Michael Regan says he will enact an 'environmental justice framework' as EPA head
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."
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"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.