Michael Regan Sworn in as EPA Administrator
WASHINGTON (March 11, 2021) – Michael S. Regan was sworn in as the 16th Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today. On his first day, Administrator Regan committed to working closely with and supporting EPA’s dedicated career public servants, restoring the role of science and transparency, addressing climate change, and prioritizing environmental justice. Administrator Regan is the first Black man and the second person of color to lead the U.S. EPA.
“I’m grateful to President Biden for entrusting me to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at this critical moment in our country’s history,” said Administrator Michael Regan. “EPA’s career officials are the backbone of this agency, and I am humbled to work alongside them as we confront climate change, stand up for justice and equity, and ensure science is at the heart of our decision-making. We will prove that environmental protection and economic prosperity go hand in hand – and we will seize this opportunity to create a healthier, more just future for all.”
“Every person in the United States has the right to clean air, clean water and a healthier life no matter how much money they have in their pockets, the color of their skin or their zip code,” Regan said in an address to a conference of state regulators. “Yet too many Black, indigenous, Latinx and other people of color bear the highest burden of pollution.”
Regan said he plans to appoint an environmental justice advisor.
“What I think you’ll see in the coming year or so is an emphasis on environmental justice, equity and civil rights by which we reconstruct our resources in our offices here within the EPA so that it permeates through our regions and to the states,” Regan said.
“climate isn’t the only game,” as the EPA also works with states to safeguard water, clean up polluted former industrial sites and deal with solid waste. “We have to have an all-out assault on pollution and protecting the environment,” Regan said.
Environmental justice underpins the entire portfolio, Regan said.
“If we protect the least amongst us, we can create a rising tide that elevates the level of environmental protection and equity for every American in this great country.”
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, starting with rebuilding the staff morale and getting all of our staff back to feeling as if they matter, their voices matter,” “We really have to restore the scientific integrity and the utilization of data, of facts, as we move forward and make some very important decisions,” Regan said.
“I’m under the assumption that there are a lot of people that walked out of EPA that would be extremely qualified for some of the positions we’ve advertised, and we welcome their return if they meet the criteria,” he said. “But that doesn’t exclude new and young scientists and engineers and data analysts and lawyers who have been longing to join a credible agency.”
Administrator Regan returns to EPA after starting his career at the agency, rising to the role of national program manager responsible for designing strategic solutions with industry and corporate stakeholders to reduce air pollution, improve energy efficiency and address climate change.
Prior to his nomination as EPA Administrator, Michael Regan served as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
As Secretary, he spearheaded the development and implementation of North Carolina’s seminal plan to address climate change and transition the state to a clean energy economy. Under his leadership, he secured the largest coal ash clean-up in United States history. He led complex negotiations regarding the clean-up of the Cape Fear River, which had been contaminated for years by the toxic chemicals per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS). In addition, he established North Carolina’s first-of-its-kind Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory board to better align social inequities, environmental protection, and community empowerment.
Regan is a native of Goldsboro, North Carolina, where he developed a passion for the environment while hunting and fishing with his father and grandfather, and exploring the vast lands, waters and inner Coastal Plain of North Carolina. He is a graduate of the North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, making him the first EPA Administrator to have graduated from a Historically Black College and University. He earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from The George Washington University.
He and his wife Melvina are proud parents to their son, Matthew.
EPA News
Michael Regan Confirmed as EPA Administrator
March 10, 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, voted with a bipartisan majority in the Senate to confirm Michael S. Regan to be the next Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by a vote of 66-34. Before the vote, Carper spoke on the Senate floor in support of Regan’s nomination. Carper has argued that Mr. Regan is a strong, principled leader who will restore scientific integrity and morale at the agency, and bring people together to solve our most pressing environmental issues.
March 10, 2021
The Senate Looks Likely to Vote on Michael Regan’s Nomination for EPA Administrator Today
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 14-6 to advance his nomination last month.
Biden to Nominate Michael S. Regan as EPA’s Administrator
Updated December 31, 2020
Regan’s credentials of state-level government experience and having worked on the federal level under both Democratic and Republican administrations made him Biden’s top nominee for EPA Administrator.
Biden’s pick of Regan has also been met with praise by several environmental groups.
Regan has been serving as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality since January 3, 2017.
As DEQ secretary, Regan oversees the state agency whose mission is to protect North Carolina’s environment and natural resources. The organization has offices from the mountains to the coast and administers regulatory and public assistance programs aimed at protecting the quality of North Carolina’s air, water and land, its coastal fisheries, and the public’s health.
As EPA Administrator, Regan will oversee an agency headquartered in Washington, D.C. that comprises 17,000 people in 10 regional offices, and 27 laboratories across the country. More than half of its staff are engineers, scientists, and environmental protection specialists; other groups include legal, public affairs, financial, and computer specialists.
The EPA’s primary responsibility is setting and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments. The agency delegates some permitting, monitoring, and enforcement responsibility to U.S. states and Native American tribes. EPA enforcement powers include fines, sanctions, and other measures.
Regan has more than 18 years of professional experience focused on overcoming complex challenges through environmental advocacy and regulation. Most recently, he served as the Associate Vice President of U.S. Climate and Energy and Southeast Regional Director of the Environmental Defense Fund. He led the Environmental Defense Fund’s efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change and air quality pollution.
Prior to that, Regan worked with the Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality and energy programs for the Clinton and Bush administrations. Before leaving the agency, Regan served as a national program manager responsible for designing programs aimed at reducing pollution, and market-based solutions to improve energy efficiency, air quality and climate-related challenges.
Regan also founded M. Regan & Associates, LLC, a firm dedicated to helping organizations find transformational solutions to complex energy, environmental and economic challenges.
Regan has served on several boards and commissions focused on the environment. They include the UNC School of Law Center for Climate, Energy, Environment and Economics, Green 2.0, N.C. Commission on Global Climate Change, the N.C. Energy Policy Council and the Executive Steering Committee of Envision Charlotte.
Regan’s credentials are dissimilar from current Trump appointed Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler was an EPA and Senate staffer in the 1990s and is a former coal industry lobbyist.
Wheeler pledged that if Trump was re-elected for a second term, the agency’s priorities would be to press forward with efforts to ease regulatory burdens on businesses with less emphasis on climate change. Under Wheeler’s supervision, the EPA has weakened or eliminated dozens of regulations intended to protect air and water quality, protect endangered species, and green regulations.
A native of Goldsboro, N.C., Regan has a bachelor’s degree in Earth and Environmental Science from N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University and a master’s degree in Public Administration from George Washington University.
Regan and his wife, Melvina, and their son, Matthew, live in Raleigh.
If confirmed by the US Senate, Regan would be the second African American to lead the EPA. Lisa Jackson was the first to head the agency, during the Obama administration.
Regan will join energy secretary nominee Jennifer Granholm and White House climate coordinator nominee Gina McCarthy as members of Biden’s climate-focused administration. Regan, Granholm, and McCarthy will also work with former Secretary of State John Kerry, who the President-elect named his special presidential envoy to address global warming.
Biden has pledged to sign a series of executive orders on his first day in office related to combating the climate crisis, which would not require congressional approval.
EPA Chief Pledges Less Focus on Climate if Trump Re-elected
September 5, 2020
On Thursday, commemorating the EPA’s 50th anniversary, Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler laid out the agency’s priorities if Trump wins a second term in office. Wheeler said the agency would press forward with efforts to ease regulatory burdens on businesses with less emphasis on climate change.
The speech reflected the gaping ideological divide between Democrats and the administration, which has loosened regulations for pollution and vehicle fuel efficiency and promoted oil and gas drilling.
Courts have blocked some of the changes, but others have taken effect.
Former EPA officials and environmental groups have decried the speech, saying it was an attempt to justify weakening or eliminating dozens of regulations intended to protect air and water quality, protect endangered species, and gut a slew of green regulations.
Wheeler, an EPA and Senate staffer in the 1990s is a former coal industry lobbyist.
Wheeler spoke at the Richard Nixon library in Yorba Linda, California. The Republican president established the EPA in 1970 amid public revulsion over smog-choked skies and waterways so laced with toxins they were unfit for swimming or fishing. Some of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws, such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, were enacted during his administration.
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