Regan, who will be the first black man to lead the EPA, tells Rolling Stone that rebuilding the agency is his priority. “We have world-renowned experts at the EPA,” he says. “We should listen to them, and we will.”
With the Biden government promising to use all executive power to tackle climate change, a revitalized EPA will be at the center of its ambitious emission reduction goals. “I will be focused on how we limit methane emissions,” says Regan of the potent greenhouse gas released in natural gas operations.
He lists environmental justice and water quality as his other priorities, but guiding his approach to all these ambitions is the belief that what is good for the planet can also be good for workers and businesses – a belief that Biden shares. “All of these priorities that I just set will be good for people, the planet and profits,” says Regan.
His personal philosophy is “trying to find people where they are, understanding everyone’s challenges, whether it be an individual or a company, and then thinking, ‘How do you come up with the solution in a way that can work?’ “