08.02.17

Hoeven: EPA Administrator Pruitt to Visit North Dakota Next Week

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, who serves on the Senate Energy Committee and Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, will host Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt in North Dakota next week at roundtable discussions on the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) regulation in Fargo and energy in Grand Forks next Wednesday.

“EPA actions carry significant weight over the operations of our state’s main two industries, agriculture and energy, not to mention construction and a variety of other sectors,” Hoeven said. “That’s why I urged Administrator Pruitt to visit North Dakota and see firsthand the burdensome costs our economy would face under the policies of the previous administration, especially here in the Prairie Pothole region. I appreciate his efforts so far to work with us and the states to reign in the EPA’s overreach and pursue a state-led approach to improving environmental stewardship. I look forward to his visit and our continued work together.” 

Hoeven met with Pruitt earlier this spring and invited him to visit North Dakota to see firsthand the importance of rolling back unnecessary EPA regulations and to see the good work being done by the state’s energy industry. At the same time, the senator worked to secure the administrator’s approval for the State of North Dakota’s application for regulatory primacy over Class VI injection wells, which are used for geological sequestration or long-term storage of CO2. Granting North Dakota regulatory primacy over Class VI wells provides certainty for energy producers and will better enable the utilization of tax credits, so carbon capture and sequestration technology can become more economically feasible.  

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