Contacts: Matt Dempsey (202) 224-9797 Matt_Dempsey@epw.senate.gov

Katie Brown (202) 224-2160 Katie_Brown@epw.senate.gov 

Inhofe Welcomes Oklahoma DEQ Water Quality Director Before the EPW Committee 

Washington, DC – Senator James M. Inhofe, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today welcomed Shellie Chard-McClary, Water Quality Division Director for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and Association of Clean Water Administrators board member, before the Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife. Inhofe invited Chard-McClary to testify at today’s hearing on Nutrient Pollution.  

“I am pleased to have welcomed at today’s hearing Ms. Shellie Chard-McClary, Division Director, Water Quality Division, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and Mr. Richard Budell, Director, Office of Agricultural Water Policy, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Both Oklahoma and Florida have taken distinct approaches to dealing with nutrients based on their states’ water bodies, climates, and economies. I am grateful to have heard about Oklahoma’s approaches to nutrient pollution as well as individual states’ perspectives on water body issues and their common sense approaches to managing complex environmental regulations.” 

Rural water issues are a top priority for Senator Inhofe.  Since the 108th Congress, he has co-authored and cosponsored legislation addressing unfunded clean water mandates by providing additional resources for small communities through the State Revolving Loan Funds. Senator Inhofe also led the fight against the Clean Water Restoration Act, a bill that would have empowered the federal government to regulate practically every body of water in the country, no matter how small, and extended the scope and reach of federal water jurisdiction beyond anything that ever existed under the Clean Water Act.  

###