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Q&A
Impact of EPA's Clean Water Act rollbacks on DEP operations
1:43:21
ยท
4 min
Council Member Restler inquires about the potential impact of EPA's announced rollbacks of certain Clean Water Act protections on DEP's efforts to maintain clean water and avoid filtration. Commissioner Aggarwala discusses the implications and New York State's role in environmental regulations.
- No immediate changes expected from the EPA announcement
- Many of DEP's operations are directly regulated by New York State, not just the federal government
- New York State is expected to maintain current environmental protections
- Concerns raised about potential gutting of EPA staff and elimination of the Office of Research and Development
- No direct impacts on DEP operations identified yet, but the situation is being monitored closely
Lincoln Restler
1:43:21
That's helpful.
1:43:22
Thank you.
1:43:23
And then just lastly on this, does the EPA's announcement that they're rolling back certain protections in the Clean Water Act and removing federal protections for certain areas in in various areas impact EPA's efforts today to maintain clean water and avoid filtration at these two locations?
Rohit Aggarwala
1:43:45
Look, I think, you know, we we certainly paid close attention to what the EPA administrator said a week or so ago.
1:43:56
I think obviously in the in the very immediate term, there's no change that happens the day after an announcement like that.
1:44:04
The reality is that so much of what we do is actually directly regulated by the state and not just by the federal government.
1:44:13
And the governor and I I did recently meet with the newly nominated commissioner of of state DEC, you know, but the governor has expressed that New York state is not backing down for many of its environmental regulations and so I am hopeful and cautiously optimistic that New York state will continue what we are currently, all the protections that we currently rely on.
1:44:43
But I think we are in an unusual world and a lot remains to be seen.
Lincoln Restler
1:44:48
Fair.
1:44:49
Why don't we shift to federal government risks a little bit more broadly?
1:44:56
Thank you very much, deputy commissioner.
1:44:58
You know, it's it seems like the EPA has been making outrageous pronouncements on just about a daily basis.
1:45:06
Yesterday, administrator Administrator Zeldin has indicated he's he's planning to gut two thirds of the agency.
1:45:13
Yesterday, Zeldin and his team indicated they plan to eliminate the Office of Research and Development, the scientific arm of the agency, and lay off a thousand chemists, biologists, and other scientists.
1:45:25
You spoke in your testimony to the budgetary impacts that we could experience with all of the chaos happening in Washington.
1:45:33
The budgetary impacts at DEP resulting from the chaos in Washington.
1:45:38
But could you speak to the policy impacts?
1:45:41
I hear you that we have a number of strong we have a strong environmental set of rules and regulations in New York State.
1:45:48
But are there key areas in which the EPA provides important functions that we depend on for you and your team to be able to do your jobs that you're worried about in light of the shrinking agency and the roll back rolling back of regulations?
Rohit Aggarwala
1:46:05
So so at least the way I understand it, and I do not claim to be an expert in the functioning of the EPA, a lot of that staff was less providing services to environmental actors around the country as it is in informing the EPA's own decisions.
1:46:27
You know, there have been a number of important decisions EPA has made in recent years around PFAS and the forever chemicals, around lead service lines, around all any number of things.
1:46:39
So at least I am right now not aware of a direct impact on DEP from some of the changes that have been proposed.
1:46:49
But as I say, I mean there's a lot that we don't fully appreciate because we are kind of operating in the world of you don't know what you've got until it's gone.
1:46:57
And you know we are now very much trying to bear in mind where we depend on the federal government in ways that we might have taken for granted to such an extent that we don't even notice, and now we have to make sure we notice.
Lincoln Restler
1:47:13
And and to that, are there areas where you're thinking the DEP or the city as a whole are going to need to step up to fill some of those gaps, particularly relating to the EPA?