Biden EPA pick pledges 'close look' at plastics

President Joe Biden's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency told senators at his confirmation hearing Feb. 3 that he would take a "close look" at calls to step up regulations aimed at plastics.

Biden nominee Michael Regan told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that he would examine a detailed plan that environmental groups released in December, outlining regulatory actions the Biden administration could take without congressional approval.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., brought up the Presidential Plastics Action Plan from the environmental organizations during his questioning of Regan, who since 2017 has been head of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality under that state's Democratic governor, Roy Cooper.

Regan told the hearing he was "vaguely" familiar with the plastics plan and said he would examine it.

"Absolutely we will take a close look at it," he said. "We'll evaluate EPA's role and we will partner with you on advancing that."

A coalition of environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Greenpeace, released the plan in December as a template of administrative action a Biden government could take around plastics, including suspending permits for new facilities and toughening air emissions rules.

Merkley also urged Regan to have EPA look at ways to use government procurement to cut back on single-use plastics.

"The EPA has an environmentally preferable purchasing program, where they have the power to set an example and help introduce potentially more sustainable products in place of single-use plastics," he said. "Will you take a look at that program and the possibility of EPA using that as an opportunity to show what can be done to replace single-use plastics with more sustainable products?"

Regan said he would also look at that, without making specific commitments.

"Absolutely, senator. Where there is a program at EPA and where we have an opportunity to be a global leader, we will do an evaluation and we will put our shoulder to that wheel," he said.

Regan's confirmation hearing was largely a chance to senators for signal their priorities, and Regan repeatedly committed to priorities or consideration of ideas that lawmakers in both parties presented. Each senator had about five minutes to question Regan.

It was notable, nonetheless, to have a senator raise the NGO plan for plastics, which also included something similar to Merkley's request for a stepped up role for government procurement.

Merkley, who was one of the sponsors of the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act in the last Congress, urged Regan to have EPA examine emissions from plastics production and to increase plastics recycling.

"We have the challenge from plastics in a couple of ways," Merkley said. "One is that the production of plastics releases a tremendous amount of greenhouse gases. And second is plastic, when it's through with its single life, is rarely recycled.

"It's either burned or it's buried or it's borne to sea, where it causes all sorts of environmental problems floating in our rivers and in our oceans," Merkley said, asking Regan if he saw it as a significant issue.

"I do agree that it's a significant challenge when we look at the role of plastics, especially the impacts that we've seen with our marine life and our coastal communities," Regan said.

Merkley spoke at the December news conference launching the NGOs' plan, and both he and the groups said they saw it as a way to move their plans forward in a Congress that's closely divided.

The exchange over plastics regulation lasted for about a minute in a hearing that stretched for nearly three hours and touched on other issues that could also impact plastics, including concerns over industrial emissions of fluorinated chemicals and the Biden administration's stated plans to make environmental justice a policy priority.

Senators from both parties asked Regan to commit to quickening the EPA's pace around drinking water standards for fluorinated compounds. It was also an issue Regan oversaw in his tenure in the North Carolina DEQ, including negotiating a 2019 consent decree with Chemours Co. FC LLC over emissions of polyfluoroalkyl substances from its manufacturing plant in that state.

The hearing also included repeated questions to Regan about how he would lead EPA in both climate change and environmental justice issues, as policy priorities of the Biden administration.

The NGO petition to Biden included efforts seeking tighter air and water emissions protections for communities near plastics plants and other environmental justice concerns, as well as arguing that the buildout of resin facilities is accelerating climate change.

The environmental groups noted Biden has specifically mentioned St. James Parish in Louisiana, where residents are opposing a large plastics and chemical complex planned there by Formosa, and members of those local groups have testified before Congress at environmental justice hearings.