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Trump Damaged the EPA. Here’s How Michael Regan Can Rebuild It and Advance Equitable Environmental Protections.

Update: On March 10, 2021, the Senate voted to confirm Michael Regan as EPA Administrator.

President-elect Joe Biden is set to name Michael Regan to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Regan is currently the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, and his past experience includes earlier stints at EPA and the Environmental Defense Fund. He would be the first Black man to serve as EPA administrator.

Donald Trump and the industry allies he appointed to head this critical agency — Scott Pruitt and Andrew Wheeler — harmed it through a series of air, water, pesticide, and chemical safety rollbacks. Pruitt and Wheeler also imposed damaging procedural rules on the agency that, if left in place, will make it next to impossible to use the best science to craft environmental protections — or to justify them in the first place. Adding insult to injury, the agency significantly accelerated the long-term trend of reducing enforcement of our nation's environmental laws.

The Biden administration and Regan must rebuild the agency, revoke Pruitt and Wheeler's damaging policies, and refocus EPA on proactive enforcement and just, equitable environmental protections that work for all people and the planet.

Here are five top priorities they can start on right away:

  1. Begin a prompt, agency-wide review of Trump’s environmental rollbacks. In January, the Biden administration should undertake a systematic, agency-wide review of all Trump administration environmental rollbacks. This review should assess the public health and environmental risks posed by these rollbacks and their implications for environmental justice. Regan should work with career staff to set priorities for rescinding and/or replacing all rollbacks that harm people, communities, or the environment.

  2. Revamp environmental enforcement to protect communities and advance environmental justice. For decades, EPA enforcement of our environmental laws has suffered from resource shortages, inadequate staffing, and a dearth of political will. The Trump administration exploited these weaknesses and ramped up the agency’s nonenforcement approach — which included using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to waive crucial requirements related to pollution reporting. Regan should tackle this problem by restoring enforcement oversight of state environmental agencies, publicly calling for and reiterating the importance of strong enforcement, and focusing enforcement efforts on polluting industries in environmental justice communities.

  3. Recommit the agency to addressing the climate crisis. Pruitt was a notorious climate change denier, and former coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler didn’t do much to shift the EPA away from this dangerous, unscientific attitude. That needs to change even before Regan is confirmed, and, fortunately, Biden has committed to doing just that. Specific recommendations include reassigning climate scientists removed from their roles after Trump took office to their prior positions and reviving EPA’s Science Advisory Board by replacing climate denialists with legitimate scientists.

  4. Rebuild EPA’s staff. Budget constraints and open hostility to EPA’s mission and work have spurred an exodus of career staff, shrinking the agency’s size and weakening its ability to protect the environment. With fewer staff and resources, EPA is less able to enforce environmental laws and respond to emerging environmental health threats. It has also cut the number of inspections it conducts in polluting facilities. The Biden team should rebuild EPA by assessing personnel needs, preparing a realistic proposal to significantly increase staff size, and expanding the agency's budget in order to do so.

  5. Repeal the agency's censored science and clean air "benefits-busting" rules. Pruitt's overarching attacks on the agency were to (1) constrain staff use of scientific evidence in crafting environmental and public health protections and (2) bias assessment of the costs and benefits of proposed rules in favor of industry. Regan must root out these policies, restore scientific integrity to the agency, and ensure it prioritizes public health, environmental protection, environmental justice, and the law when assessing rules.

These priorities are an important starting place, but a raft of damaging policies and rollbacks also need attention. These include replacing the agency’s weakened methane rule, repealing the Trump administration’s rollback of an Obama-era policy to reduce power plant emissions, and replacing the administration's regulation hollowing out the Clean Water Rule, which has left streams, wetlands and other waters unprotected by federal law.

The Biden administration will likely be able to tackle aspects of its longer-term environmental agenda through lawsuit settlements, but other repairs require the EPA to set entirely new rules. This will be a lengthy process, but it can and should be done to deliver better health, a cleaner environment, and justice and equity for all.

Editor’s note: This post is part of the Center for Progressive Reform’s Policy for a Just America initiative. Learn more on CPR’s website.

Top image courtesy of North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality.

Showing 2,818 results

Joel A. Mintz, Victor Flatt | December 18, 2020

Trump Damaged the EPA. Here’s How Michael Regan Can Rebuild It and Advance Equitable Environmental Protections.

President-elect Joe Biden is set to name Michael Regan to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Regan is currently the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, and his past experience includes earlier stints at EPA and the Environmental Defense Fund. He would be the first Black man to serve as EPA administrator.

Robert Verchick | December 17, 2020

Biden Plans to Pick Brenda Mallory to Lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Here’s What She Can Do to Boost Public Protections.

President-elect Joe Biden is set to name Brenda Mallory to lead the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the White House office that coordinates environmental policy across federal agencies. Mallory has more than three decades of environmental law and policy experience, served as CEQ general counsel under President Obama, and is currently director of regulatory policy at the Southern Environmental Law Center. Here are four things Mallory and CEQ could do right away to coordinate environmental policy across federal agencies and repair an office Donald Trump badly damaged.

Hannah Wiseman | December 17, 2020

Jennifer Granholm and the Energy Department Can Usher in a Just Transition to Clean Energy. Here’s How.

President-elect Joe Biden is poised to name Jennifer Granholm to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees key energy efficiency standards, research, and development. Granholm is a former two-term governor of Michigan and a champion of using a clean energy transition to spur economic growth.

Robert L. Glicksman | December 17, 2020

Biden Nominated Deb Haaland to Lead the Department of the Interior. Here Are Five Top Priorities for the Agency.

President-elect Joe Biden tapped Deb Haaland to head up the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees our nation's public lands, wildlife conservation, and key aspects of energy development. Currently a House representative from New Mexico, Haaland has led the national parks, forests, and public lands subcommittee on the House Natural Resources Committee. She would be the first Native American to lead the department.

Daniel Farber | December 15, 2020

Restoring Agency Norms

Donald Trump prided himself on his contempt for established norms of presidential action. Whole books have been written about how to restore those norms. Something similar also happened deeper down in the government, out in the agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that do the actual work of governance. Trump appointees have corrupted agencies and trashed the norms that support agency integrity. It will take hard work to undo the harm. White House leadership is important, but success will require dedicated effort by the agency heads appointed by Biden.

Scott Stern | December 14, 2020

A New Strategy for Indigenous Climate Refugees

In the midst of a global pandemic and increasingly desperate attempts by the Trump administration to subvert the results of the 2020 election, it would be easy to miss a slew of recent news stories on individuals the media has termed "climate refugees." These are people who have been displaced due to catastrophic climate change, or who will be forced to flee as their homes become too hot, too cold, or too dry, or if they become regular targets of massive storms or end up underwater. As many of these stories have highlighted, among those most at risk are the Indigenous peoples of the United States. Yet, there is a potential path out of climate-induced devastation.

Daniel Farber | December 11, 2020

Downstream Emissions

A recent Ninth Circuit ruling overturned approval of offshore drilling in the Arctic. The ruling may directly impact the Trump administration's plans for oil leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). By requiring agencies to consider emissions when fossil fuels are ultimately burned, the Court of Appeals' decision may also change the way agencies consider other fossil fuel projects, such as gas pipelines.

Katlyn Schmitt | December 10, 2020

Environmental Enforcement in the COVID-19 Era

Ever since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a dangerous (and now-rescinded) policy relaxing enforcement of environmental protections in March, the Center for Progressive Reform has watchdogged responses from state environmental agencies in three states in the Chesapeake Bay Region — Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. While the EPA essentially gave companies a free pass to hide pollution violations during the pandemic, most states set up processes to handle COVID-19-related noncompliance. Environmental agencies in the three states we monitored received dozens of waiver requests related to water, land, and air quality protections, pollution controls, sampling and monitoring, inspections, and critical infrastructure deadlines. A majority of these requests were related to the pandemic. But others, such as those seeking to delay important deadlines for construction projects, were not. This suggests that some polluters are using COVID-19 as an excuse to subvert or delay deadlines that prevent further air or water pollution.

Darya Minovi, Rebecca Bratspies | December 9, 2020

Will the Biden Administration Invest in Environmental Justice Reforms?

On October 22, millions of Americans watched the final presidential debate, taking in each candidate's plan for oft-discussed issues like health care, the economy, and foreign policy. Toward the end, the moderator asked the candidates how they would address the disproportionate and harmful impacts of the oil and chemical industries on people of color. President Trump largely ignored the question. But former Vice President Joe Biden addressed it head on, sharing his own experience growing up near oil refineries and calling for restrictions on "fenceline emissions" -- the pollution levels observed at the boundary of a facility's property, which too often abuts a residential neighborhood. Less than three weeks later, Biden was elected president of the United States, making it possible for him to turn his campaign promises into action.