Waxman attacks Upton over ‘one-sided’ hearing on enviro rules

“The witnesses invited by the majority will complain in detail about specific environmental regulations.  There is another side to the issues they will raise, but members will not be allowed to hear it because witnesses that we proposed who have a different viewpoint are not being invited,” Waxman writes.

“This is not a fair manner to proceed, and it is markedly different from the precedents the Committee followed last Congress,” the letter adds.

Here’s more from the letter:

“We have been advised that each of these three witnesses will present a ‘case study’ of conflict between environment regulation and economic growth and that each case study will involve a different and complex law under the subcommittee’s jurisdiction:  the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resources Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA), and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).”

“To the best of our knowledge, there is no single minority witness who has sufficient knowledge to address the three case studies, so we requested a minority witness for each area.  This request was denied.”

Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) — the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat — also signed the letter, which went to Upton and subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-Ill.).