The Senate confirmed Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in a bipartisan 66-34 vote despite concerns from some GOP lawmakers that he will help President Biden’s team issue strict emissions mandates.
Regan would “report straight to the front lines of the new administration’s left-wing war on American energy,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in floor remarks Wednesday before a procedural vote on the nomination.
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Regan “has plenty of experience” but warned as EPA administrator, he would help bring back regulations similar to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which set carbon controls for power plants and that Republicans view as overreaching.
Republicans such as West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the top GOP member on the Senate Environment Committee, have also questioned whether Regan will be overshadowed by other high-level climate officials, including former Obama EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, who serves as Biden’s national climate adviser.
Nonetheless, 16 Republicans voted with Democrats to confirm Regan, with some citing Regan’s pledges to work across the aisle and with regions that are heavy energy producers.
“I am under no illusion our policy preferences are aligned, but I take him at his word that cooperation will be the cornerstone of his time as administrator,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, in a statement before the vote.
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment Committee last month, Regan sought to assure Republicans he doesn’t view regulation as the sole means of achieving Biden’s aggressive climate targets. Regan, who most recently served as North Carolina’s top environmental official, said he has worked to craft regulations that are “flexible enough” to allow for technological innovation.
Regan will play a critical role in implementing Biden’s climate agenda. For example, Biden has pledged revamped regulations setting limits on power plants’ carbon emissions, governing vehicle fuel economy, and controlling methane from oil and gas production — all of which will be spearheaded by the EPA.
Much of the work to undo Trump-era deregulatory moves will also fall to the EPA. In a day-one executive order, Biden directed the EPA to review and potentially scrap or revise a hefty list of nearly 50 actions issued over the Trump administration’s four years.
Regan is also poised to help Biden deliver on his promises to support minority and low-income regions where the population’s health has been affected by pollution. Biden, for example, has pledged to direct 40% of the benefits of certain investments to the regions most vulnerable to pollution damages.
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Regan, the first black man to lead the EPA, has sought to elevate attention to environmental inequities throughout his career, which has included a prior stint at the EPA as a career staffer and at the Environmental Defense Fund.
As head of North Carolina’s environmental agency, he created an Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board to counsel him on ways to tackle pollution in areas closest to manufacturing facilities, which tend to be predominantly minority and low-income. Regan has pledged to appoint senior-level staff on environmental justice at the EPA.
