The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) has welcomed the appointment of Michael Regan as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The US Senate voted 66-34 to confirm Michael Regan to lead the agency on Wednesday, becoming the first black man to take up the role.
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He had worked at the EPA in the presidential administrations of Bill Clinton and George W Bush from 1998 to 2008. He went on to become the head of North Carolina’s environmental regulating body.
Gregory Wetstone, president and chief executive of ACORE, called Regan a “true environmental champion”, adding that the EPA would play a “vital role” in driving growth in the renewable energy sector.
“Having a true environmental champion like Michael Regan leading the EPA is a big step in the right direction”, he said.
“This is a critical moment in time and the EPA has a vital role to play in mitigating climate change and driving the deployment of pollution-free, renewable power.”
Regan will be tasked with leading the EPA to meet President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate targets. The President has laid out a commitment to have the US running on a carbon neutral power system by 2035, and has made a raft of new appointments in order to work towards this target. A new Energy secretary, former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, was sworn in last month (26 February). Jigar Shah, co-founder of Generate Capital and founder of SunEdison, has been named director of the Loan Programs Office, which oversees around US$40 billion in loan authority in manufacturing, finance and tribal energy projects, while political consultant Karen Skelton is now Granholm’s senior advisor.