Here’s what awaits EPA if Republicans take control of Congress: Senior political appointees facing multiple, hourslong hearings. Piles of letters demanding documents from every corner of the agency. And perhaps even subpoenas for text messages.
Republicans have pledged tough, vigorous investigations of the agency if they flip the House, the Senate or both. They are eager to use the congressional committees overseeing EPA to do so.
“EPA will be in the spotlight if the GOP takes over the majority in the next Congress,” Joseph Brazauskas, who led the Trump EPA’s congressional and intergovernmental relations office, said in a recent interview. “The agency will be switching into a defensive posture.”
Republicans have already laid out a road map for how they would probe the agency. They have made numerous requests to EPA during the Biden administration, pushing for more information about regulations as well as decisions regarding policy and personnel.
That will kick into high gear come January if Republicans win Capitol Hill, according to people with first-hand knowledge. Likely probes include the agency’s actions on air quality, wetlands, pesticides and electric vehicles.
“There are many areas in which the EPA should face scrutiny and oversight. The most important to my constituents is the definition of [waters of the United States] and how the agency is using the Clean Air Act to conduct politically motivated attacks on energy production,” Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.), who is in line to chair the Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Environment, said in a statement.
