Michael Stanley Regan (born August 6, 1976) is an American environmental regulator. He has been serving as the 16th

administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other enviro ...

since March 11, 2021. He is the first African American man to serve in the role. Regan has formerly served as the secretary of North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality and air quality specialist in the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

(EPA). His elevation to that role was widely praised by environmental groups because of his track record for addressing

environmental racism Environmental racism or ecological apartheid is a form of institutional racism leading to landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionally placed in communities of colour. Internationally, it is also associated with ...

and supporting policy to address climate change.

Early life and education

A native of

Goldsboro, North Carolina Goldsboro, originally Goldsborough, is a city and the county seat of Wayne County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 33,657 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropol ...

, Regan is the son of Mavis Regan, a nurse for nearly 30 years, and Zeb Stuart Regan Jr., a

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

veteran, retired

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in the

North Carolina Army National Guard The North Carolina Army National Guard is North Carolina's principal military force. The force is equipped by the federal government and jointly maintained subject to the call of either. The professional head of the North Carolina Army National G ...

, and former agricultural extension agent. He has a brother and a sister. Growing up, he hunted and fished with his father and grandfather in the inner

coastal plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...

of North Carolina. Regan attended

North Carolina A&T State University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

, where he received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in earth and environmental science. He then attended

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where he received a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

Career

Regan began his career as an environmental regulator for the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

during the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

and Bush administration from 1998 to 2008. He then joined the

Environmental Defense Fund Environmental Defense Fund or EDF (formerly known as Environmental Defense) is a United States-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group. The group is known for its work on issues including global warming, ecosystem restoration, oceans, and hu ...

(EDF), where he ultimately became the associate vice president for clean energy and a Southeast regional director. He remained at the EDF for over eight years.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality

In 2017, North Carolina governor

Roy Cooper Roy Asberry Cooper III (born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician, serving as the 75th governor of North Carolina since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th attorney general of North Carolina from 20 ...

selected Regan to serve as the secretary of the

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) is an agency of the government of North Carolina that focuses on the preservation and protection of natural resources and public health. The Department is headed by the Secretary of E ...

. During his tenure, he launched the state's Environmental Justice and Equity Board with a charter to advise the Secretary on how best to advance

environmental justice Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...

and promote community engagement, particularly across historically underserved and marginalized communities. He also worked to develop the state's Clean Energy Plan, which aims to reduce private sector

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...

by 2030 and ultimately move towards

carbon neutrality Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...

by 2050. The plan also outlines recommendations and goals of accelerating innovations in clean energy technologies, while creating opportunities for rural and urban communities across North Carolina. In addition, Regan oversees the state's climate change interagency council, which has worked to advance Governor Cooper's pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In January 2020, Regan secured an agreement with

Duke Energy Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...

for the largest

coal ash Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when de ...

contamination cleanup in United States history. The company committed to excavating eighty million tons of ash across seven of nine coal ash deposits. His department also ordered the chemical company

Chemours Chemours (, ) is an American chemical company that was founded in July 2015 as a spin-off from DuPont. It has its corporate headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. History In October 2013, DuPont announced that it was planning to ...

to address and eliminate toxic

per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain. An early definition, from 2011, required that they contain at least one perfluoroalkyl mo ...

(PFAS), which they were dumping into the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...

upstream of a major source of drinking water. While generally favored by

environmental organization An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environment ...

s, Regan has clashed with the

environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists a ...

. In 2018, he approved permits for the

Atlantic Coast Pipeline The Atlantic Coast Pipeline was a planned natural gas pipeline slated to run from West Virginia, through Virginia, to eastern North Carolina. It was canceled in July 2020. Characteristics Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC was the developer and planne ...

, though the project was ultimately cancelled.

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

On December 17, 2020, members of the Biden presidential transition team told the press Regan would be nominated to serve as the next

administrator. Regan is the first black man to run the agency and is responsible for helping to advance the Biden administration's commitment to combating climate change, promoting green energy innovations, and addressing the effects of

. Regan's nomination was endorsed by the Environmental Protection Network, an organization composed of former EPA appointees and career staff which was created to oppose the Trump administration's efforts to roll back environmental regulations. On February 9, 2021, members of the

United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works The United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is responsible for legislation and oversight of the natural and built environment and for studying matters concerning environmental protection and nature conservation, resource co ...

(EPW) Committee voted 14–6 to send Regan's nomination as EPA administrator for a full Senate vote. The full Senate confirmed his nomination 66–34 on March 10, 2021, and he was sworn in on March 11, 2021.

Personal life

Regan lives in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

, with his wife, Melvina, and son, Matthew. Their first-born son, Michael Stanley Regan, Jr. ("MJ") died on August 16, 2012 from stage IV high-risk neuroblastoma at the age of one.

References

External links

Biography
at the

(archived) * * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Regan, Michael S 1976 births Administrators of the United States Environmental Protection Agency African-American members of the Cabinet of the United States Biden administration cabinet members Living people North Carolina A&T State University alumni People from Goldsboro, North Carolina People from Raleigh, North Carolina State cabinet secretaries of North Carolina African-American state cabinet secretaries North Carolina Democrats Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration alumni