Senator Enzi, during his service in the Wyoming State Senate, was the principal sponsor of Wyoming's environmental audit law. The approach in Senator Enzi's draft bill is to create a safe harbor for qualifying state audit laws that would prevent federal interference. We welcome both Senators. State legislatures have been very active on environmental audit legislation. Since 1994, approximately 24 states have enacted legislation that either establishes a privilege for information discovered during an environmental audit, or provides some form of immunity for violations of law discovered during an audit.
Some states provide both a privilege and an immunity.
I note that the two states that enacted legislation most recently on environmental audits are Rhode Island and Montana. Today, we will hear from representatives from Texas and Colorado on the topic. It is apparent from the testimony that this is a controversial topic. EPA and the Department of Justice strongly oppose the creation of any federal audit privileges or immunities. Further, they oppose federal or state action to enact such privileges.