President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s air office gained Senate confirmation Wednesday after his nomination was held in limbo for almost two years.
Joseph Goffman, the White House’s pick to be an assistant administrator for the EPA, passed on a close vote of 50-49. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) voted with Republicans against the nominee. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), whose wife recently died, did not vote.
Goffman’s nomination had been stuck in purgatory since March 2022, following bipartisan opposition over the Biden administration’s rulemaking on climate change. More specifically, Manchin had previously vowed to oppose all EPA nominees over a rule that would regulate emissions stemming from fossil fuel plants. The proposed rule is expected to accelerate closings of coal plants, the main source of energy in Manchin’s home state.
Goffman, who has served as the acting head of the Office of Air and Radiation since the beginning of Biden’s term in 2021, oversees one of the most significant EPA offices, issuing regulations on air quality, energy efficiency, and climate change. However, that level of influence has drawn regular attacks from Republicans and industry groups, who advocate against further air regulations.
Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) are among the senators who had placed holds on Goffman’s nomination over problems with the EPA’s regulations affecting their home states.
“From his more than 10 years at the EPA, we know that this is what Joe Goffman stands for because he has shown us this time and time again: His record is one that consistently kills American jobs, threatens our electric grid, and violates the law,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), the Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member, during floor remarks Wednesday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) previously insisted that Goffman would not get his vote unless he got assurances that the EPA would use funds from the 2022 Democratic Inflation Reduction Act to increase access to residential solar power. However, he later voted for the nominee to advance the nominee on the floor on Wednesday.
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Within the last decade, the agency has only had one Senate-confirmed air chief — Bill Wehrum, a Trump administration nominee who abruptly resigned in 2019.
However, it is not to say the Goffman nomination did not come with controversy. The EPA’s internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General, probed into Goffman following claims that the official asked a subordinate to set up a meeting with Harvard officials after one had reached out to him — violating the White House’s ethics pledge, which Goffman had signed. The pledge bars contact with former employers, and Goffman served as an executive director at Harvard Law School’s environmental law program.
