WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s pick for EPA administrator on Wednesday told skeptical Republican senators that environmental progress can also foster economic growth.
The nominee, Michael Regan, made his comments before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is responsible for reviewing Biden’s selection to run an agency key to the new administration’s climate agenda.
Regan said he’s been able to bring together environmental groups and the private sector in his role as secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
“If confirmed I will work with the entire administration to build and strengthen that partnership to power America’s economy with cleaner energy and create millions of good-paying, middle-class jobs,” Regan said.
“Our priorities for the environment are clear. We will restore the role of science and transparency at EPA,” he said. “We will support the dedicated and talented career officials. We will move with a sense of urgency on climate change and we will stand up for environmental justice and equity.”
The committee’s top Republican, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, kicked off the hearing with the gavel, while joking about how quickly she will be passing it to the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Thomas R. Carper of Delaware, as the Senate switches party control this session.
Capito said she fears that Biden’s agenda will represent a third Obama administration when it comes to environmental regulation. She said the Obama agenda had a negative impact on her home state.
Capito also suggested that more environmental regulations could hamper Biden’s goals of improving the country’s infrastructure.
“It is hard to ‘build, back, better’ as the president has said, if we can’t build anything,” Capito said.
Carper touted Regan’s accomplishments in North Carolina, which included negotiating the largest coal ash cleanup settlement in U.S. history and creating the state’s first environmental justice and equity advisory board.
“Mr. Regan has been able to do these things and much more by bringing people together in common cause while never compromising on his principles,” Carper said.
The hearing represents Regan’s first test of whether he can work with Republicans while at the same time pursuing the kind of aggressive climate action sought by many Democrats and environmental advocates.
Regan served as a career official at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations and has the support of a number of environmental organizations.
Dominique Browning, director and co-founder of the group Moms Clean Air Force, urged senators to support the nomination.
“Regan will inherit an agency that must move forward to pursue an ambitious agenda to better protect the health of all Americans and redress the grievous social disparities in who gets clean water and who breathes clean air,” Browning said.
The oil and gas industry, on the other hand, is looking for assurances that they still have a place at the table.
“We hope that Mr. Regan recognizes our ongoing commitment to reducing emissions and signals his willingness to include our industry in discussions about regulations that protect the environment, while allowing us to continue to produce oil and natural gas here in America,” said Anne Bradbury, CEO of the American Exploration and Production Council.
“As the U.S. leads the world in emissions reductions, and fossil fuels will continue to support our modern life for decades to come, any real solutions to address the global issue of climate change should include American oil and gas.”
