Senator Cyntia Lummis (R-WY), has delivered a deadly blow to the Biden-Harris regime’s ongoing policy of packing the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Interior with radical environmentalists, socialists, and even eco-terrorist nominees. Lummis has placed a Senatorial hold on four of Joe Biden’s nominees, one of which is a senior EPA role citing her serious concerns over the EPA’s new openly hostile policy toward a coal plant in Wyoming. Particularly notable is the nomination of David Uhlmann for EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance which has been summarily stuffed by Lummis, to the extent that it was completely removed from the schedule. Senate Environment Committee Chair Tom Carper (D-DE) told The Hill that “an unnamed committee member was waiting for further information from the agency before deciding whether to back the nomination.” In a statement that was released on January 12th, Lummis confirmed that she was the unnamed Senator.
Biden’s Nominees to Appease Leftist Radicals Backfire
According to a press release from Lummis’ office, she was “waiting to hear from EPA about whether Wyoming’s regional haze plan for the Jim Bridger power plant would be approved, according to the spokesperson. The federal haze program seeks to reduce pollution to increase visibility, which has proved troublesome for the southeastern Wyoming power plant.” When the EPA proposed to disapprove Wyoming’s revised regional haze State Implementation Plan at the Jim Bridger Power Plant, Lummis brought the hammer down.
“The EPA’s decision today is a complete reversal from that of career EPA employees during the previous administration,” Senator Lummis said.
“The Biden EPA’s decision here is needlessly hurting Wyoming’s energy workers and threatening America’s energy independence as well. It is blatantly political, and I will continue to block President Biden’s EPA nominees over this issue. Wyoming has worked tirelessly to comply with federal law on its regional haze plan for the Jim Bridger Power Plant. The Biden administration’s decision to reverse course to appease environmental activists, including climate czars in the White House, will not help the people, or the environment, of Wyoming.”
I’ll continue to block EPA nominees until they agree to take another look at the Jim Bridger Power Plant.
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) January 26, 2022
The Democrats have just discovered that with their razor-thin majority in the Senate, torpedoing the Coal industry is going to be a non-starter thanks to Senators like Lummis who are holding the line for their constituents. EPA spokesperson Timothy Carroll told The Hill in a responding statement, “EPA will continue to work with the Senate to confirm our nominees as quickly as possible and we will continue to work with Sen. Lummis and our partners in Wyoming to ensure they have information about agency action in the state,”
“The ball is in the EPA’s court,” a Lummis spokesperson told Bloomberg Law. “Our goal is to keep the plant operating, and if the EPA has a counterproposal to do that, we are happy to discuss it.”
