Telle: Thank you for the question as well. This is another topic I have heard on a bipartisan basis. Whether we like the answer or not give us an answer. I believe in that. I look forward to trying to be transparent and clear with you about the progress of the projects of interest to you. Even if the answer is not something you would prefer, you could potentially work to mitigate concerns that may exist.
▶ 1:43:59Sen. Kelly: Thank you, Mr. telle. Mr. mcmaster, thank you for coming by my office, as well. We discussed the 22nd street bridge project in tucson. It is an example of the type of project that congress on a bipartisan basis intended to fund when we passed a law.
▶ 1:44:23Sen. Kelly: This project replaces this aging bridge over union pacific's rail line that goes east to west through tucson. The bridge is in such poor shape, school buses and ambulances do not go over it.
▶ 1:44:39Sen. Kelly: The city of tucson has submitted a draft grant agreement to the federal highway administration for review which included all of the documents and utility clearances yet the city has not received any feedback on the submitted documentation since december and they have not been able to meet with anybody. I know you are not in the building yet but anybody with a staff.
▶ 1:45:06Sen. Kelly: If confirmed, will you commit to prioritizing finalized grant agreements that have been caught up in this haphazardly implemented funding freeze?
▶ 1:45:22Mr. Mcmaster: I appreciated the conversation in your office. I look forward to supporting the secretary in his effort to move along these projects as quickly as possible. Lives and money are impacted with any possible delay. I look forward to following up with the federal highway administration on the status of the effort.
▶ 1:45:41Sen. Kelly: Will you also commit that your office will follow the law and implement any other discretionary grant programs as congress intended?
▶ 1:45:52Mr. Mcmaster: I commit to following the law with the intent of congress.
▶ 1:45:56Chair Capito: Senator sullivan.
▶ 1:45:59Sen. Sullivan: Thank you to the witnesses and your families. Mr. telle, you are a glutton for punishment. You had your armed services confirmation hearing yesterday and did a good job so this should be a piece of cake.
▶ 1:46:15Mr. Telle: Thank you, senator sullivan.
▶ 1:46:18Sen. Sullivan: In my state, I appreciated our meetings. Hard to build anything in alaska. You want to build a road, a sidewalk, you usually get 12 radical far left environmental groups that sue to stop.
▶ 1:46:42Sen. Sullivan: We have been trying to get a road done for 40 years, a nine mile single lane gravel road that every democrat in the country, including god rest his soul, jimmy carter. Everybody writes off beds so you cannot build -- everybody writes op-eds that you cannot build a road in alaska. Singularly focused on alaska.
▶ 1:47:11Sen. Sullivan: I like ripping this up because that is not the issue anymore. We now have president trump who issued his day 1 executive order called unleashing alaska's extraordinary resource potential. As we discussed, there are a lot of great provisions in here. It is all about getting things done in alaska, not crushing us as the radical left wants to do. There is a really good provision about the corps of engineers.
▶ 1:47:44Sen. Sullivan: The assistant secretary of the army for civil works, that is you, shall immediately review, revise or rescind any agency action that may in any way hinder, slow or otherwise delay any critical project in the state of alaska. That is from the president.
▶ 1:48:06Sen. Sullivan: Will you commit to abide by that very experience of provision to get things done in my great state after four years of being crushed by the previous administration?
▶ 1:48:18Mr. Telle: Senator sullivan, absolutely. When I visited your office I tattooed the executive order the president issued for alaska on my heart.
▶ 1:48:29Sen. Sullivan: That is a great answer.
▶ 1:48:31Mr. Telle: I will read the second paragraph to you from memory that essentially says I shall live confirmed coordinate as closely with the governor of alaska as any human can possibly coordinate.
▶ 1:48:45Sen. Sullivan: Senator of alaska.
▶ 1:48:48Mr. Telle: Of course. [laughter]
▶ 1:48:50Sen. Sullivan: We talked about the lake outburst, flooding -- you want to talk about a unique issue in alaska -- we have had this flooding that pretty much happens every summer. It is amazing it has not killed anybody. We need the corps' help. It is a unique challenge. The corps is uniquely qualified to help us. I toured where this happened.
▶ 1:49:22Sen. Sullivan: Over 200 homes were flooded. We have to fix this. The corps initially said senator, we will work on this. We think it will be 10 years to study and fix this. Say what? That is a wrong answer. Can you commit to me and the citizens of juneau, alaska, that the corps will bring its best minds in a rapid way to help address this unique challenge that we really need the corps' help on?
▶ 1:49:51Mr. Telle: Thank you for the question. I did fail to mention that alaska is home to greater than 60% of the U.S.'s wetlands. It makes the work of the corps of engineers critically important. With regard to the glacial out first issue in juneau you rightly point out this is an issue that is brand-new as far as I understand it to be in terms of flood risk management. It will require creativity.
▶ 1:50:24Mr. Telle: The corps of engineers was made to solve tough problems. I look forward to working with you to try to solve the challenge.
▶ 1:50:28Sen. Sullivan: Thank you. In an expedited manner, not 10 years.
▶ 1:50:35Sen. Sullivan: In an expedite --
▶ 1:50:37Mr. Telle: In an expedited manner.
▶ 1:50:39Sen. Sullivan: The port of nome has bipartisan support. We do not have an arctic port to push back on russian and chinese aggression in my part of the state. We have to get over the finish line. Cannot get your commitment to work with me and others on this project? It is an interesting project. You had a hearing yesterday.
▶ 1:51:05Sen. Sullivan: Epw, that is very much dod to have navy ships, icebreakers pull up to the port of nome. We do not have a port in the arctic that can handle icebreakers.
▶ 1:51:16Mr. Telle: One of the most strategic issues that confronts the U.S. today is our status as an arctic and antarctic native. This is an area of the world the chinese communist party is interested in, the russians are active. Your state's front and center to the united states of america's being an arctic nation. We.
▶ 1:51:43Mr. Telle: Must be if we are going to be an arctic nation alaska ought to be one of the key launching points of that force projection and economic projection. I look forward to working with you to help make the case for the strategic nature of alaska and the port of nome as it relates to the united states
▶ 1:52:02Sen. Sullivan: That is a great answer. I appreciate your expertise. I will submit a number of other questions. We are research risk -- research risch -- we are almost 120 times bigger than connecticut. If senator whitehouse were here I would say we were 491 times bigger than rhode island.
▶ 1:52:32Sen. Sullivan: Can I get your commitment to work with alaska, this committee, our delegation on permitting reform, and also on helping us build? We need more roads, more resources, more roads to help our economy be stronger. When you unlock the resources of alaska it helps america.
▶ 1:52:53Mr. Mcmaster: Yes, senator, absolutely. I know the administration has a strong partnership with alaska. I look forward to looking for ways to strengthen that.
▶ 1:53:04Sen. Sullivan: We also have a couple of grants, from the infrastructure bill, that had been frozen and I would like to work with you and your team about getting these unfrozen. Can I get your commitment on that, as well?
▶ 1:53:19Mr. Mcmaster: Absolutely.
▶ 1:53:21Chair Capito: Thank you. Senator lummis.
▶ 1:53:25Sen. Lummis: Mr. telle, congratulations on your nominee to oversee the army corps of engineers. In wyoming we deal corps with the corps so must we just call them the corps. Right at the moment we do not have any front-page news projects with the corps like my colleague from alaska does. Did you call it a glacial outburst?
▶ 1:53:54Sen. Lummis: >> it is almost like a glacier burping every summer and it floods. It is a huge challenge. I do not think west virginia has glacial outburst issues. [laughter] >> we have outbursts, but they are not glacial. [laughter]
▶ 1:54:13Sen. Lummis: It is so diverse. If you are trying to administer programs at the federal government level it creates real challenges because of the nuances of this great country. I will just let you know that we do have some ongoing corps needs sense of potential projects in the pipeline and I look forward to working with you when they arrive.
▶ 1:54:39Mr. Telle: I look forward to it as well. The wonderful thing about the position I have been nominated for is it does reach into every corner of america -- wyoming, west virginia, alaska, and I look forward to working with you about issues regarding wyoming.
▶ 1:54:57Sen. Lummis: Thank you. Roads really are the lifeline of wyoming. We have very little airplane traffic. Very little waterborne traffic. It is a state that is road-dependent. We will be spending a lot of time together. Thank you for your willingness to serve in this capacity.
▶ 1:55:29Sen. Lummis: It is a critical infrastructure in this country. The fact that you have arizona roots helps you understand how fast our distances are, how challenging our terrain is, how extreme our weather can be. I know that is true in arizona, it is very much more true in wyoming. I, for one thing, can see you understand that ep mandates do not work in wyoming.
▶ 1:56:01Sen. Lummis: Our elevation, cold weather and the distances we have to travel make ep mandates unworkable. There are 450 miles I traveled from my farm to my ranch. One, I could see the idaho border from, the farm. I'm very close to the colorado and nebraska border from the ranch. I cannot get between them on a ev charge.
▶ 1:56:33Sen. Lummis: It is not a practical solution for wyoming. Additionally, you appreciate that wyoming has a really short construction season. That means projects cannot afford to wait on federal approval or disbursement to get underway. We have a very narrow window for construction season. It creates a unique challenge for wyoming.
▶ 1:57:03Sen. Lummis: Another unique thing you might see in montana and colorado. There are a couple projects that are very front and center. Currently the wyoming department of transportation is seeking reimbursements for the green river tunnel on I-80. There was an absolutely horrific crash in that tunnel that did a great deal of damage to the tunnel.
▶ 1:57:32Sen. Lummis: That tunnel is used by commercial truck traffic every single day of the year. The other one is a pass issue. There is tremendous traffic between idaho and jackson, wyoming. No one can afford to live in jackson. The millionaires have pushed the billionaires out of jackson.
▶ 1:58:02Sen. Lummis: I would have said that but now the billionaires are coming down to star valley where I am because they want to get away from the millionaires and there are so many more millionaires. It is the nuttiest place. None of the people providing accommodations and services to these millionaires can afford to live there.
▶ 1:58:29Sen. Lummis: They are driving either from star valley, where I am, up to jackson on the roads or going over teton pass from idaho to work in jackson. That road slid away and we have a temporary fix but the permanent fix for teton pass will be coming to your attention and I look forward to working with you on that.
▶ 1:58:57Sen. Lummis: Again, I want to commend you for your willingness to serve, your family's willingness to allow you to serve and support your service. You have a really strong transportation background both in policy and administration that will serve our country well. You have to work with the states, you have to trust estates. Our administrators really do know boots on the ground but the issues are and can help guide you and how to help us. The old help me help you.
▶ 1:59:30Sen. Lummis: Can you take the remaining minute to talk about your priorities?
▶ 1:59:35Mr. Mcmaster: I appreciate the comments and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I look forward to, if I'm confirmed, working closely with the wyoming department of transportation at all states. Around the country as far as my priorities for the -- the most important is to support the secretary in his refocused issue.
▶ 2:00:02Mr. Mcmaster: The federal highway administration will strongly support that effort and a refocused manner. The second priority for me would be to expedite project delivery as quickly as possible. It has been raised multiple times today but time is money as it relates to moving projects forward. There are limited resources. The longer it takes the few were projects we are able to realize.
▶ 2:00:28Mr. Mcmaster: I would like to support the secretary to address the backlog while he is reducing regulatory burden on our project awardees so we can realize quicker, faster, more cost-effective projects and actually build rather than say we will build. My third priority would be to strongly assist your critical work here in congress as you look to reauthorize the transportation bill.
▶ 2:00:57Mr. Mcmaster: I have an acute appreciation for what that may require for you all and I want to make sure you understand the federal highway administration if I'm confirmed will be a resource for you as you consider many different aspects of what that would mean.
▶ 2:01:15Mr. Mcmaster: The fourth component as a priority for me would be to make sure the different viewpoints and unique needs around this country are well reflected in the federal policy at the U.S. dot. I look forward to supporting you all. Those would be my top four areas of priority.
▶ 2:01:43Mr. Mcmaster: It is an honor to potentially serve and if I'm confirmed I look forward to following up with you on those priorities and on any other concerns, issues or priorities of your own.
▶ 2:01:52Sen. Lummis: Thank you. I might mention one more priority I have, commercial truck parking. Obviously with the department of labor limits on how long you can stay behind the wheel, 18 wheelers are struggling for places to park when they timeout. Another member of this committee , the senator from arizona and I , or working on that together. We look forward to those conversations.
▶ 2:02:23Sen. Lummis: Thank you all.
▶ 2:02:23Chair Capito: Chair capito:, panel thank you. I want to thank the panelists. It has been a busy day in and out. I am sure you are well aware of other obligations. I would ask unanimous consent to enter into the record letters of support for all the nominees today. Without objection. . So ordered with no further questions I would like to thank you, as I just did, and my colleagues for their.
▶ 2:02:57Chair Capito: Participation this morning senators who want to submit written questions have until 5:00 p.m. On may 21 -- is it almost may 21? Geez. Responses are due back no later than may 28 and will be admitted for the record. With that, this hearing is adjourned. Thank you very much. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]