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good morning everyone i am truly so happy to be here with you all today um for this really momentous event i'm mary walker i'm the regional administrator for epa region four we work with the eight states of the southeast um before i begin for the press who are watching on the live stream and if you have not yet rsvp'd but we would like to ask the question uh plea and the questions will be at the end please email press epa.gov so that you can receive the call-in information so it is really my great pleasure to welcome so many uh distinguished guests uh to this afternoon this morning's events first we have so many members of the florida delegation we have representative mario diaz-balart representative gus bilarakis representative dan webster representative john rutherford representative michael waltz and representative greg stube thank you all so much for being here with us we also are honored to have the chair of the white house council on environmental quality mary newmar the principal deputy to the assistant secretary of the army for civil works ryan fisher the deputy assistant secretary for water and science from depart for department of interior aubry bettencourt and many members of our senior epa leadership notably administrator andrew wheeler and assistant administrator dave ross and finally but certainly not least we have secretary noah valenstein with florida department of environmental protection so thank you all so much for being here and and more broadly for all of your support and partnership through this really important undertaking so as regional administrator uh i think probably the most important thing i do and one of my highest priorities is making sure that we work effectively with our state partners as we carry out our as we carry out our common mission um and so i think that today's events really underscore the effectiveness of our partnership and the ongoing work that we have undertaken to ensure that we continue to advance this partnership together and so now i am truly pleased to introduce our epa administrator andrew wheeler as you all know administrator wheeler has dedicated dedicated his career to advancing sound environmental policies he began his career uh during the bush administration uh in our office of pollution prevention and toxics uh he later worked as a principal in private consulting and served as the director of the senate environment and public works committee staff let's see and now it is my pleasure to turn it to you sir thank you mary and i want to thank everyone for joining us today i want to welcome all the members of congress for being here um to get so many members of congress here today is it's it's it shows the importance of today's event i especially want to thank florida secretary of environment protection noah valenstein for being here today thank you noah for being here as you know this is very important for the state of florida and i want to thank you for all your hard work and making this happen and the other members of the federal family for being here this is a joint effort across the board and i want to thank you all as well clearly the attendance of so many dignitaries shows that this is a great day for florida for epa for the federal partners and for this country following a rigorous and timely review process epa has approved florida's request for assumption of the clean water act section 404 program this action allows florida to effectively evaluate and issue permits under the clean water act to support the health of florida's waters residents and economy receiving permission to minister this program is a high bar for states to meet but what we have done today is provide a road map for other states to follow and we've already received interest from other states who want to assume the program only two states prior to today michigan and new jersey currently have this authority and those are granted back in 1984 and 1994 and it's high time that we grant more when congress created this program they intended they intended for states to assume the authority much like what the states have done under section 402 but over the years the federal government has thrown so many hurdles in front of the states that no one has even tried to request the program what we have accomplished here today by working with four other agencies at the federal level three state agencies and eight tribal governments is provide the road map or framework that can be duplicated by other states by taking over this permit program florida will be able to integrate its dredging and fill permitting with their traditional water quality and monitoring programs florida has a wealth of aquatic resources and they care about their resources at least as much and i would say probably more so than the federal government there is no reason why they shouldn't be running their own program to get to this place epa determined that florida's program was as stringent as current federal requirements and epa did so within the statutorily mandated 120 day period epa reviewed florida's proposal sought input from other federal agencies and hosted two virtual public hearings the review also included the development of a comprehensive biological evaluation of more than 200 endangered species throughout florida an epa consulted with the u.s fish and wildlife service resulting in a biological opinion and incidental take statement regarding florida's program finally florida entered into an agreement um ep i'm sorry epa internet agreement with the state of florida and others under the national historic preservation act to ensure that historic properties and cultural resources are protected in short this has been an incredible joint effort back in october when i was in tampa i mentioned that florida was a great example to the rest of the country of how states industry and the federal government can work together earlier in the year epa was able to move the last of the states of the state of florida's air quality non-entertainment areas into attainment for epa's sox standards this means that the entire state of florida all 21 million floridians now meet all six federal air quality standards making it the most populous state in the country to achieve this status [Music] i expect florida to continue the same strides in water quality as it takes more responsibility for its water regulations supporters of florida's assumption remarked how successful the state's environmental resource program had been in permitting activities while improving environmental protections i will add that epa's water office of water and region 4 and the staff in both of those offices deserve a lot of credit in getting us to where we are today mary walker and dave ross and their staff have really delivered on this project i also greatly appreciate our close working relationship with our friends at the department of interior the army corps of engineers and the state of florida again this is a great day for the state of florida it shows just over the last year what the state has been able to achieve and continue to achieve both on water quality and air quality and they truly are an example to the rest of the country and with that it's my pleasure to hand it over to florida secretary um valentine mr secretary if you'd like to take the podium thank you for being here with us [Music] thank you administrator and first thank you to the whole team of federal partners that have made this possible and have worked over the last four years with our agency as well as the support of our federal delegation and just as the administrator mentioned his amazing staff in region four i'd be remiss if i didn't mention our deputy secretary john truitt and the tremendous staff we have at the agency really the motivation from this came from a group of talented environmental scientists and perimeters at our agency who live among the resources at florida who care passionately about it who have dedicated their life to protecting those resources and who understandably want to be in the driver's seat to protect them and and so many other clean water act um programs like four or two others they're set up for delegation to the state for just that reason to allow passionate environmental advocates within the state to run those programs for the protection of resources there i'm also here on behalf of governor desantis who's really stood as a champion for the environment in the state of florida the governor was not even elected to office 48 hours before he issued an executive order with broad sweeping consequences to reorganize the department of environmental protection to set a goal for 2.5 billion dollars in funding for water quality in florida over four years and really to set the tone of how important the environment is to florida our environment is our economy it's our way of life it's why you move to florida if you're outside right now into the freezing temperature i think it's a great advertisement for the state of florida and our beaches and our resources but it's why we want to be in the driver's seat and the governor has stood as a tremendous example of that everglades restoration the world's largest wetland restoration happens right here in florida it's a world heritage site it's a beacon of pride for our state of florida and it's amazing undertaken that we have gone in and i think it demonstrates our commitment i think it also demonstrates just how important our environment is to all floridians we have so many of our um congressional delegation here today and i know every one of them has been involved in everglades restoration you know congressman walsh congressman rutherford from northeast florida far away from everglades restoration some might think congressman bill grackis congressman stevie far away to some degree congressman diaz belart and the heart of it was such a tremendous legacy in congressman webster at the headwaters of everglades you see the entire state of florida represented our congressional delegation and just as passionate about everglades restoration and to me that's such a great example of why we as a state want to always be in the driver's seat when our resources are on the line you don't have a member of our congressional delegation that says oh and everglades restoration that's somewhere down in south florida it doesn't matter to me no they are passionate about that resource we have so many other wetlands in florida north florida again closer to congress rutherford and waltz you have the perch wetlands that feed into the most amazing series of freshwater springs around the world that again are also an icon and attraction of florida you simply have wetlands feeding into the dune lakes of our great panhandle which are second to none i mean some of the most amazing resources we can see and again those rivers flowing into seagrass beds of tampa bay and sarasota and down into fort myers they're just a world attraction and something we cherish so much and so again that is our impetus for wanting to be in the driver's seat it's the motivation that the public servants at the department take to heart every day and i'll mention this is what we view as the beginning of a partnership with our federal colleagues you look at 402 which is a delegated program also under the clean water act which we've administered for decades now our partnership has grown through that we have to operate this program just as stringently as our federal partners would and we honestly want it to get better as we go and that means that we'll constantly have communications to all our stakeholders and federal partners holding us accountable but also and i'll end with this we think one of the most important things about having states lead the way is that we are right there with a resource we will identify problems and we will immediately if we see something happening to our resource be able to say we need to change the clean water act to actually protect this resource better we need additional resources we need to work with our federal partners in a new way and we know we have that partnership because you all have demonstrated it today thank you so much [Music] [Applause] thank you secretary valenstein it is now my great pleasure to welcome to the podium congressman mario diaz-balart representing florida's 25th congressional district morning folks thank you regional administrator walker mr wheeler i will tell you that uh you know you have made an amazing impact for florida but i'm going to focus since we do have so many colleagues from other parts of the state i'm going to focus a little bit about south florida i i don't recall of an administrator who has left such a positive impact on south florida as a user and and your impact is going to be felt for decades for decades to come in uh mr secretary good to see you sir i know how hard you have worked on this as well as long as as as you've been in this process want to recognize my as already we've heard about uh the number of colleagues from uh the congressional delegation that are here i want to recognize them their leadership their efforts and as the administrator said and again i'm going to be talking mostly about about south florida because we have folks from other parts of the state but when you look at this congressional delegation i don't care if it's an issue of importance to south florida north florida central florida anywhere in florida the unity and the passion uh from this delegation is frankly amazing and it's it's wonderful to see uh i want to focus a little bit on everglades what this means for everglades folks what we are witnessing today is a huge deal this is a huge milestone let's not minimize how important this is i don't have to tell you all that everglades is i think you know one of the greatest national treasures uh and one of the world's treasures and uh it's it's not only an ecological treasure but it's also the drinking water source right for eight million uh floridians uh but now with florida taking over the 404 404 permitting process restoration projects um to again protect the everglades to restore the everglades can move in a such a much more efficiently quicker than ever before mr wheeler you you talked about how floridians care as much about the environment uh i hate to argue with that i'm gonna but i am i'm gonna disagree with you nobody cares more about florida and nobody loves florida more than floridians and now this puts floridians talented qualified floridians in the driver's seat to make this process so much more efficient to make it quicker to make sure that we continue to protect the environment we do it in a way that puts floridians in the driver's seat leaders in florida will be the ones making these decisions obviously making sure that they adhere to all federal laws and regulations as well so i just can't minimize the importance of this i thought that it couldn't get any better because every time i see you you know you're usually bringing a check to south florida but i will tell you um as important as those checks big checks that we work together for you to bring down to uh to florida um i think this is potentially one of the biggest things um to happen in recent memory danny webster and i congressman webster and i who are you know we both served in the state legislature two centuries ago it seems we were talking about how this is a battle that's that that that all of us have been trying to get done this is an issue that we've all been trying to get done forever again to benefit florida and floridians in our environment uh and now it's become a reality as i said at the beginning this is a really big deal this is a really big step this is a wonderful step to preserving the environment protecting the environment and to do so in a much more efficient way so to all of you who have made this possible thank you for your leadership and to the members of the florida delegation who have been fighting these battles from day one thank you for your perseverance again together this is a huge milestone from florida thank you all thank you all thank you all appreciate it thank you congressman diaz-balart it is now a pleasure to welcome to the mic to the microphone the podium congressman gus bilarakis from florida's 12th mario is a hard act to fall that's for sure thank you very much today again i'm honored to be here as florida joins michigan and new jersey the administrator said this as the only states that have been granted approval to administer the cwa section 404 program the first date in 25 years and again i applaud everyone who made the historic approval happen to specifically again specifically administrator wheeler you've been outstanding and appreciate everything you've done thanks for coming to the tampa bay area uh and and doing such a great job for the for the entire united states secretary bernhardt secretary noah valenstein chair mary newmayer and of course administrator excuse me administrator mary walker this decision today will help streamline the permitting process for florida businesses and private landowners reducing the duplicativeness and and the processing time and again it's it's really a milestone and it's a credit to this is federalism at work as far as i'm concerned i want to credit the administration but also the leaders in the state of florida and as mario said dan and i mario served in the in the legislature and we've been working towards this goal for a very long time i also want to commend governor bush while i was in the legislature doing a fantastic job protecting the environment i'm the co-chair of the travel and tourism caucus so i know how important of course of course tourism uh is the number one industry in the state of florida and it's suffering right now but it will come back but we want a pristine environment to work and play and bring down some of the the residents at least part-time to the state of florida i'm so proud again of the leadership and again governor desantis has done an outstanding job he's made this a priority florida speaker chris sprouse good friend of mine and also wilton simpson really they care about flora's environment and the entire state of florida even though they they're located they represent my part florida the tampa bay area uh and also i want to thank noah who doing who's really doing a great job for us florida has a proven track record of environmental protection through its existing state programs the incorporation of the section 404 program would allow florida communities to move forward on key infrastructure improvements such as administrator we're finally moving forward after 20 years with the ridge road project which is so very important it's a it's an evacuation route to the east part of pasco county and again i appreciate all your efforts on that behalf and the president's executive order as well that definitely helped this is very personal as i said to my constituents the ankle river dredge project in tarpon springs florida will have a truly integral impact again the ankle river dredge project is moving forward because of this administration and of course the cooperation from the state of florida it's business development and coastal safety so i appreciate everyone here i commend all the hard work that went into historic this historic decision i look forward to working with the epa and florida dep to help address the environmental needs and concerns of the entire state of florida thank you very much god bless you thank you thank you congressman billaricus it is now a great pleasure to welcome to the podium uh congressman daniel webster who represents florida's 11th congressional district thank you so much good to be here today uh has been said it's a great day i wanted to cheer when you were talking about the fact that it was happening now it's just an awesome thing i know back when ronald reagan first started talking about moving things back to the states a lot of us who were in the legislature at the time been talked about before that it was a a dream and now it's coming true so this is a great day for florida and everyone who cares about protecting the environment and protecting our clean water and for streamlining government is is all a part of this uh fantastic program florida has a strong track record of protecting the environment floridians are all and all these legislators being here uh and members of congress uh showing their support for not just for the project but for florida's environment that's why they're here and it's really awesome to see all of them here thank you for sharing our belief so you're at the top we're down in the receiving end and yet you have responded in a fantastic way and we're very appreciative of that [Music] throughout my time in politics i've i've strived to be a person that wants to reduce duplication and in a lot of ways we've got departments that have a lot of duplication about 85 percent of the current state and federal regulations are duplicative and this is going to bring that down some and that's that's a great thing i thought about my own district i have i have a i have five counties and one of those counties is called lake county and the reason is called lake county is because there's over a thousand lakes in lake county and it's uh i've always said florida is basically a wetland not all of it but just about all of it and uh in one way or another could be classified as a wetland so us taking over this 404 program and and i think it'll be in good hands we have a very sophisticated uh not only water management districts but also the um the regulatory uh arm of dep is has is filled with scientists and others who are fully capable of running it so thanks to uh the leadership of of the the dep secretary governor desantis state legislators and others even local shareholder stakeholders all were a part of equipping and preparing for this permitting process and it's going to be i think proved out it's an awesome move it's going to be a model for other states not only in this area but in other areas of government so from everglades restoration to infrastructure projects to all kinds of other things sustaining those projects on wetlands and endangered species and and then also protecting taxpayer dollars all of that are all beneficiaries of what happens today and we're excited to see the signing thanks a lot for letting me come and share in this dream that many of us had and we're thankful for it happening this day [Applause] thank you congressman web webster it is now a pleasure to welcome to the podium congressman john rutherford representing florida's fourth thank you very much mary it's great to see you again and you as well administrator wheeler uh i i really just want to say thank you and congratulations uh uh secretary valentine um you guys have done an amazing job for the citizens of florida and preserving our environment listen as a northeast florida representative i have three coastal counties that i represent i have the beautiful st john's river that i represent and all of the many tributaries and estuaries that go along with that this is as my colleague mario diaz-balart said earlier this is huge and and i cannot thank you all enough because this is going to save time it's going to save money and it's going to save our environment so thank you very much god bless you [Music] thank you congressman rutherford it is now a great pleasure to welcome to the podium congressman michael waltz representing florida's sixth district well thank you administrator wheeler secretary valenstein i think this epa that your dep and your team have done more for florida's environment in the last several years than than anything i've experienced and anything i'm aware of you should be really proud of that just taking a step back we've worked together on indian river lagoon we've worked together on south florida's clean water task force on harmful algae blooms as they you know tend to try to migrate from south to north of course the everglades of course the the clean air uh provisions that that you've put in place you know i just think it it just really demonstrates the commitment from here the commitment of your team that uh we can do both florida is growing tremendously as we know but it's not a zero-sum uh we can protect our environment because in florida that's not just a feel-good thing i mean all these representatives know that is we all know that is critical to our way of life it's critical to our economy i'm a native floridian one of those rare breeds and uh and it's just a beautiful tremendous state we can do both and we can do both uh smartly so just thank you for your approach uh thank you for trusting us and trusting our very capable state legislators to take care of our uh to take care of our state and and as uh representative bill aurochus said this is federalism michigan has different concerns in the great lakes region than we do or new jersey or louisiana in their bayous and we can you know we can go down the list so the laws are important but implementing them smartly i think is is just as important i would be remiss if i didn't mention as as thrilled as we are with this that we still have work to do on the clean water state revolving fund in particular i appreciate your open-mindedness of you and your team we we made some i think some important steps uh this is for everyone else's edification this is you know the grant program for clean water infrastructure comes down from the federal government to the states and they can then do below market loans out to municipalities the formula for how where those monies go and what states they go to haven't been updated since the 80s we've obviously grown tremendously population shifts around the country it needs to be updated it's left florida number three in terms of needs and at the bottom in terms of the per capita dollars that it receives so that is something that i'll work with my colleagues to continue to to continue to push and look forward to working with you mr secretary and you and your team here at epa thank you so much congratulations on getting this done that's a big deal thank you thank you congress thank you congressman waltz i'd now like to welcome to the podium congressman greg stevie representing florida's 17th district well thank you it's an honor to be with you you almost have all of florida covered we're just missing a member from the panhandle and you'd have the whole state i have southwest florida i've got coastline in sarasota and charlotte county go into lake go into okeechobee county and i have lake okeechobee so environmental concerns are at the height of my importance to the issues in my district so i want to say thank you administrator wheeler thank you administrator walker thank you secretary valenstein this is such an important thing for the state of florida i spent eight years in the state legislature and one of the biggest challenges and one of the things that we tried to do in my eight years in the legislature was repeal redundant bureaucracy regulations and rules that inhibited the state from being the success that florida is and this does just that in my last term in the florida senate we appropriated two billion dollars in water resources and water reclamation and water issues in south of lake okeechobee and into the watershed in the kissimmee river valley those are huge projects and we faced challenges getting approval through the feds just by the time that it takes for that process to go through so now that florida can take control of a lot of this cut some of that red tape do the things that florida does best and protect our waterways protect our natural resources i'm just honored to be a part of it honored to be here with you today thank all of you for the work that you've done to make this happen all floridians should be very happy today and the water quality that we're going to have for generations to come thank you [Applause] thank you congressman stewbe now it is really an honor and a privilege for me to introduce and welcome to the podium chairman mary newmar from the white house council on environmental quality [Applause] well thank you and thank you administrator wheeler for inviting me to participate in this event i also want to thank assistant administrator ross principal deputy assistant secretary ryan fisher and secretary valenstein for your team's dedication and work and and thank you to all the members of congress here today for your support which paved the way for florida to assume uh administration of the clean water act section 404 program as we all know safe clean and reliable water supplies are critical to america's quality of life water drives our national economy protects public health provides food for our citizens generates power supports wildlife and plant species provides recreational opportunities and is essential for shipping and trading goods president trump has made it a priority of his administration to pursue a balanced approach to water policy and to protect our environment and meet the needs of the american people in october president trump signed executive order 13956 which is titled modernizing america's water resource management and water infrastructure this executive order formally established an interagency water sub-cabinet to streamline the federal government's approach to managing america's water resources and work to upgrade our nation's water infrastructure safeguard public health and create jobs however even before this executive order was signed the federal agencies included in the water sub-cabinet were already hard at work improving the management of our nation's most complex and complicated water resources and systems including in florida one year ago members of the water sub-cabinet came together with the state of florida to discuss the clean water act section 404 program despite the complexity of this undertaking the agencies were able to effectively and efficiently coordinate federal efforts with those of state agencies to ensure that florida's water program met the standards and established established under section 404 of the clean water act and the implementing regulations these principles of interagency cooperation and better management of the environmental review process are key hallmarks of the trump administration today's historic announcement is a testament to what can be accomplished through efficient and effective coordination across all levels of government this agreement also highlights the trump administration's commitment to empowering state leaders thank you and congratulations to the state of florida the environmental protection agency the department of the interior and the us army corps of engineers on this [Applause] achievement thank you chairman newmar it is now a great honor to welcome to the podium uh ryan fisher uh principal deputy assistant secretary of the army for civil works ryan hey thanks mary i appreciate it i'm here on behalf of my boss rd james he's the assistant secretary of the army for civil works our office oversees the budget and policy of the corps of engineers civil works mission that includes what we're here for today the implementation of the clean water act section 404 and this starts with um the whole process starts with what secretary valentine noted earlier you've got some wetland scientists in florida and say hey we can do this this is what we do we can run this program the second step is figuring out hey which which waters are assumable under the federal government here so that's where the army steps in right the corps of engineers sits down with with florida dep and they they try to determine that what what waters are assumable and my boss signed a memo two years ago now that essentially outlined that from his perspective it agreed with the uh the findings of the epa subcommittee right the national advisory council for environmental policy and technology reverence and harvard's act section 10 waters federal government and then we sit down with florida dep and say okay these adjacent wetlands let's figure out a boundary line here what's assumable and what isn't uh and that's what we did and it was excellent work by florida dep and our jacksonville district colonel kelly in florida did did a great work on that and we're very appreciative of it and i guess i'd speak a little bit to some of the other states in our union right if this can be done in florida with diverse aquatic resources and and everything that goes into to the everglades and moving water south down there if we can figure this out in florida we can certainly uh figure it out in other states so if there are other states out there that are interested in and owning control of that section 404 program and making those permitting decisions we can certainly the army can certainly work with you to to get that done uh this is this is great for florida floridians now have the the same and greater protections that the clean water act provides but they have the added benefit of having permitted and infrastructure decisions being made one step closer to their government at the state level and that's a big deal that's how government should work so thank you for being here today mary thank you to you thank you to secretary balenstein and a special thanks to drew kelly colonel drew kelly in florida administrator wheeler you've been great working with your office on this and other issues as well as dave ross thank you to you as well thank you [Applause] thank you ryan it is now a pleasure to welcome to the podium aubry betancourt the deputy assistant secretary for water and science with the department of the interior thank you mary thank you to the administrator for this opportunity to be here today secretary valentine good to see you um members of the delegation and distinguished guests really thank you so much uh for the opportunity to represent the department of the interior and secretary bernhardt and the incredible team at interior that had the privilege of collaborating in this incredible way on this momentous occasion as well today's action is a significant milestone in cooperative federalism of this successful partnership between our state and our federal government to effectively and successfully promote and protect environmental and economic prosperity mary you mentioned the executive order on modernizing water resource management which brings together the six departments of government with the lion's share of jurisdiction in the water space to effectively collaborate and reduce impediments to create a modernized water system modernizing our water infrastructure and modernizing the way we do that and part of that is this relationship so this really is an incredible demonstration of that it also tasked us with specifically looking at florida and the restoration of the everglades and so we've had the privilege of working and visiting your beautiful state and developing this great partnership with you as well active uh federal coordination through the administration's water subcab and it is really what ensured a robust environmental review and that act of collaboration with uh within the agencies at the department of the interior within the other agencies and federal departments as well as with the state and that includes you know our friends at epa our friends at the army corps and multiple others through this process i especially want to highlight and thank the fish and wildlife service and the interior solicitors office as well for their careful and extremely thoughtful work incredible partnership director skipwith is with us today from fish and wildlife service your regional team and their ability to always focus on working with their partners in the region uh and and keeping the customer and keeping the goal of protecting florida at the focus was really incredible to watch an incredible team down there i really want to thank them and highlight that um on behalf of the department i commend administrator wheeler and your incredible office of water all the way down to the region as well mary your team has been fantastic to work with really rock stars um and uh and and and their effort to lead in this has been been wonderful to work with so thank you so much and congratulations [Applause] thank you aubry and now i would love to welcome to the podium the director of the u.s fish and wildlife service director aurelia skipwith [Applause] good morning everyone it is truly an honor and a pleasure to be here because this really is a celebration so thank you so much administrator wheeler for your leadership and also want to thank all the federal agencies we have army corps of engineers ceq we have interior everyone who worked there and i also want to highlight our partnership that we have with the florida fish and wildlife commission with florida d.o.t with florida dep and this really is about what president trump has been showing us that you can have development as well as conservation at the same time so we when we were looking at making sure that we were complying with esa the endangered species making sure that we can protect our natural resources but then on the other end making sure that we're using science making sure that we're operating within the law to make development happen and so truly for all the partners to come together to make this happen is truly a day to be able to celebrate and thankful thankful for all the teams in their work for making this happen so thank you again it is an honor and a pleasure to be here and i look forward because florida has really been a leader that you guys are setting the framework for other states to be able to do the same thing because at the end of the day we want to make sure that states have the power to have the development and still be able to work with the government so thank you again [Applause] [Music] thank you director skipwith now it is really a pleasure to welcome to the podium uh our epa leadership our assistant administrator for our office of epa's office of water dave ross without whose support and leadership on this issue today would not be possible so dave well thanks mary so six years ago governor meade nominated me to represent the state of wyoming on the assumable waters subcommittee of the national advisory council for environmental policy and technology ryan mentioned it earlier sounds exciting it actually looks standing here today looking back it was the purpose of that advisory committee was to take a look at why only two states michigan and new jersey had taken the 404 program and our job was to take a look at impediments and make recommendations for how to kick down those impediments and pave the way for other states to take the program at the same time the attorney general for wyoming asked me to leave litigation against the federal government my current agency about the 2015 clean water rule the states had become concerned that the federal government had lost its way a bit in respecting the carefully crafted balance that congress provided in the clean water act between respecting the rights and responsibilities of states to to manage their own resources and the need for strong robust federal oversight and so there's a careful balance that congress provided and the our predecessors lost their way a bit uh wyoming wasn't the only state eventually they're about more than 30 states and representing more than 80 percent of the land and water resources of this country who who joined that litigation at the time i was really focused on the law you know the balance between federal and state government the constitutional statutory underpinnings of the the issues that we were grappling with but over time i gained some additional perspective and working for the state of wyoming and then for the state of wisconsin i learned and i witnessed the passion that the folks who work in the states have for their environment they know the resources best certainly know it better than people a thousand miles away inside the beltway here in dc um so that passion is what i brought the perspective i brought from wyoming and wisconsin i brought to this job so in this particular job it's been absolutely amazing it's a bucket list job uh you know i was tasked with administrators leadership to to rewrite the the definition of large united states to try to get back to that balance get get this agency back to it you know more it back to its statutory structure um and and we've done that we've passed a navigable water protection rule earlier this year and we're really pleased and excited with how it's been implemented throughout the country i was also able to work with with ryan and mr james in 2018 to provide clarity to the states as of which waters they can assume and which waters the federal government ryan mentioned it rivers and harbors act waters mostly um retained by the federal government in a permitting process i was able to work with the department of interior and the great leadership at the fish and wildlife service to really grapple with the difficult questions about how the endangered species act and the liability protections it provides can both be managed and then flow through to state-issued permits really complicated questions that took some deep thought and so thank you for your leadership in the department of interior on that we're able to work with the advisory council on historic preservation and the chair to take a look at and make sure that we comply with the procedural mandates of the national historic preservation act so all of that effort and more has gone into today but most importantly it's the relationship noah that we have with the state of florida and throughout this time i was able to spend quite a bit of time with you and you confirmed for me what i learned in wyoming and wisconsin it's that passion for the resource it's the people who live on the land are most connected to it and so it was a confirmation of what i learned and what i brought to my job here at the agency and so thank you to your people for really developing a great application for us mary to janine leif matt the list goes on down in the region four great job to the the folks here at epa headquarters jess john mindy kathy mike i mean i mean it's a massive list of people thank you i hope you're watching um so we are very confident that the state of florida will run this program as well or better than the federal government 100 confident but i think i'll end with most importantly noah we trust you to run that program we trust that you will protect your resources for both now and future generations so thank you for working with us thank you all for coming today uh and i really appreciate the work that's gone into it so mayor i'll turn it back to you [Applause] thanks dave i now think it's time for us to sign the document and so if our leadership and our our congressional leadership and our distinguished guests could join us we'll we'll sign our document yeah let's get the members of congress behind the right [Applause] thank you this is our partners okay thank you okay definitely a team effort this trul so i i suspect that you can tell from just the list of noteworthy folks that we've had with us today and the leadership across our federal agencies what a tremendous partnership this has been so now um besides just being incredibly excited um incredibly excited and and wanting to sort of second dave dave's thanks to our staff because truly between florida dep and epa region 4 office of water and office of general counsel we have had so many incredibly dedicated professionals working on this all of whom we will enumerate by name when i'm not standing in front of a big camera um thank you all now we are so happy to answer questions from the press and um our operator will now instruct reporters who are calling in on how to ask your questions thank you and as a reminder if you wish to ask a question simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad once again that's star one on your telephone keypad neither noah if any members of congress like the state if they like to answer any of the questions do we do we have our first question your first question is from the lineup zach samson of tampa bay sir your line is open thank you uh hope everybody can hear me this is zach sampson from the tampa bay times um the the first question i have is just what is the timeline uh moving forward for when florida will take over these duties what will the transition look like well uh this this decision is final as of as of now as of today upon signature and it will be effective when it's published in the federal register which we expect to be uh hopefully very shortly no idea would you have to transition yeah sure we've been obviously as we've been going through this process zach already been working to make sure our staff has trained up and ready to take over the program obviously we'll be waiting for the this action to be reflected in the federal register as soon as that occurs we will begin um taking over and issuing section 404 permits within the state of florida and we've already had great coordination with army corps of engineers for the last months leading up to that to make sure we're ready to go thank you for that question we have another question your next question is from the line of amy williams from newspress your line is now open go ahead with your question you can hear me go ahead with your question i'm sorry i i can you guys hear me okay yes we can hear you thank you very much my question is about the concerns of the miksuki and seminole tribes who have expressed that this happened without consultation with the tribe how are their interests in federal lands going to be addressed and what kind of dialogue will be happening with them we worked with i believe as 10 federal tribes in florida we consulted with eight federal tribes in florida um as part of this process um they are on board with this and we and the state will be working with them and their and their rights are included in the review and i'll turn over to dave ross if you'd like to say something specific on the tribal wish thank you administrator yeah so a couple things so florida had done an amazing job working with the tribes and they entered into an operating agreement on how to deal with the protection of cultural resources and and and whether or not it's historic grave sites or culturally significant sites as part of their permitting program on top of that we have as an agency epa consulted under section 106 of the national historic preservation act has in both with tribe in the state and with tribes had some historic interests in the state and we've entered into a programmatic agreement with the state the advisory council and the state historic preservation office officer on how epa will continue to manage its relationship and its oversight responsibilities um so you know there there is a a lot of work that will happen in the permitting program going forward that will ensure that tribal interests are protected we understand that there is a continuing interest for the tribes to stay engaged and epa has committed uh to continue to meet with them including starting next week next month to ensure implementation of the programmatic agreement thank you dave um this is noah valenstein secretary of the department of environmental protection i would also mention sort of what i said in our comments was we have certainly heard from the tribe during the section 106 process you know the interest to have continued dialogue and one of the most important things about a delegated program is that partnership doesn't end conversations with stakeholders don't end these are living documents and a relationship that we have to maintain in order to have good permitting and so we're committed as a state to making sure that we have good relationships both with tribal entities stakeholders permittees and our federal partners to make sure that we have the best permitting program we can thank you thank you do we have another question your next question is from the lineup bobby calvin of to you this press sir your line is so open yeah hi i hope you can hear me yes wait this is the uh question for the secretary and it's a basic one um i'm wondering if you can explain um secretary um why is it necessary to remove the federal government from the scrutiny that environmentalists say is needed for these projects on on wetlands and what immediate um projects i mean are there projects that are immediately uh online to uh uh go ahead with with uh this uh shift in authority actually before the secretary answers if i could just say you know when congress created this program they envisioned the states taking over the 404 program so this is not just a you know question of why does the state believe believe that they should get rid of federal authority and and we still are we're still working with the state and we will still make sure that the that the program is is operating under under the law but this is exactly what congress envisioned it's just what was in practice for the last 30 years was a number of federal hurdles that prevented states from taking over the program that congress wanted them to take over with that i'll turn it over back over to the secretary thank you administrator yeah that'll be my first comment is that the federal government isn't removed from the program um just like other delegated programs who operate again looking at the clean water act the section 402 program we have delegated to the state the federal government is right there with us through the whole program we have constant communication with region 4 and epa doing quality control and quality assessment for our programs we have annual reviews we are held accountable to the federal law at the end of the day any delegated program we operate as a state has its roots in that federal law that federal laws are bedrock it's the protection for the environment and it doesn't change unless the president and congress act on it and so when we're operating that the federal government is absolutely still involved again our interest in having this program is we are passionate about our resources in the state of florida and whenever we can have our team of scientists and perimeters issue the permit and drive the you know drive be in the driver's seat that's what we want to do it's out of interest in our resources wanting to be in the driver's seat but it certainly doesn't remove our federal oversight it certainly doesn't change the underpinning protections in law in the clean water act but we're excited about being able to have our own local expertise and passion again many of the congressional delegation mentioned everglades restoration projects things like getting the necessary permitting for the ea reservoir a critical project in the state of florida for everglades restoration being able to have a team with a sense of urgency to know this is one of our number one projects and we want to make sure that we're putting everything in to get that permitting correct but getting it through as quickly as possible um is something we're looking forward to thank you do we have another question i believe this would be our last question yes sir your last question is from the line of greg allen of nr npr sir your line is now open hi um this is uh really directed at the secretary balenstein um you know one of the important things that we've seen from the federal oversight is this extensive comment and hearing process that we've that we've all become used to that's given local communities a real voice in a lot of these projects and also you know it's it's more than just uh developers and the and economic industries involved you hear from the public interest how are you going to replace that i mean how many staff are you adding what kind of process will you now uh add to replace that extensive comment and and process of providing public input sure i think that's one of the great parts about delegated programs to the state first the size of our staff dwarfs that the federal government has to operate these similar programs we've got more than 200 staff members specifically for wetland permitting programs that is within the 4 000 plus staff that we have as an agency our office is set up especially our regulatory office with offices throughout the state of florida again with dedicated individuals who are committed to protecting the environment who live in the communities where those permanents are being permits are being issued and so we have a very open and transparent process whether you're the permitter whether you're a stakeholder is interested whether you're simply a mother and father moving to the area have heard about a permit and want to learn more i think we have one of the most transparent accessible structures for folks to become involved in environmental regulatory decisions i would argue just because we are a state we're local to um i mean we're closer to those local questions and set up in a better manner than the federal government something we take great pride in you know we want our environmental decisions to be driven by input from locals again this past year under the governor's leadership we passed senate bill 712 one of the most broad sweeping environmental regulatory efforts we've seen in years increased fines across the board for our environmental programs in the state of florida by at least 50 percent many of them 100 percent put in new requirements for waste water septic storm water as well as agriculture that came from local citizens being able to be involved and have conversations and again when we can have our environmental programs at a local level like this we think it creates that feedback loop of allowing more folks to be involved problems to be identified challenges for protecting the environment to be identified and then us as a state to be able to step in and fix that so with that i want to thank everyone for joining us today again noah thank you for being here this is truly a partnership between the state of florida and the uscpa i want to thank our federal partners for being here today and joining in this celebration the members of congress who are here today and i want to especially thank dave's team here at headquarters in the water office and mary's team in region 4 for all of their hard work and the amount of time and effort this went into to getting this completed and again this is a road map guideline for other states to follow and i strongly encourage other states to take advantage of this opportunity and move forward with their own applications um to the epa to assume the authority under 404 that congress intended for the states to assume thank you all for being here today that concludes you