NC environmental official a contender to lead EPA in Biden administration, sources say
North Carolina’s top environmental official is among the potential candidates to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in the Biden administration, according to sources and multiple published reports.
Sources tell McClatchy that President-elect Joe Biden could tap Michael Regan, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, to be EPA administrator. The New York Times and Reuters are among the news outlets to report Regan is being considered.
The Senate-confirmed position is considered a Cabinet level post.
Regan has worked in Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration since 2017 after previously working for the EPA for eight years during the Clinton and Bush administrations.
Regan, 44, is from Goldsboro and graduated from North Carolina A&T University before earning a master’s degree at George Washington University. He also worked for the Environmental Defense Fund as regional director, before joining Cooper’s administration at the beginning of his first term in 2017.
Regan was unavailable for an interview Tuesday, a DEQ spokesperson said in response to an interview request.
“He’s an incredibly talented young man,” said James Johnson, the chairman of DEQ’s Environmental Justice and Equity Board, which Regan created in 2018. “He understands and respects the science behind climate change. He’s a courageous listener, not just to things he believes. He listens in a balanced way and it enables him to make informed decisions. He’s not listening just to refute, he’s listening to learn and understand alternative perspectives.”
Under Regan, DEQ created part of the state’s Clean Energy Plan. It called for drastically reducing private sector greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and attaining carbon neutrality by 2050, as well as accelerating clean energy innovation to create economic opportunities in rural and urban parts of the state.
Earlier this year, Duke Energy agreed to the largest coal ash clean-up in U.S. history as part of a legal settlement with DEQ, one of highlights of Regan’s tenure. Duke agreed to excavate nearly 80 million tons of coal ash at six sites.
“North Carolina’s communities have lived with the threat of coal ash pollution for too long,” Regan said in a statement at the time. “We are holding Duke accountable and will continue to hold them accountable for their actions as we protect public health, the environment and our natural resources.”
Environmental justice
His work around environmental justice could propel Regan to the top of Biden’s list.
The EPA defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income, with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.”
In practical terms, it means that often poor communities or communities of color are exposed to harmful environmental impacts that more affluent communities avoid, including both natural disasters and man-made impacts.
Appointing someone like Regan, who is Black, would show “Biden is committed to environmental justice,” said Devon Hall, co-founder of the Rural Empowerment Association for Community Help (REACH), a Duplin County group pushing for environmental justice among its other goals.
“If Secretary Regan is chosen to work with the Biden administration, I’m hopeful that he’ll prove himself worthy to the environmental justice community,” Hall said.
Regan, in announcing the formation of the state’s Environmental Justice and Equity Board in 2018, said, “You too must pledge to work for inclusion, demand equity and celebrate the diversity of the people of our great state. With that simple acknowledgment, together we will protect our natural resources, our economic interests, and our communities so that ALL North Carolinians will have clean air and clean water for today, tomorrow and future generations to come.”
The board contributed to the North Carolina’s Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan, which included a section dedicated to climate justice, The News & Observer reported previously.
Naeema Muhammad, a member of the board and organizing co-director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, offered examples in Eastern North Carolina: landfills, hog waste, chemical contamination such as PFAS, coal ash, water transfer stations.
“Anything white people don’t want in their backyard, you can find it in Eastern North Carolina,” she said. “We need to stop looking toward Eastern North Carolina as if it’s a dumping ground for the state. There should be some considerations for the cumulative impacts and the disproportionate burdens being bared by the same people all the time.”
Johnson said the environmental challenges are also competitiveness issues.
“The most adversely affected are people of color, the new majority in this country. Many of them are young in their prime working ages,” he said. “We’re going to need those people. Linking environmental justice and economic justice and taking the environmental crisis as an opportunity to grow industries and jobs. That has been the agenda we’ve been advocating for as an advisory board to the secretary.”
Dealing with challenges
Several veterans of Democratic administrations who have worked on climate policy characterized Regan as a relative unknown on the national stage, without the stature of some other candidates he’s up against for the position, such as Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board.
”Regan is probably like every other state environmental protection official — I don’t know much about him,” said Joseph Aldy, former special assistant to President Barack Obama for energy and environment. “I think it’s exciting to think about the next generation of environmental leaders. The fact that he worked at the Environmental Defense Fund strikes me as a signal of someone who wants to be pragmatic and get things done.”
Nichols, a leader in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, was considered the front-runner for the post, but some on the left have pushed against her nomination, McClatchy reported, citing her support for cap-and-trade. Environmental justice advocates say the policy allows polluters to continue polluting air in poor communities.
Activists like Hall expressed disappointment in what Regan has been able to achieve in North Carolina, blaming state lawmakers for “hampering some of the work DEQ could have done, maybe would have done.”
In 2017, as the state began to grapple with Gen X and other pollutants in the Cape Fear River, DEQ saw its overall budget cut by state lawmakers after the governor had requested a budget increase. At the time, Regan told lawmakers his department needed more resources.
“Without being cut off by legislators or government, he would do a great job. I believe he has the heart to try to do the right thing,” said Muhammad, with the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network.
Whoever Biden picks is likely to lead the agency in a starkly different direction than the last four years.
Under President Donald Trump, Scott Pruitt and Andrew Wheeler served as EPA Administrator. Pruitt, a former Oklahoma Attorney General who had filed numerous suits against the EPA, did not use the term “climate change” in the agency’s long-range planning. Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, dismissed the 2018 National Climate Assessment Report, which offered dire predictions.
Regan lives in Raleigh with his family.
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This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 7:27 PM with the headline "NC environmental official a contender to lead EPA in Biden administration, sources say."
