Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of my bipartisan amendment to prohibit implementation of the EPA rule that inappropriately reclassified three west Michigan counties, Berrien County, parts of Allegan County, and parts of Muskegon County, from ``marginal'' to ``moderate'' under the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

However, it is a long-established fact that transport pollution from upwind States is a primary driver of the reduced air quality in west Michigan.

In fact, Mr. Chairman, I was a young staffer in 1997 when I became the district director for my predecessor when I was first introduced to this concept. We will get into some of those same issues that we are seeing today.

Even the State of Michigan officially acknowledges this fact: Ozone transport is the major driver of why these counties in Michigan get penalized by the EPA's standards.

While the EPA's rule explicitly does not consider ozone transport, science will tell you that ozone pollutants are being carried to us on winds across Lake Michigan from cities like Gary, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The new ``moderate'' classification carries with it the so-called reasonably available control technology requirements as well as other burdensome regulatory requirements, offset ratios, and emissions reductions meant to bring the Michigan counties back into attainment of the air standards, not the counties that are actually doing the polluting.

This will cost businesses in my district millions and millions of dollars, despite their many efforts over the years to do the right thing for the environment. It will cost jobs for our residents who have nothing to do with this, they haven't produced it, but it is going to cost the tax base of our local governments who love and work to protect our Great Lakes.

My Michigan colleagues and I have worked oftentimes in a bipartisan way to rectify this issue, whether it be with the EPA or with the State of Michigan. In short, we are told that their hands are tied.

Well, that is what the legislative branch is for, and we are using our legislative authority, the power of the purse, to protect our constituents from the unfair government burden that does not account for the full reality and science of the situation.

Communities along the lakeshore of west Michigan should not be penalized for the pollution created by cities 90 miles away on the other side of Lake Michigan.

Here is how crazy this plan is, Mr. Chair. My hometown of Holland, Michigan, sits on a county border, Ottawa County to the north, Allegan County to the south. It is divided by 32nd Street. If you are a business on the south side of 32nd Street in Allegan County, then you are subject to the penalties. However, if you are a company directly across the street in Ottawa County, then you are exempt.

This makes no sense. Ultimately, my understanding is that the State of Michigan then could be responsible for the end implementation of these emission reductions.

Therefore, the practical effect of my amendment would be to make it so that Michigan can decide whether to enforce the ozone standards of the new moderate levels or the previous marginal levels.

Mr. Chairman, I am one of the Republican co-chairs of the Great Lakes Task Force. I am a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus. My constituents and I want nothing more than clean air and water in our Michigan communities, but we demand common sense, as well.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

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Mr. HUIZENGA. Mr. Chairman, to my colleagues, here is the problem: It is not a sweetheart deal for three counties. It is common sense. We are penalizing the receivers of the pollution, not the producers of the pollution. This is the problem with the EPA. This is the problem with the Federal Government implementing it this way.

It is partial counties. Mr. Chairman, how in the heck is the air supposed to figure out which side of part of the county it is on, or, in the case of my hometown of Holland, which side of the county line it is on?

Mr. Chairman, in Allegan County, the ozone attainment measuring unit was in the playground of a school along the lakeshore. That school has now been closed. In between the measuring unit and the lakeshore, there was not a single industrial producer of any kind of ozone or pollution.

Mr. Chairman, we are measuring fantasy. We are not measuring reality. Once again, here we have the Federal Government going after the victims rather than the perpetrators, and that has been my point to my colleague across the aisle and everyone else who will listen. Let's go after the polluters, not those who are receiving the pollution.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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