Biden puts environmental justice front and center with historic picks

The selection of the first Native American interior secretary and first Black male EPA chief highlights pollution disparities
Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) has been nominated to become the first Native American to serve as interior

By Juliet Eilperin, Dino Grandoni and Brady Dennis, Washington Post

President-elect Joe Biden chose Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) Thursday to serve as the first Native American Cabinet secretary and head the Interior Department, a historic pick that marks a turning point for the U.S. government’s relationship with the nation’s Indigenous peoples.

With that selection and others this week, Biden sent a clear message that top officials charged with confronting the nation’s environmental problems will have a shared experience with the Americans who have disproportionately been affected by toxic air and polluted land.

“A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,” Haaland tweeted Thursday night. “ … I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.”

In addition to Haaland, Biden has turned to North Carolina environmental regulator Michael S. Regan to become the first Black man to head the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as Obama administration veteran Brenda Mallory to serve as the first Black chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

While the picks represent a concession to progressives in Biden’s party, who publicly campaigned for an American Indian at the helm of Interior, they were also chosen to personify Biden’s plans to address the long-standing burdens low-income and minority communities have shouldered when it comes to dirty air and water. All three nominees will play a central role in realizing his promises to combat climate change, embrace green energy and address environmental racism.

“We have individuals coming to these positions who have seen what it’s like on the other side, in terms of communities that have suffered,” environmental justice pioneer Bob Bullard said in an interview Thursday. “They have been fighting for justice. Now they are in a position to make change and make policy. That, to me, has the potential to be transformative.”

An environmental justice warrior returns to rural Alabama to fight sewage

Earlier this week, Biden chose former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm (D), a proponent of zero-emission vehicles, as his energy secretary nominee. He also established the first White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and designated former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to head it. Former Obama budget official Ali Zaidi will serve as her deputy.

Related environmental news stories:
Biden Picks Deb Haaland to Lead Interior Department (New York Times)
Biden Picks Michael Regan, NC Environment Chief, to Head E.P.A. (NYT)
Biden picks Deb Haaland as first Native American interior secretary (The Guardian)

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Photos show 55-truck pileup on Interstate 80 in central Pennsylvania during snowstorm

MORNING CALL STAFF
December 17 at 7:02 PM EST

Pennsylvania State Police released photos showing a 66-vehicle pileup on Interstate 80 in central Pennsylvania during the snowstorm Wednesday.

A series of crashes occurred over a one-mile stretch in the westbound lanes in Greene and Lamar townships in Clinton County at around 3 p.m. State police said a total of 66 vehicles were involved, including 55 commercial vehicles and 11 passenger vehicles, according to preliminary counts

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EPA awards $1 million to the District of Columbia to control polluted runoff, restore water quality

From an EPA news release

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a $1,024,000 grant to the District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment to improve water quality in rivers and streams throughout the District.

The grant is part of EPA’s Nonpoint Source Implementation Grant Program, as outlines in Section 319 of the Clean Water Act to control water pollution.

“This grant supports preserving and protecting the District of Columbia’s water resources and ensuring communities have clean water,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “By working in partnership with the District, we can help implement necessary best management practices to reduce nonpoint source pollution in communities throughout the District.”

Nonpoint source pollution is caused when rainfall or snowmelt, moving over and through the ground, picks up and carries natural and human-made pollutants, depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and groundwater.

Controlling nonpoint source pollution is especially important since one in three Americans get their drinking water from public systems that rely on seasonal and rain-dependent streams.

Funding will support projects and best management practices in the areas of conservation planning, nutrient management, nutrient load reductions, watershed plan implementation, and restoration of streams and wetlands. This will include improvements to Alger Park, a project that used regenerative stream restoration techniques and added more than half an acre of wetlands to the stream corridor. 

Learn more about successful nonpoint source reduction projects at: https://www.epa.gov/nps

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Environmental law expert Brenda Mallory will head White House Council on Environmental Quality

“She is caring and thoughtful, but she also gets things done, and that’s a really rare combination at this level of politics,” one former colleague says.

By Brady Dennis, Washington Post

President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Brenda Mallory, a longtime expert in environmental law and regulation, to head the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, according to several people familiar with the decision who spoke anonymously because the appointment has not been publicly announced.

The nomination would place a veteran government official and conservation advocate in a key administration post, one who works closely with agencies to shape federal environmental and energy policy and to ensure individual communities have a voice in the construction of pipelines, roads and other potentially polluting projects.

Christy Goldfuss, who led the CEQ under President Barack Obama and worked closely alongside Mallory, said she was “ecstatic” about her nomination.

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“She has the perfect personality and skill set to navigate these really difficult times,” said Goldfuss, now senior vice president for energy and environment policy at the Center for American Progress. “It really takes someone who knows how to collaborate and build consensus to get things accomplished. She is caring and thoughtful, but she also gets things done, and that’s a really rare combination at this level of politics.”

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Mallory, if confirmed by the Senate, would be part of growing team of top administration officials who have long records of prioritizing climate and environmental issues.

Biden has tapped Gina McCarthy, who ran the Environmental Protection Agency under Obama and now leads a major advocacy group, to coordinate the new administration’s domestic climate agenda. He has named former secretary of state John F. Kerry as McCarthy’s counterpart, focusing on international climate policy. And he plans to nominate former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, a strong proponent for zero-emissions vehicles, as energy secretary.

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Maryland governor’s former chief of staff pleads the fifth 170 times as lawmakers question a six-figure payout he received from a state environmental job.

Roy C. McGrath, right, testifies at the Joint Committee on Fair Practices & State Personnel Oversight about his severance payout.

By PAMELA WOOD, Baltimore Sun

Members of a General Assembly oversight committee tried for months to get McGrath to answer their questions. While the subpoena compelled his appearance, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at least 170 times. In dozens of other responses, he said he couldn’t recall what legislators wanted to know.

Legislative leaders said it’s clear to them McGrath spent money lavishly and negotiated a significant payout despite transferring from one state position to another. They’ve reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and interviewed other witnesses, publicly and privately.

“We’ve had a lot of evidence about a large, unwarranted, unprecedented payout for a lateral move within state government,” said Del. Erek Barron, co-chair of the committee. “That evidence, I haven’t heard much, if any, opposition to.”

For the better part of four hours, Ward B. Coe, an attorney for the lawmakers, grilled McGrath via video. McGrath’s attorney, Bruce Marcus, appeared at his side.

Coe attempted to get McGrath to describe how he got the Maryland Environmental Service’s board of directors to approve the payout at the end of May, when he left to become Hogan’s chief of staff. It represented a year’s salary of $233,647, plus $5,250 in tuition reimbursement.

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