Micheal Regan, the Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency—the first African-American to occupy that position—is a keen environmentalist. As the father of a 9-year-old, he knows it is his job to leave a safe planet for the next generation. businessline caught up with Regan when he was in Chennai to participate in the G-20 proceedings. Excerpts from the interview:
How does it feel to be the administrative of EPA of the country that is most responsible for the climate mess?
(Laughs) I think it’s humbling that the President (Biden) has selected me to lead the US EPA. Since President Biden took office, he has done a significant job bringing the Congress along to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into solving the climate crisis. So, this is a huge opportunity for us to take significant resources and re-engage on the global stage. We think about us as part of the global family, how we actually solve the climate crisis. The government can’t do it alone. We know that there needs to be public private partnerships and partnerships with the academia. QEPA’s website says that the agency is “committed to advancing the goals of environmental justice for all Americans”. What about the rest of us, especially those who are affected by the actions of Americans? For example, how do you view using batteries that have cobalt from Congo mines, where things are not good? Is it your mandate to look at that also?
Yes, it is. We are a global society. First and foremost, whenever I talk, I talk about environmental protection and health protection for every person in our country. They may or may not be American, they may or may not be US citizens. That’s with our regulatory power that governs the United States. But we also recognise that we have a lot of influence internationally. So, the choices that we make have an impact. QCan you give me an example of how you have used this influence?
Environmental justice is something that we really have focused on domestically. We know that in America, some of the poorest communities are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and or have been on the receiving end of pollution. That is something that we’re trying to tackle. But we know that that is universal; in every country, you see that those with the least amount of resources or the least amount of means, who have probably contributed the least to these problems, are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. I think that any solutions that we create must serve as a rising tide that lifts everyone up at the same time. In the last two years, I have visited nine countries—this is the 10th country that I am visiting—talking about the leadership that we can exemplify as a country, how we all must come together on the global stage to think about how we protect. QBut has there been any action on the ground? If you take the example of cobalt from Congo, there is a tremendous amount of human misery in the whole mining process. How do you deal with such situations?
Well, I think that in the United States of America, our trade agreements and our preferred actions, access to the supply chains focus on countries that do things in a civil and a humane way. There are international laws that govern a tonne of things, but we can use the power of our position and our resources to invest in areas that are doing it better. We also are taking a very close look at how we do mining and extraction of resources domestically—really putting a stronger environmental lens on how we do it domestically because—we’d like to ensure manufacturing gets back in the United States and not have to rely on countries that are not doing it in the ways that we would prefer. So, I do believe that we have to stand up to ensure that human rights are protected all over the world. And in the ways that we can do that, I believe President Biden is leading. QWhat are your thoughts on ‘clean coal technologies’? Can any use of coal be ‘clean’, because no matter which technology, if you burn coal, you emit carbon dioxide.
We are working on a proposed power plant standard in the United States that helps us to transition from heavily fossil fuel resources to clean resources. You have to do that in a very strategic way and obviously, technologies like carbon capture and storage, and carbon capture sequestration are something that have been thought of as a potential, cost-effective way to do that.But we also know that the use of coal is becoming less cost-effective, at least in America. We’re not going to get out of this mess overnight. So, we will have to use some technologies to help with that transition, but eventually, we’re going to be using less and less coal. We have to make sure that the communities and the industries that have been mining coal and helped our countries become as great as they are using coal, transition to this clean energy economy. QHow would you transition people? What kind of alternative jobs can give them?
These communities have been the epicenter of energy generation for hundreds of years. And so there are opportunities for them to also take advantage of. Some of it is about education and getting the right job training. But some of it is about bringing technology to these communities and not just taking technology elsewhere.We’ve got to revive these communities and help them see themselves in the vision that we’re trying to create for a new cleaner future. Our carpenters, electricians, general contractors, engineers, and accountants—these are transferable skills. We have to have a just transition in a way that we give these workers a competitive opportunity to engage in these careers. QDo you think you are doing enough? I ask you this specifically because I just recently read that the US brought in the new royalty rule that would make this oil companies pay more for the land. But I was shocked to find that the total amount that you will collect between now and 2031 is $ 1.8 billion, which is hardly anything.
I don’t think the royalty program sits under EPA but let me say this. I have a 9-year-old son. I want to leave him on a safe planet, but I also want to leave him on a planet that has jobs and economic vitality. I wish we could do more. We are doing everything that we can in this administration to re-engage on the global platform and use all of our Ingenuity, creativity, and resources to help transition to a cleaner future. QIs there scope for technology transfer from the US to India in critical areas such as carbon capture and would your agency do anything to help ease things in this direction?
Well, all of our agencies are working together. And as we evaluate these technologies and their safety and efficacy, will work with all of our sister agencies to be sure that we can have an exchange of knowledge, technology, and ideas, research and development so that we can move exponentially faster than we are right now to tackle the climate crisis.
