FRED UPTON, MICHIGAN HENRY A. WAXMAN, CALIFORNIA 

CHAIRMAN RANKING MEMBER 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

QLonrt of tjjt nttcb 'tate 

oue ot prcntatthe 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 


2125 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING


WASHINGTON, DC 20515-6115 

MajorIty (202) 225-2927 

Minority (202) 225-3641 

The Honorable Lisa Jackson 

Administrator 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20460 

Dear Administrator Jackson: 

We write to follow up on your testimony before the joint hearing of the Energy and 

Power and Environment and the Economy Subcommittees of the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce on February 28, 2012. During that hearing, Committee members raised several 

questions concerning information the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides the 

public with regard to potential rulemaking activities, Tier 3 gasoline regulations, and the 

agency's budgetary resources. 

First, during the hearing you were asked by Representatives Terry and Walden whether 

EPA would make available in one publicly accessible place on its website the following 

information: (a) a list of all petitions for rulemakings submitted to the agency; and (b) a list of all 

notices of intent to sue to compel a rulemaking submitted to the agency. You testified that 

posting such information would require minimal resources and you committed to making it 

publicly available. 

We write to ask that the agency promptly make this information publicly accessible. In 

making this information available, we specifically ask that there be a single place on the 

agency's website where EPA compiles these petitions, notices and requests for agency action, 

including copies of the documents themselves, and makes them accessible to the public upon 

receipt. To ensure the usefulness of the information, we also ask that you commit to updating 

the list and posting any new requests for agency action on a timely basis going forward. We 

appreciate your commitment to increasing the transparency of EPA's rulemaking process.
Letter to the Honorable Lisa Jackson 

Page 2

Second, as with many other proposed and recently-promulgated EPA rules, new gasoline 

specifications threaten to increase transportation and other costs for businesses and households, 

cause job losses, and weaken America's overall global competitiveness - and do so in the midst 

of a struggling economy. At the hearing, you were asked to confirm the expected scope of the 

Tier 3 gasoline regulations which we understand you are seeking to propose in early 2012. 

Specifically, you were asked whether the Tier 3 gasoline regulations would include Reid Vapor 

Pressure or octane components. You testified that it would not and that the Tier 3 rule would be 

limited to reducing sulfur. We ask that you confirm in writing that the final rule for Tier 3 

gasoline regulations will not include Reid Vapor Pressure or octane components together with 

your response to the requests that follow. 

Third, during the hearing Representatives Burgess, Latta and Gardner inquired of you 

about EPA's timely reporting of details on its unexpended obligations. The Subcommittee on 

Oversight and Investigations received testimony this past October that EPA does not report in its 

annual budget justification information about use of recoveries of unpaid obligations. According 

to Government Accountability Office (GAO) data, EPA over the past six fiscal years recovered 

an average of $200 million per year for use in various accounts. Such information about EPA 

resources would be useful for Congress as it considers EPA's proposed budget requests. 

You testified that such information is provided in EPA's annual financial statements, and 

that you would look into the matter. We write to ask for a more detailed analysis of recoveries of 

prior year unpaid obligations, and specifically request that you respond to the following by April 

13, 2012: 

1. For each of the past ten years, beginning with FY 2002, please provide the annual amount 

of fUnding recovered from deobligated balances. 

2. Please explain why EPA has not implemented the suggestions of GAO to report in EPA's 

annual budget justifications information about the portion of prior year funding that was 

from recoveries of unpaid obligations. 

a. Can EPA bring forward the information of recovered deobligations in the agency's 

financial statements and place that information in Congressional budget 

justifications? If not, why not? 

b. Will you report this information, by program areas in future EPA Congressional 

budget justifications?
ee Terry 

Vice Chairman 

Subcommittee on Communications 

and Technology

khael C. Burgess 

ice Chairman 

Subcommittee on Health 

Greg W 

Chairman 

Subcommittee on Communications 

and Technology 

Letter to the Honorable Lisa Jackson 

Page 3

Thank you for promptly attending to our requests. Should you have any questions, please 

do not hesitate to contact Peter Spencer of the Majority Committee staff at 202-225-2927. 

Ed Whitfield 

Chairman 

Subcommittee on Energy and Power 

Subcommittee on Environment 

and the economy 

The Honorable Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member 

The Honorable Bobby Rush, Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Energy and Power 

The Honorable Gene Green, Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy