Executive Watch: Cooper Appoints Michael Regan NC Environment Secretary
Governor Roy Cooper got his new administration off to a strong environmental start last week by announcing the designation of Michael Regan as his Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
It’s a measure of the importance of environmental matters to Cooper that Environmental Quality was one of the first two state cabinet-level agencies to have its head named. (The other was Transportation.) In selecting Regan, Cooper further showed just how different a direction he intends to take environmental and energy policy under his watch.
Regan is a strong proponent of clean air and clean energy—in contrast to his predecessor Donald van der Vaart’s concerted efforts to undercut both. Regan worked for a decade in the air quality division of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and spent another eight years working as the head of southeastern energy and climate policy for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
NCLCV Director of Governmental Affairs Dan Crawford reacted to the nomination of Regan by saying, “We commend Governor Cooper for nominating Michael Regan, a proven leader in developing innovative, data-inspired clean energy and environmental policies here in North Carolina. This appointment is a clear shift from the McCrory administration as Governor Cooper recognizes that the NCDEQ Secretary must be someone who makes decisions rooted in science, not politics, and who understands why enforcing rules designed to protect the people and natural resources of North Carolina matter. We look forward to working with Secretary Regan to ensure all North Carolina families have access to clean water to drink; healthy air to breathe; and clean, renewable energy to power their lives today and in the future.”
Because the General Assembly in its fourth “special session” of 2016 enacted a new requirement that executive department heads be submitted to the NC Senate for confirmation, Cooper’s selection of Regan is considered a nomination at this time. Instead of designating his departmental head picks as “acting secretaries” during the confirmation process, Cooper is also naming “caretaker “ heads of the departments during that transition period. For DEQ, Cooper named Bill Ross, a former Secretary of the then-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Ross served as DENR Secretary from 2001 to 2009. He is currently head of the non-profit Environmental Working Group.
Also last week, editorialists took time to lambast former DEQ Secretary Donald van der Vaart for trying to slip back into the non-political worker ranks at the agency he once led (badly). In a WRAL editorial from Capitol Broadcasting Company, the opinion notes, “Van der Vaart’s relatively brief tenure at the helm of the department has been marked more by controversy and dissension than accomplishment. The coal ash disposal issue, sparked by the Dan River spill before he came into office, remains unresolved. A bitter dispute over the wording of warnings connected with potentially unsafe well water ignited into accusations of lying under oath and resignations in protest. He has sought to thwart the development of renewable energy, including solar, one of the state’s top economic growth bright spots.” The editorial calls for van der Vaart to be fired despite his attempt to hide.
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