by
Government Affairs Team
| Mar 22, 2021
On March 10, the United States Senate voted to confirm Michael Regan as President Joe Biden's pick to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The vote was 66 to 34.
Regan has previously served at the EPA under both Democratic and Republican presidents leading initiatives to improve energy efficiency and air quality and to mitigate pollution.
As Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Regan conceptualized North Carolina’s Executive Order 80, led the negotiations resulting in the cleanup of the Cape Fear River, oversaw the largest coal ash cleanup in the country, and created North Carolina’s first Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board. He was former Associate Vice President of the Environmental Defense Fund. He founded M. Regan & Associates to help organizations navigate challenges at the intersection of energy, the economy, and the environment.
GCSAA’s Government Affairs looks forward to meeting with Administrator Regan later in 2021. We want to make sure he is aware of who GCSAA and its members are; our strong support of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA); and our successful accomplishment of the Best Management Practices 50 x 2020 initiative.
Administrator Regan is known for his outreach to stakeholders and has earned a reputation for making decisions guided by science that take into account input from all impacted stakeholders.
Administrator Regan’s focus will be on: combating environmental racism and injustice; implementing stricter fuel efficiency for automobiles and building upon fossil fuel regulations rolled back during Trump Administration. One of President Biden’s Executive Orders indicated a review of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, the successor to WOTUS that the GCSAA supports. We expect the EPA to consider options on this rule over the course of the year. Expect GCSAA’s government affairs team to closely monitor these developments to make sure golf’s voice is heard.
In other U.S. EPA news, GCSAA’s Government Affairs Director Chava McKeel participated in the American Association of Pesticide Control Officials virual annual meeting March 8-9. The Association of American Pesticide Control Officials was formed in 1947, the same year that Congress enacted FIFRA. Members of AAPCO consist of the officers charged by law with the execution of the state, territorial, provincial, and federal laws in the United States, including all its territories, and in Canada. It is the chance for the 50 state lead agencies focused on pesticide programs and U.S. EPA to talk about current pesticide policy issues. Discussions were held regarding EPA’s COVID response, Dicamba & Paraquat Herbicide Registrations, implementation of EPA’s Certification and Training rule; and the attacks on pesticide preemption in the states.