Trump-Biden transition: Attorney Sidney Powell back at White House

Southern Environmental Law Center Regulatory Policy Director Brenda Mallory told Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris she was "honored and humbled" by her appointment to be chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.

Mallory highlighted her upbringing in Waterbury, Connecticut, for shaping her commitment to fighting the injustices brought on by climate change.

"I know the faces of the marginalized, and I appreciate the challenges of urban pollution. While the words 'climate change' and 'environmental injustice' were not part of the vernacular back then, the evidence of their impact was all around," she said.

Mallory promised to revitalize the Council on Environmental Quality, saying "CEQ will work with a broad range of partners on a broad range of issues, tackle the full breadth of climate change, preserve the natural treasures of our nation, center environmental justice and help more communities overcome legacy environmental impacts.

In accepting his nomination as E.P.A. administrator, Michael Regan drew attention to the "connection between our environment and our health."

Growing up in eastern North Carolina, he said he "developed a deep love and respect for the outdoors and our natural resources," but that he "also experienced respiratory issues that required me to use an inhaler on days where pollutants and allergens were especially bad." 

"We will be driven by our convictions that every person in our great country has the right to clean air, clean water and a healthier life, no matter how much money they have in their pockets, the color of their skin or the community that they live in," he said. "We will move with a sense of urgency on climate change, protecting our drinking water, and enact an environmental justice framework that empowers people in all communities."

The nomination is a "dream come true," said Regan, who previously served nearly a decade at the E.P.A. under both Democratic and Republican presidents.

A graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, he said he also was honored to join Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as a "fellow HBCU graduate in this administration."

On the nomination, Biden noted that Regan, currently secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, would be the first African American man to run the E.P.A.

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm accepted Biden's nomination as energy secretary Saturday.

"My commitment to clean energy was forged in the fire," Granholm said. "Joe Biden and the Obama administration worked with us to rescue the auto industry and the million jobs that are attached to it. They worked with us to retool and electrify Detroit for the future, of course, and to diversify Michigan's economy on the premise of this promising future in clean energy."

The former governor stressed the importance of investment in clean energy to produce new jobs.

"Over the next two decades, countries and companies are going to invest trillions... in electric cars and batteries and wind turbines and solar panels and energy-efficient appliances and energy-efficient buildings," Granholm said.

"Millions of good-paying jobs are going to be created, millions. But where? Where will those jobs be?" She asked. She said "The path to building back better [is] starting with building and manufacturing and deploying those products here, stamping them “Made in America,” and exporting them around the world."

Biden's nominee for energy secretary highlighted her family's history, as immigrants from Canada, and the importance of good-paying jobs.

"It's because of my family's journey and my experience in fighting for hardworking Michigan families that I have become obsessed with creating good-paying jobs in America in a global economy, obsessed with seizing the opportunities that a clean energy future will provide for American workers. So we can stand on the sidelines and let other countries beat us to these opportunities, or we can get in the game," Granholm said.

New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland said she was honored to accept the nomination for secretary of the interior, which would make her the first Native American Cabinet secretary if confirmed. 

She said the moment was "profound when we consider the fact that a former secretary of the interior once proclaimed fiscal to 'civilize or exterminate us'" -- referring to comments made in 1851 by then-Secretary of the Interior Alexander H. H. Stuart regarding Native Americans.

"I'm a living testament to the failure of that horrific ideology," she said.

As secretary of the interior, she said her role would be to address the challenges of climate change and environmental injustice.

"We will ensure that the decisions at Interior will once again be driven by science," she said. 

"The president-elect and vice president-elect know that issues under Interior’s jurisdiction aren't simply about conservation. They're woven in with justice, good jobs and closing the racial wealth and health gaps," she added.

On her nomination, Biden said Haaland will be a "true steward of our national parks, our natural resources and all of our lands."

"The federal government has long broken promises to Native American tribes who have been on this land since time immemorial," he said.