34 



dressed through an Executive Order, but the statutory responsibil- 

 ities will take an Act of Congress. 



Senator Cochran. Do you foresee the new department assuming 

 the responsibilities of that Council on Environmental Quality? 



Ms. Browner. The NEPA requirements and responsibilities that 

 CEQ currently handles have been the subject of discussion among a 

 variety of people here on the Hill, on both sides, and the White 

 House and various agencies. Those discussions are ongoing and 

 hopefully there will be a solution that will be acceptable to all par- 

 ties. It may be that some of the NEPA functions would be appropri- 

 ately managed by EPA. 



Right now we do manage some of the ministerial functions under 

 a delegation from CEQ to EPA. We have some roles because CEQ 

 was never really staffed to handle them. It may be appropriate for 

 those to continue in our agency, but we are open to a discussion on 

 this, to make sure that the NEPA functions are preserved and are 

 placed in the right agency or agencies. 



Senator Cochran. Thank you very much. 



Senator Levin [presiding]. Thank you, Senator Cochran. 



Let me add my welcome to you, congratulations to you, and ex- 

 press my support, also, for making the EPA a department. Eleva- 

 tion would say a lot about where we place the environment in 

 terms of our national priorities for us to upgrade that status. 



I have had some practical experience with the current situation. 

 We have adopted an act which I authored called the Great Lakes 

 Critical Programs Act, which requires development of the Great 

 Lakes Initiative. I come from a State which is in the center of the 

 largest system of fresh water in the world. A good part of our 

 drinking water comes from the Great Lakes. They are a precious, 

 unique asset. They hold 90 percent of our Nation's surface fresh 

 water. 



The Chairman and I and other members of this Committee and 

 the Congress who come from that area particularly understand its 

 unique position in the world, as well as on the continent. We have 

 dedicated ourselves to protecting that environmental asset and talk 

 about it as the fourth coast, but a unique coast — it is fresh water. 



The EPA has been helpful in a lot of ways in implementing the 

 Act. One of the things the Act does, for instance, is to require that 

 uniform water standards be set for the Great Lakes States. We also 

 set some deadlines in the Act for cleanup and for management 

 plans for the Great Lakes, but one of the things we focused on is 

 uniform water quality standards. 



The EPA has proposed those standards and sent them to 0MB. 



Ms. Browner. Right. 



Senator Levin. These are just a proposal for public comment. 



Ms. Browner. Right. 



Senator Levin. And there they sit. And sit. And sit. The deadline 

 established by law has been ignored by 0MB. This is the old OMB, 

 of course, not the new OMB. But nonetheless, it has been ignored. 



One of the advantages of giving you Cabinet status is it will raise 

 your level to the point where, when you tell OMB, get on with it 

 now, your voice will be heard a lot more clearly and forcefully than 

 in the current situation. 



