Rep. Van Epps Condemns the Biden EPA’s Overreach During an Environment Subcommittee Hearing
June 5, 2026
Rep. Van Epps Condemns the Biden EPA’s Overreach During an Environment Subcommittee Hearing
Yesterday, Rep. Van Epps participated in a Space, Science and Technology Environment Subcommittee hearing titled, “Advancing Environmental Protection Through Science and Technology.” The purpose of this hearing was to discuss and review the science and technology activities at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including the new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions (OASES), and how it relates to the Agency’s long-term research and development efforts and the use of science in the Agency’s regulatory decision-making processes.
Read Rep. Van Epps’ opening remarks here:
Rep. Van Epps stated, “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Dr. Gwinn, for being here today. For years, the EPA has rightly received criticism from the public for operating without congressional authority and lacking transparency. More alarming is that the agency has been captured by the left for political ends, resulting in major mission drift from its intended purpose: to protect public health and the environment in cooperation with the states.
Both the Obama and Biden administrations diverted the EPA’s mission by assaulting the American energy sector and stifling growth in the industrial sector, contracting our economy and killing jobs, while doing little to protect the environment and the public.
Thankfully, the Trump administration and Administrator Zeldin have taken decisive action to direct the EPA back to its core mission, driven by clear mandates, streamlined processes, state leadership, and rigorous science.”
Read Rep. Van Epps’ questions here:
Rep. Van Epps said, “Notably, last year, Administrator Zeldin announced EPA would shift staff from the Office of Research and Development into EPA program offices while establishing the new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions to align the EPA’s scientific functions with the agency’s rulemaking authority. This is meaningful reform after the Office of Research and Development has acted without accountability for decades, shrugging Congressional and public input to pursue political ends.
One of the major criticisms of the Office of Research and Development was that the office conducted scientific activities without Congressional authorization. At the same time, these activities were driving regulation and enforcement.
Dr. Gwinn, how have the reorganization efforts ensured that scientific activities are transparent and aligned with EPA’s regulatory authority, and can you assure this committee that the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions is only conducting scientific activities that Congress has authorized?”
Deputy Associate Administrator for the EPA’s OASES, Dr. Maureen Gwinn, replied, “...Thank you for that question. One of the things, just going back again to the reorganization, I know you had described some of that, and some of the shifts from ORD. The reorganization has moved science activities directly to the program offices, where those regulatory decisions are made, in part to strengthen the relationships and collaboration there, and the understanding of the science for decisions and the decisions that inform the science that we do. With OASES, we're also doing applied research that is in coordination with those program offices. So, I think that gets to the heart of your question, in terms of ensuring that it is research that has been authorized by Congress. The research that OASES is doing is being done largely in collaboration through development of projects and problems, problem formulation, together with the program offices to make sure that the work is indeed responsive to the needs of the programs and the agency and will help inform the statutory requirements and the mission to protect human health and the environment.”
Rep. Van Epps stated, “With over 60,000 chemicals and refining-related jobs supporting 520 businesses, Tennessee is helping to lead American innovation in advanced chemical manufacturing. In my district, Clarksville, Tennessee, is home to a growing manufacturing hub with companies conducting advanced chemical manufacturing activities, many of them in the early stages of launching new projects. The primary environmental statute that impacts these new manufacturing projects is the Toxic Substances Control Act, New Chemicals Program.
Dr. Gwinn, the New Chemicals Program has long had a backlog in reviewing new chemicals for manufacturing. There are tools like computational toxicology that may help the Agency chip away at that. Can you tell me what work is going on in areas like computational toxicology to advance scientific approaches that can help speed-up new chemical reviews, especially considering your expertise in toxicology?”
Dr. Gwinn replied, “The agency has long been a leader in the development of what we call new approach methods in that computational toxicology space. We had a center in the Office of Research and Development that really focused on that work area. They worked very closely with the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, where TSCA [Toxic Substances Control Act] sits, and that collaboration had built a lot of strength and direction in supporting exactly what you're saying, like using this new science in computational toxicology to support the acceleration of the TSCA work and address some of the backlog issues. That work has been moved to the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, and is continuing there. There was a recent announcement this week about some of the aspects of what they've been doing in the short time since the reorganizations that have occurred. It includes looking at the use of high-throughput toxicogenomics and other new approach methods to support TSCA, as well as FIFRA [Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act], and some of the other work in OCSPP. The[n] additionally, along with that announcement, …are the use and implementation of NAMs [New Approach Methods], and the risk evaluations out of TSCA. Their first review for some of that work will be next week under the Science Advisory Committee for chemicals, and so it's an exciting time to see the actual application and implementation to again move decisions on those forward using the new approach methods.”