WASHINGTON -- Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge was on Capitol Hill Thursday to testify about how air and water regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would affect Arkansans financially.
Rutledge told members of the House Oversight Committee's Interior Subcommittee that rules regulating coal-fired power plants and ground-level ozone levels under the Clean Air Act and water under the Clean Water Act will have an outsize effect on Arkansans. She said the EPA has overstepped the limits on what it can regulate.
"Arkansans believe in protecting our environment and we take great pride in being the Natural State, but we also take pride in supplying the world with food and in our growing manufacturing sector. The EPA regulations that go beyond the scope of the authority granted to them by Congress are not only unlawful but also unnecessary and harmful to our communities," she told the committee.
After the meeting, Rutledge said she was encouraged by the questions committee members asked.
"It's my responsibility to push back against any regulations that would be harmful such as these," she said. "I was encouraged by the questions I received. I hope the committee sees the need to pull the reins back."
The Arkansas Sierra Club said Rutledge's testimony doesn't help the state.
"In her testimony today, she sounded more like a coal industry executive than a lawyer representing Arkansas. The Attorney General is supposed to stand up for Arkansans, not just the big utility companies. It's disappointing to hear our Attorney General attacking solid solutions that will help improve health, the environment, and the economy for thousands of Arkansans," director Glen Hooks said in a statement.
POVERTY VOLUNTEER
This week, Little Rock's Abby Olivier and more than 150 other students, community, business and faith leaders are scheduled to be in Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers regarding foreign assistance programs and the ONE Campaign.
Co-founded by U2 frontman Bono, the ONE Campaign advocates against global poverty and preventable disease.
Olivier, 25, said she plans to focus on The Electrify Africa Act, legislation to bring electricity to millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa for the first time at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.
Olivier said she first become involved with the ONE Campaign in 2012 as a college senior in Mississippi. She and a small group students tried to live off $1.50 a day.
She works as Community Relations Manager at Clinton School Center on Community Philanthropy.
HUCKABEE
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is scheduled to appear on CBS' Face the Nation today. The show airs at 9:30 a.m. on KTHV in central Arkansas, on KFSM in northwest Arkansas and on WREG in Memphis.
He was to be in South Carolina on Friday for a discussion with business leaders and a news conference before being the main guest at a fundraiser for the state's attorney general, Alan Wilson.
ON THE HILL
On Thursday, U.S. Rep. French Hill spoke on the House floor about Arkansan John Edward Bush, who co-founded the Mosaic Templars of America in 1883.
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack's mother, Elisabeth Kimball and her husband, Allen, were in town from Russellville for the American Legion Convention this week. His mom is the American Legion Auxiliary of Arkansas president.
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. John Boozman met with Johnson County Justice of the Peace John Payne, Johnson County Judge Herman Houston and Sebastian County Judge David Hudson.
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton met with high school exchange students Hafiza Nabi, who is attending Ashdown High School, and Jemuel Alain Cabalida, who is attending Augusta High School. They discussed foreign policy.
On Thursday he met with Arkansas Congenital Heart legislative advocates Linda Brock of Marianna, Allison Hageman of Conway, Dana Hageman of Conway and Melissa McCurdy of Cammack Village.
Several groups visited the delegation on the Hill this week, including the Agriculture Council of Arkansas, the Arkansas Association of Elementary Schools, the Arkansas Rice Federation, the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department and the Arkansas Wildlife Federation.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman met with Arkansas Waterways Commission Director Gene Higginbotham on Tuesday about the agency's funding request for the Three Rivers Study, which was included in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and President Obama's budget proposals for the upcoming fiscal year.
Westerman will attend Tuesday's joint session of Congress, where he will hear from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford and French Hill met with Arkansas members of the National Association of Broadcasters Tuesday. On Wednesday Crawford spoke on the floor with several other members highlighting the importance of local radio and broadcasting.
Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Contact us at (202) 662-7690 or [email protected].
SundayMonday on 03/01/2015