Cramer Highlights Grid Reliability, WOTUS Rule at EPW Hearing

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Bad math and bad policy were center stage when Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin testified before the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on the Fiscal Year 2027 EPA budget request.

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) first pushed back on misleading claims from U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who alleged electricity bills were increasing as a result of a "fossil industry plot to subvert the powers of government to keep inexpensive clean energy off the grid." Whitehouse referred to intermittent energy sources, like wind, as "zero cost," yet neglected to mention the significant government subsidies and dispatchable power necessary to back up these sources.

"Some of the comments that Senator Whitehouse made are a little incomplete," said Cramer. "I want to ask you a couple of questions about the preference of renewables on the grid because of their low marginal, nearly net-zero, marginal costs per kilowatt hour (kWh). I think you even use the number 9 cents out of the average 18 cents. Do you think that includes the 2.3 cents per kWh subsidy that the taxpayers pay for production tax credit? Does it include the 30% investment tax credit that the utility or the producers had to invest before they could even generate this zero-cost energy? Do you think those prices include that?"

"Respectfully, Senator Whitehouse's math is extremely wrong," answered Zeldin.

"We spend a lot of time talking about rates, but not [much] time talking about costs, because near as I can tell, taxpayers are ratepayers as well," Cramer followed up. "Do you think that also includes, or does it leave out the additional investment that a utility has to invest to back up the wind when it doesn't blow the other 70% of the time? You have to have a backup that's more reliable. Do you think his math, includes those costs?"

Zeldin explained, "There's no way to explain his math."

Cramer continued with the topic of preference on the grid, explaining how, "[For] Net-zero, marginal costs, you'd be crazy if you didn't put it on the grid first if you're already stuck with all the investment costs and the taxpayer costs. So that I understand, and that's part of the rate structure. Isn't it true that there are regions and states that add regulatory or legal mandates that require the less reliable energy to be on the grid, first before they then go to the much more reliable extra cost electricity that goes on the grid?"

"Senator it is not a coincidence that the 10 states that have the cheapest rates across the country voted for President Trump, and nine of the 10 with the highest rates voted for Kamala Harris," replied Zeldin. "That's not a coincidence."

Cramer pivoted to the Trump administration's pending Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, thanking Zeldin and his team for holding the first listening session in North Dakota. In December, Cramer welcomed state, local, and federal officials to Bismarck. The event provided an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input on the proposed rule to EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials.

Reflecting back on the listening session, Cramer said, "One of the things that was interesting to me, that I did not expect, frankly, at that listening session was when the president of the Home Builders Association, testified after a question, that the surveying and studies that they've done, show that the cost of a lot-due to the Waters of the United States, in certain areas-increased $25,000 per lot for a home before a shovel went into it. Does that not seem like a cost issue or an inflationary issue that could have been relieved by a better rule?"

"Absolutely, there are landowners, farmers, ranchers, there are entire states who have come to us, they've done the math," said Zeldin. "The impact of the way the Waters of the United States was defined previously, results in a heavy cost to be able to hire an attorney or a consultant to tell them whether it was a Water of the United States. That great uncertainty has caused a lot of issues across the country, and that's what we're working to fix."