by Varun Hukeri
Daily Caller
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator nominee Michael Regan faced questions about the agency’s independence within the Biden administration during his confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
“I am concerned about some of the appointments the president has made where they’re not in the purview of this committee or congressional oversight,” Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said during her opening remarks. “That of course would be Gina McCarthy and John Kerry. They’ve already established themselves as unconfirmed and unaccountable czars.”
President Joe Biden appointed former EPA administrator McCarthy as his national climate advisor and former Secretary of State Kerry as his special president envoyfor climate. Capito expressed concerns the two newly created positions — which require no Senate confirmation — could exert political influence over the EPA and undermine the agency’s independence…
Steve Milloy, a former transition team member for the Trump administration’s EPA, warned that Biden’s climate agenda could be jammed through with further executive action.
“There can be little doubt that Biden climate czar and former Obama EPA administrator Gina McCarthy will be calling the shots on domestic environmental policy from the White House,” Milloy said in a statement to the Daily Caller.
