Biden rejects California regulator for EPA job, after environmental justice complaints
California’s chief air pollution regulator, once the front-runner to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Biden administration, has been passed over after getting pummeled with complaints about her record on environmental justice.
Sources told McClatchy on Thursday that President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Michael Regan, the secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality to run the federal EPA. If confirmed by the Senate, Regan would become the first Black man to run the agency.
Until last week, Biden was close to choosing Mary Nichols, the just-retired chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board. Nichols had received broad acclaim for leading California’s fight against climate change — and leading its resistance against the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken rules governing greenhouse gas emissions
Nichols’ candidacy ran into fierce opposition from advocates of environmental justice — the doctrine that says regulators must keep low-income communities at the forefront when it comes to fighting pollution.
One of Nichols’ signature achievements has been California’s cap-and-trade program, which limits carbon emissions on a statewide basis but allows individual polluters to continue polluting by purchasing credits on the open market or through a state-run auction.
Critics say the eight-year-old program has enabled refineries, power plants and other industrial firms — which tend to be clustered in low-income communities — to keep doing extraordinary environmental harm.
Earlier this month, 70 environmental justice advocates sent Biden a letter, urging him to pick someone other than Nichols for the EPA post. Among those signing the letter was Greenpeace USA, which congratulated Biden on Thursday.
“We’re glad to see President-elect Biden listen to frontline communities and pass over California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols, who was widely rumored to be considered for the top spot at the Environmental Protection Agency. In doing so, Biden gave himself the chance to choose an EPA Administrator who will prioritize justice for the communities most impacted by fossil-fueled pollution.”
Greenpeace said Regan has “a mixed record on environmental justice issues” in North Carolina, where he fought against offshore oil drilling but failed to protect communities against the impacts of hog farming.
‘Disproportionately harmed by environmental racism’
Twenty-nine members of California’s congressional delegation rallied to Nichols’ defense after the broadside from the environmental justice advocates, apparently to no avail.
“Ms. Nichols has worked tirelessly to ensure that communities disproportionately harmed by environmental racism are not left behind in California’s environmental progress,” they wrote.
Nichols made headlines in recent years leading California’s resistance to Trump’s climate policies. After Trump gutted rules limiting automobile tailpipe emissions of carbon — rules that were developed jointly by Nichols’ agency and the Obama administration — Nichols managed to peel off several major automakers from the rest of the industry. These carmakers, including Ford and Honda, agreed to follow a compromise version of the Obama regulations.
Her allies in the environmental community pointed to the carmakers’ agreement as an example of what Nichols would have brought to the EPA.
“Mary knows how to do business with the car companies,” said V. John White, an environmental policy consultant and longtime legislative staffer in Sacramento. “That really reflects her experience and credibility.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Biden rejects California regulator for EPA job, after environmental justice complaints."