Aboard Air Force One
En Route Cleveland, Ohio
10:09 A.M. EST
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, hi, everyone. It's great to be joined by EPA Administrator Michael Regan on our trip to Lorain, Ohio.
Building a better America requires us to confront legacy pollution and clean up the environment, ensuring our kids drink clean water and creating good-paying union jobs in the process.
As you know, today, President Biden will announce $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to accelerate cleanup and restoration of the Great Lakes' most environmentally degraded sites.
Thanks to these investments, we are tackling climate change, strengthening our nation's resilience to extreme weather, and providing clean drinking water, all while creating good-paying union jobs.
And with that, I will turn it over to Administrator Regan who will give out — give a topper for you guys and then take maybe two or three questions, and then head back.
Administrator?
ADMINISTRATOR REGAN: Absolutely. Listen, it's an honor to join President Biden for this $1 billion investment in the restoration of Great Lakes. This is good all around. You know, the Great Lakes support drinking water for about 40 million residents. And also, this billion dollars will support about 1.3 million jobs while also protecting ecosystems so we can have a balanced ecosystem. So, we're really excited about that.
This is a shot in the arm. Of the 25 sites along the Great Lakes that are listed as areas of concern, we believe that this billion-dollar investment will allow for us to clean up 23 of those 25 by the year 2030, so — 22 of 25 by 2030.
So we're really excited about expediting some of these projects, expediting the cleanup, continuing to provide safe drinking water, but also looking at infrastructure investments and work that will create a more resilient Great Lakes from climate change, as well as from pollution like PFAS and some of the legacy pollutions that we've seen in the Great Lakes. So, exciting day for the folks in Ohio as well.
Q Administrator, I have a climate change question for you. What timeline do you see the remaining U.S. coal plants getting shut down?
And if the Supreme Court limits the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, how much of a blow will that be to the President's climate agenda, and how will you decarbonize the power sector?
ADMINISTRATOR REGAN: You know, we're paying close attention to this Supreme Court case. Obviously, that case is focused on the specific regulation of greenhouse gases and whether we can regulate outside the fence line. But nevertheless, you know, EPA has bread-and-butter regulations that also focus on the power sector as well. We focus on regional haze, regulating mercury, coal ash contamination.
So we are aligning all of our regulations so that we can basically present a suite of regulations to the industry at one time so that they can understand all of the investments that they will need to protect public health and the environment. And they'll have to determine whether or not those investments warrant the longevity of these coal plants.
And so, when you look at the bread-and-butter regulations that are true to the Clean Air Act, which we're obligated to execute on, plus what the Supreme Court is going to do, we see a future of tremendous economic pressure on this industry. And I think the industry will have to determine how they close and when they close.
Q So, regardless of where the Supreme Court goes, you think that the economic pressure will be enough?
ADMINISTRATOR REGAN: I think that there are a lot of public health regulations that span air quality, water quality, and land management that these utilities have to take into consideration to determine, again, what investments will they have to make today to comply with those laws and what the longevity of these various coal plants are across the country.
It will vary from state to state, plant to plant, but at least we are in a position where we want to begin rolling out these regulations so that there's no surprise. We want certainty. We want the industry to have certainty. But we also want the environmental community and our folks that are looking at public health to understand that EPA is going to do its job.
We're going to do our job. We're going to follow our statutory authority, our regulatory authority. And we hope many of the aspects that the President is advocating for in Build Back Better will help complement this glide path.
Q Administrator, how much of today's announcement is due to the fact that the President's Build Back Better plan has stalled on Capitol Hill? There isn't much sign of progress up there. How much of today's announcement is due to that and the fact that that plan, which has a lot of climate and environmental provisions that a lot of supporters were hoping would pass, has stalled out right now and that fate is uncertain?
ADMINISTRATOR REGAN: Which announcement are you referring to?
Q Today. The Great Lakes and promoting what the infrastructure bill does for the environment.
ADMINISTRATOR REGAN: Oh, I think that this announcement is a wonderful opportunity to highlight why the President led this effort for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. I mean, this at heart is an infrastructure action. It's the infrastructure bill.
And so, again, $1 billion investing in shoring up the drinking water for over 40 million people; all of the projects that go into ecosystem protection — dredging, pollution contamina- — pollution containment — this is an opportunity to highlight that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law really does focus on infrastructure, people, jobs, and the environment.
None of this is — you know, you don't have to choose between a healthy environment and economic prosperity. And the President is demonstrating that they actually go hand-in-hand.
Q Thanks, Administrator.
Can we ask you some Russia questions?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, no, absolutely. Are you guys done? Okay. (Laughs.)
ADMINISTRATOR REGAN: Thank you.
Q Thank you.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right, give me one second, guys. Yeah.
Q Sorry, Karine, if you could just speak up; it was hard to hear your opening.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, I'm sorry.
Q It's hard. Yeah. Thank you.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I'm trying to be safe here, so I apologize.
Okay, go ahead. Go ahead, Zeke.
Q Thanks. First, does the White House have any response to Moscow expelling the deputy chief of mission?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay, so Russia's actions against our deputy chief of mission, who was a key member of the embassy's leadership team, was unprovoked. Now more than ever, it is critical that our countries have the necessary diplomatic personnel in place to facilitate communication between our governments.
