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US Senate committee moves EPA nomination forward; Capito opposes

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has sent Michael Regan’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency to the full chamber, but without the support of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

The committee voted 14-6 to advance the nomination, in which four Republicans approved moving President Joe Biden’s pick forward.

Regan has been the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality since January 2017. He worked at the EPA during the Clinton and Bush administrations, in which he focused on air quality and energy.

If the Senate confirms the nomination, Regan would be the EPA’s first Black male administrator.

Capito, who serves as the committee’s ranking member, said Regan’s qualifications are impressive, but she has doubts about his possible influence given the Biden administration’s recent steps addressing climate change.

Michael Regan (North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality)

“Officials in place at the White House and at the EPA have already set the agenda before he even achieves the office,” she said.

“Staff was already in place, busy implementing what I feel are misguided and unthoughtful executive orders. It is unclear whether Secretary Regan — if confirmed — would have any authority or have the authority to stop the regulatory march towards the Green New Deal.”

Biden has signed multiple executive actions addressing climate change since taking office Jan. 20; on his first day, he revoked the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline and recommitted the United States to the Paris climate accord. The president has also directed agencies to cut fossil fuel subsidies and pause new oil and natural gas leases involving federal lands and waters.

Capito has raised concerns about Biden’s choices for his administration, including former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy as the White House’s climate advisor. The senator said Tuesday that Regan has not ruled out implementing policies she argues have damaged West Virginia’s economy.

“I hope that, if confirmed, he will stand up to those who worked to implement policies that leave behind working families in energy-producing states like mine,” Capito said. “I cannot understate the hurt they have felt during the Obama administration’s EPA policies.”

Following the vote, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., addressed Capito’s remarks, noting the problems in his state related to climate change.

“If you’re talking about permanent scarring, what we’re doing to this planet with carbon emissions portends permanent scarring of our oceans, permanent scarring of the fisheries that Rhode Islanders depend on, permanent scarring of our very coastline,” he said.

Capito acknowledged the threat of climate change, promising Whitehouse to collaborate as needed.

“I think the permanent scarring of poverty, drug abuse, joblessness, depression, hopelessness cannot be forgotten as it was,” she additionally said. “I think I have a good leg to stand on on this because I’ve lived there, I’ve seen it, and we have not recovered from it.”

Committee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., said he, Capito and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have discussed ways to address economic issues in West Virginia, noting a possible workshop on job creation.

Carper, a Beckley native, added confronting climate change should include actions leading to economic opportunities.

“It’s very sad to go there and see what has happened to the economy and the communities which my sister and I were born and raised,” he said.





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