Nominee shares strategy for EPA
Regan says regulation alone won’t help climate in bid to assuage GOP
Michael Regan, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, worked to assure Senate Republicans on Wednesday that they would be heard as the new administration crafts regulations to address climate change.
In a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Regan, secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality and a former leader at the Environmental
Defense Fund, described a climate strategy in which he would use regulation and investment strategies to work with industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We can’t simply regulate our way out of every problem we face,” he said. “If you want to address complex challenges, you must be able to see them from all sides. You have to be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes.”
Since Biden took office last month, Republicans have been inflamed by a series of executive orders aimed at shifting the country
away from fossil fuels, including canceling the construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline project and a one-year moratorium on oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters, including the Gulf of Mexico.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, RW.V., questioned whether the administration’s commitment to helping protect impoverished communities from pollution would leave them worse off economically — a reminder of the effect that closing coal mines have had on West Virginia and other Appalachian states.
“Where’s the justice when many people are plunged into poverty, drug addiction and homelessness?” she asked Regan.
In North Carolina, Regan earned a reputation as a centrist deal-maker under Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who was willing to sit down with farmers, energy companies and other stakeholders affected by his actions.
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., described Regan’s work to clean up agriculture and power plants in their state as “balancing the values of environmental stewardship with the needs of rural communities.” That has prompted some criticism from progressives that Regan’s efforts to bring the two parties together on climate change will slow a decarbonization process that they say needs to move quickly.
Asked why Biden hadn’t consulted with states before issuing his executive orders, Regan described the orders as “setting goals and visions.”
“They leave plenty of room of how these things will be implemented,” he said. “We have a ton of time to aim for these goals but massage the process by which we achieve these goals.”