New watchdog to sink teeth into EPA regs, public lands issues

The GOP chairwoman of a new House watchdog subpanel will use her perch to target the Obama administration's climate, air pollution and public lands policies. Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) was recently handed control of a new Interior Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee that is charged with oversight of U.S. EPA, the Interior Department, the Energy Department and the Agriculture Department. Among her top priorities: scrutinizing some of the administration's most controversial energy and environmental policies. "There are a couple things that are of particular interest -- proposed rules that the EPA has proposed on power plants and ozone are things we want to look at," Lummis told E&E Daily yesterday in an interview. "We want to better understand the scope of the rules and their impacts." Also on her radar, she said, will be executive actions, including National Environmental Policy Act reviews, the Endangered Species Act and Forest Service regulations...more