Statement on the Nomination of Michael Regan for EPA Administrator 

For Immediate Release

December 17, 2020

Statement on the Nomination of Michael Regan for EPA Administrator 

Sacramento, CA – Today, the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) issued the following statement in response to the appointment of Michael Regan, the former Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, to the EPA Administrator role:

“We congratulate Michael Regan on his nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. We hope that as EPA Administrator he will ensure that the frontline communities who bear the full brunt of the racial, climate, COVID, and environmental crises are at the center of designing climate justice and pollution solutions.

We also recognize the Lumbee Nation, West End Revitalization Association, and North Carolina Climate Justice Collective and many others who worked tirelessly to protect their land, water, air, and people from pipelines, logging, and toxic waste disposal in North Carolina, and experienced harm from Regan’s decisions as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.  We hope that as Regan steps into his new role as EPA Administrator, he will show courage and advance a transformational vision in standing up to big polluters and repair the harm they’ve done to communities in North Carolina and across the country.

We appreciate that the Biden-Harris Administration took seriously the concerns of environmental justice and environmental advocates in their consideration of candidates and look forward to working with the new administration to advance a Just Transition to ensure that all people have clean air to breathe, water to drink, and land to grow food on.”

-Antonio Diaz, Executive Dir. of People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Justice (PODER)

-Caroline Farrell, Executive Dir. of the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment (CRPE)

-Esther Portillo, Executive Dir. of the Center on Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ)

-Miya Yoshitani, Executive Dir. of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)

-Diane Takvorian, Executive Dir. the Environmental Health Coalition (EHC)

-Gladys Limón, Executive Dir. of the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA)

####