Sources: Biden picks Haaland for Interior, Regan to head EPA
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., to lead the Interior Department, according to people familiar with the decision, a move that would make history: If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first Native American appointed to a Cabinet secretary position.
Haaland would not only head the federal agency most responsible for the well-being of the nation’s 1.9 million Indigenous people but also would play a central role in implementing Biden’s ambitious environmental and climate change agenda. As head of the agency that oversees 500 million acres of public lands, including national parks, oil and gas drilling sites, and endangered species habitat, she would be entrusted to restore federal protections to vast swathes of land and water the Trump administration has opened up to drilling, mining, logging and construction.
In addition, she would oversee the Bureau of Indian Education and the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, which manages the financial assets of American Indians held in trust.
“It would be an honor to move the Biden-Harris climate agenda forward, help repair the government-to-government relationship with tribes that the Trump Administration has ruined, and serve as the first Native American Cabinet secretary in our nation’s history,” Haaland said.
Haaland is a citizen of Laguna Pueblo, one of the country’s 574 federally recognized tribes.
Biden also offered the leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency to Michael Regan, a North Carolina regulator who has made a name pursuing cleanups of industrial toxins and helping low-income and minority communities hit hardest by pollution.
Biden’s pick of Regan, who leads his state’s environmental agency, was confirmed by two people familiar with the selection process.
Regan became environmental chief in North Carolina in 2017. Gov. Roy Cooper, who hired Regan then, said this week that Regan was “a consensus builder and a fierce protector of the environment.”
France train attack trial:
A French court Thursday convicted an Islamic State operative over a train attack five years ago that was foiled with the dramatic intervention of three American passengers.
The special terrorism court sentenced Morocco-born Ayoub El Khazzani to life in prison, with 22 years guaranteed behind bars.
El Khazzani, who went from drug-trafficking in Spain to Syria as a jihadi, methis match in the train car encounter with three childhood friends from California who took him down.
Three accomplices, who weren’t on the train, were convicted of complicity and handed sentences ranging from seven to 27 years.
Death row inmate tests positive:
A federal prisoner scheduled to be executed days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office has tested positive for coronavirus, his lawyer said Thursday.
The Bureau of Prisons notified attorneys for Dustin JohnHiggs onThursday that their client had tested posi
tive for the virus, his attorney Devon Porter said during a court hearing Thursday.
The revelation comes amid concern about an exploding number of coronavirus cases in the federal prison system and specifically at the complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, where the executions are carried out. It is the only federal death row.
Higgs is scheduled to be executed Jan. 15, just five days before death-penalty opponent Biden’s inauguration.
HomeDepotfined:
Home Depot Inc. will pay a $20.8 million fine for failing to ensure that its contractors follow lead paint rules. The civil penalty announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency is the largest such penalty to date under the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Under the proposed settlement, Home Depot must implement a program to ensure that the firms and contractors it hires to perform home renovations
are certified to use lead-safe work practices.
Residential lead-based paint was banned in 1978 but still remains in many older dwellings.
Exposure to lead dust and paint chips can cause health problems including behavioral disorders, learning disabilities, seizures and even death.
Brexit: TheU.K. and European Union provided sober updates Thursday on the state of post-Brexit trade discussions, with only two weeks to go before a potentially chaotic split.
While Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union’s executive commission, noted “substantial progress onmanyissues,” she voiced concerns about the discussions taking place around fishing rights. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also warned that a no-deal outcome seemed “very likely.”
Negotiations, von der Leyen said, would continue on Friday.
Euthanasia in Spain: Spain’s parliament voted Thursday to approve a bill that will allow physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia for long-suffering patients of incurable diseases or unbearable permanent conditions.
The bill now faces a vote in the Senate, where it is also expected to pass. According to the draft of the law approved by the lower house, it won’t go into effect until three months after being published in the government gazette.
Putin rejects allegations:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday rejected allegations that the Kremlin was behind the poisoning of his top political foe, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and accused U.S. intelligence agencies of fomenting the claims.
The Russian leader countered the accusations by saying that if the Kremlin wanted to poison Navalny, it would have succeeded. “If there was such a desire,
it would have been done,” Putin said with a chuckle.
Navalny fell sick Aug. 20 during a domestic flight in Russia and was flown while still in a coma to Berlin for treatment two days later
New head at space agency:
Austrian scientist Josef Aschbacher has been appointed to head the European Space Agency as the organization grapples with the fallout from Brexit and the rise of commercial rivals outside of Europe.
The agency’s 22 member states elected Aschbacher, who leads ESA’s Earth observation program, to succeed current director general Jan Woerner when his term ends on June 30, 2021.
Aschbacher oversees the ESA’s center for Earth Observation, near Rome, and has been deeply involved in some of the agency’s most high-profile missions including the Copernicus fleet of satellites collecting environmental data about the planet from space.