For Immediate Release.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
WASHINGTON -- The Senate confirmed Michael Regan as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday. With his strong environmental protection background as the leader of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, Regan is expected to place the agency’s focus back squarely on its mission: to protect the environment and public health. This will include safeguarding the nation’s waterways and air quality, as well as pushing forward with bold action to address climate change.
Previously, Regan was the chief architect and advocate for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 80: North Carolina’s Commitment to Address Climate Change. That policy set the first-ever state goals for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, increased registered zero-emission vehicles, and created the Climate Change Interagency Council. Beyond that, Regan has protected communities from the threat of dangerous coal waste by spearheading the cleanup of nearly 80 million tons of the toxic substance. This represented the largest cleanup of this dangerous waste in the nation’s history. Regan has also held polluters accountable by working with North Carolina’s attorney general to force Chemours, a subsidiary of Dupont Chemical, to address toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and provide replacement drinking water for a wide swath of the state.