President Biden’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan, tried to assure Republicans that their job loss concerns would be heard under his leadership.
Upon questioning by Republican senators, Regan, 45, promised to “follow the law, not exceed my statutory authority” by enacting a series of new regulations on everything from engines to vehicle exhaust, mercury emissions to waterways.
In the meantime, Regan told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday: “We can’t just regulate our way of solving all the problems we face.”
“If you want to face complex challenges, you must be able to see them from all sides. You must be able to put yourself in the shoes of others, ”he continued.
The Trump administration reversed more than 100 environmental rules that it considered unnecessary and costly for companies, and Biden campaigned promising to put them back in place.
Since Biden took office last month, Republicans have been enraged by a series of executive orders aimed at taking the country out of fossil fuels – from canceling the Keystone XL pipeline license to granting a one-year lease break. oil and gas on federal land.
TC Energy said it expected to employ more than 11,000 in 2021 to build the pipeline and generate more than $ 1.6 billion in salaries. About 1,000 were laid off as a result of the request.
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Asked why Biden did not consult with states before issuing the request, Regan said he described the requests as “setting goals and visions”.
“They leave a lot of space for how these things will be implemented,” he said.
Regan was presented with approval by two Republican senators from his home state – Thom Tillis and Richard Burr. Burr called Regan “extremely qualified” and Tillis said that Regan was someone that lawmakers could “trust to be fair”.
Burr said Regan’s work to clean up agriculture in his home state balanced “the values of environmental management with the needs of rural communities”.
Regan, who would be the first administrator of the Black EPA, emphasized his commitment to upholding environmental justice and working with the community and business groups “who know their own communities better than the federal government could ever.”
Regan told of his own experience in which he had to use an inhaler due to a breathing problem that he said was made worse by highly polluting factories and power plants in eastern North Carolina.
West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Capito questioned whether the Biden government’s commitment to environmental justice would be reversed if impoverished communities trying to protect from pollution ended up losing jobs in the process. The closure of coal mines hit states like West Virginia particularly hard.
“Where is the justice when many people are plunged into poverty, drug addiction and homelessness?” she asked Regan.
“It is difficult to rebuild better, as the president said, if we cannot build anything,” added Capito.
McCarthy said last week that Biden’s new executive action would establish a “working group” dedicated to revitalizing coal communities and power plants to make up for the losses.
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Capito also questioned what Regan’s role would be in Biden’s climate agenda, as the White House has already commissioned other officials to oversee the issue.
She asked whether climate officials are going to “trip over each other” as Regan is likely to work with the direction of Gina McCarthy, domestic climate adviser, and John Kerry, special climate envoy.
“Who’s really going to make decisions?” Asked Capito. She expressed concerns that “unelected and inexplicable” climate “tsars” would exercise real influence, avoiding Congressional scrutiny.
Regan said he anticipates a “healthy debate” on the issues, but added that he responds to Biden, not Kerry or McCarthy.
For the past four years, Regan has served as North Carolina’s top environmental regulator. Under Regan, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality blocked a certification to extend the Mountain Valley pipeline, but approved one for the now abandoned Atlantic Coast pipeline, in conflict with environmentalists.
Regan also signed an agreement with Duke Energy to clean up a huge spill of contamination by coal ash.
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Prior to that, Regan spent years with the Environmental Defense Fund and worked as an environmental regulator under the Clinton and Bush governments from 1998-2008.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.