11.06.01

Senator Maria Cantwell Chairs the Senate Judiciary Confirmation Hearing of Thomas L. Sansonetti

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today chaired her first Senate hearing. It was a Senate Judiciary confirmation hearing of Thomas J. Sansonetti as Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Section of the Department of Justice. The Assistant Attorney General for this section is the nation's top law enforcer of environmental laws including the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, the Roadless Forest Protection Rule, Superfund, and salmon protection.

Senator Cantwell's opening statement follows:

Mr. Sansonetti, I'd like to welcome you here today. When we last saw each other in my office on September 6th I think we were planning to hold your hearing within the next ten days. Obviously a lot has changed since then, and we have had some delays in moving forward with your nomination due to the events that have consumed all of us.

Mr. Sansonetti, you are nominated to an extremely important position and I am pleased that we are moving forward with your hearing today, and I am also pleased to be able to chair this hearing.

Mr. Sansonetti has previously served as Associate Solicitor of the Interior and as Solicitor of the Department of Interior. I will have a number of questions about his decision-making in these positions that has raised some concerns, in addition to questions about new issues the nominee is likely to confront as the Assistant Attorney General.

I have heard testimonials from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle as to Mr. Sansonetti's legal skills, and his willingness to work cooperatively toward reasonable solutions, and I look forward to hearing his answers to our questions here today.

The position of Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Section of the Department of Justice is a job that comes with enormous responsibilities.

The person holding this position has the duty both to uphold our environmental protection regulations in the face of challenges, and simultaneously to pursue responsible enforcement of our major environmental statutes that protect the air we breath and the water we drink.

The person who fills this position needs to have the confidence, not only of the President and the Attorney General, but also of the American people. They need to know that the laws will be enforced in a way that protects our public health, preserves our natural resources for future generations, ensures a diverse biosystem with the continued existence of threatened species and plants, and protects the quality of our air and water.

The person who holds this job is the nation's top environmental law enforcement officer, responsible not only for representing government agencies, but also for representing the American people as the chief advocate for our environment.

The public is strongly committed to protecting the environment: according to a March 2001 Fox News poll, seventy-seven percent favor stronger enforcement of environmental regulations and seventy-five percent believe that our current environmental laws should be maintained.

What the American people seek - but are not finding -- is the same level of commitment from the Administration to enforce our existing environmental protection laws. That may be why fifty-seven percent of the American public believes that, under this Administration, the quality of our environment is getting worse.

Americans are right to be skeptical of this Administration's commitment to environmental protection. In the past ten months, the Administration has repealed rules to keep arsenic out of drinking water, repealed requirements for energy efficient air conditioners, reneged on our commitment to reduce green house gas emissions, and contemplated repealing regulations protecting school lunches from Salmonella contamination.

Just last week, the Administration announced that it will change the rules governing hardrock mining for gold and silver - so that the Bureau of Land Management will no longer be able to prohibit mining where it would cause "substantial irreparable" harm to the environment or public health.

What we seek from Mr. Sansonetti today is a strong commitment that, as Assistant Attorney General, he will begin the process of restoring the public's confidence in the Administration's commitment to environmental protection by upholding the law and advancing strong pro-enforcement efforts.

In this job he will be responsible for prosecuting violations of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, the two federal laws most directly aimed at controlling pollution. He will represent the EPA in forcing the clean-up of contaminated Superfund sites, and he will make decisions that determine the continued existence of hundreds of endangered species.

When the Department is sued to weaken environmental regulations, he will be in charge of the litigation. These suits already include efforts to invalidate the Roadless Rule that protects 58 million acres of forests, and to overturn the air conditioning efficiency standard that would spare us the need to build thirty-nine mid-size electricity generating plants.

Finally, as Assistant Attorney General for the Environment Section, he will have the responsibility for sending a message that this Administration cares about the environment. He will have the opportunity to do this by advancing strong positions in negotiations and settlements, and by refusing to let backdoor settlements be used as a convenient and "under the radar" means of weakening valid regulations.

These questions are directed at ensuring that as Mr. Sansonetti upholds the law and makes decisions that shape environmental enforcement -- in deciding what cases to prosecute or appeal and what cases to settle - he takes into account the importance of strong environmental protection laws in a healthy economy.

In my view -- shared by a significant majority of the American people -- strong environmental protections should be a priority for this country and for this Administration, even in the face of new demands from what is likely to be a long and costly war on terrorism. Vigorous enforcement and a strong posture in negotiations lead directly to creative solutions to the public health and environmental challenges that we face.

Getting business and government to work together towards these solutions is essential to having livable communities with strong and diverse economies into the next century.

I believe that one of the key reasons that business has been willing to make investments in creative technologies to protect and preserve our environment and public health over the past ten years is the vigorous enforcement role taken by Department of Justice and specifically the Environment and Natural Resources section.

A continued commitment to strong enforcement is necessary to keep businesses moving forward in the development of creative solutions -- rather than allowing a return to a focus on short-term benefits - and long-term losses -- of a cut, drill, and mine philosophy.

Again, I would like to thank Mr. Sansonetti for his patience in the scheduling of this hearing. The position of Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Section of the Department of Justice is a very important position. I look forward to hearing Mr. Sansonetti's views on the issues and challenges he will face if he is confirmed.

Thank you.