BIDEN ANNOUNCES MEMBERS OF HIS CLIMATE TEAM
By: CaraG @exclusivelycarag
President-elect Joe Biden has picked Michael S. Regan of North Carolina to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Regan, who became head of North Carolina’s environmental agency in 2017, is not well known but very experienced. In the past, Regan spent more than nine years working in the EPA’s air-quality program under former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and another eight years at the Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group based
in New York City. Regan joins other experienced appointees such as Interior; Governor Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy; Brenda Mallory, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality; Administrator Gina McCarthy, National Climate Advisor; and Ali Zaidi, Deputy National Climate Advisor.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who hired Regan for the state job, said Wednesday that Regan was “a consensus builder and a fierce protector of the environment. He’s been part of a strong, diverse cabinet in North Carolina. And if he is selected by the president-elect, I have no doubt that he will do the same kind of job for our country.”
The EPA needs intensive rebuilding after the agency was demoralized under President Trump for four years. Raegan was in a similar situation when he joined North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, under newly elected Democratic governor Roy Cooper. NC’s environmental staff felt they were sabotaged by the previous Republican governor’s industry-friendly policies. For the past four years, he’s led the department, where he earned many environmentalists’ support by standing up to chemical and energy companies.
“This brilliant, tested, trailblazing team will be ready on day one to confront the existential threat of climate change with a unified national response rooted in science and equity. They share my belief that we have no time to waste to confront the climate crisis, protect our air and drinking water, and deliver justice to communities that have long shouldered the burdens of environmental harms. Together, on behalf of all Americans, they will meet this moment with the urgency it demands — and seize the opportunity to build back better with good-paying union jobs, climate-resilient infrastructure, and a clean energy future that benefits every single community.”
President-elect Joe Biden said in a statement.
