Transition team officials said on Thursday that President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate Rep. Deb Haaland as interior secretary and Michael Regan, North Carolina’s top environmental official, to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Haaland, who has represented New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District since 2019, was previously the chairwoman of the state’s Democratic Party and worked on President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. She is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe and if confirmed, she’ll be the first Native American to serve in a Cabinet secretary position. Haaland would be responsible for overseeing the management of federal land, natural resources and national parks. The department also represents the U.S. government’s closest connection with the nation’s 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Regan has served as secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality since January 2017. Before that, he worked for the Environmental Defense Fund, a non-profit advocacy group, and he was an air quality specialist with the EPA during the Clinton and Bush administrations. If confirmed, Regan will be the first Black man to lead the agency.
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