EPA Administrator Michael Regan Testifies Before House Ag Committee

Yesterday, the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, lead by Chairman GT Thompson of Pennsylvania, held a hearing for the purpose of receiving testimony from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan. 

Regan is the first U.S. EPA Administrator that has testified before the House Ag Committee since 2016, according to Rep. Feenstra at 1 hour, 56 minutes in the hearing. 

Rep. Mary Miller shared some eye-opening comments about the use of farmland for solar farms in her district in Illinois.

Members of the committee asked many questions and brought up several concerns, from more environmentally friendly power and fuel sources, to sewage and drainage concerns, and even concerns about the availability or lack thereof of crop protection products. 

 Most notable to corn farmers were these comments from Administrator Regan on E15 and regulations on Atrazine. 

Rep. Mike Bost also supported corn-based ethanol and its ability to lower greenhouse gas emissions within our current transportation infrastructure system.

A hearing like this also presents an opportunity for our elected officials to make comments or ask questions that are entered into a public record. As you may remember, Illinois has a whopping five members of our delegation on the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture and we listened in for the commentary and questions posed by each.

Tune in to the full 4.5 hour hearing here.