With climate change focus, Biden filling environmental, interior posts
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[December 18, 2020]
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw
WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) -President-elect
Joe Biden tapped North Carolina's top environmental regulator, Michael
Regan, as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief and Democratic
congresswoman Deb Haaland as interior secretary as he builds his team to
combat climate change and safeguard the environment.
If confirmed by the Senate, Regan would become the first Black person to
run the EPA and Haaland would become the first Native American Cabinet
secretary, adding to a historically diverse incoming Democratic
administration.
Their nominations were announced by Biden's transition team in a
statement on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, a top Biden adviser, U.S. Representative Cedric
Richmond, tested positive for the coronavirus after briefly interacting
with Biden earlier this week when the president-elect was campaigning on
behalf of Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Georgia.
Their encounter was in open air and both men were wearing masks, the
transition team said, meaning Biden was not in "close contact" as
defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Biden
tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday. Richmond will quarantine for
two weeks.
Biden also participated on Thursday in an interview on "The Late Show
with Stephen Colbert" where he defended his son, Hunter, who is under
investigation by federal prosecutors over his taxes.
"We have great confidence in our son. I'm not concerned about any
accusations been made against him. It's used to get to me. I think it's
kind of foul play," Biden told Colbert.
After the excerpt of Biden's interview was released, transition aides
said his "foul play" remark referred to those who have tried to use
Hunter Biden as a political cudgel, not to the federal investigation
itself.
The probe into Hunter Biden's taxes are related to his business
activities in China and elsewhere that some Republicans in Congress say
merit the appointment by the Justice Department of a special counsel.
Regan and Haaland are among the key officials, also including the
secretaries of energy and transportation and the head of a new office
leading domestic climate policy coordination at the White House, in
Biden's bid to make U.S. policy greener after four years of Republican
Donald Trump's presidency.
"This brilliant, tested, trailblazing team will be ready on day one to
confront the existential threat of climate change with a unified
national response rooted in science and equity," Biden said in a
statement.
Biden plans to pursue a goal of moving the United States to net-zero
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – a once-unimaginable task that would
require the world's second-largest emitter to overhaul major parts of
its economy, from cars, trucks and planes to power plants, farms and
buildings.
Biden's focus on climate marks a sharp change from Trump's
administration, which had Washington exit the Paris climate accord and
work to soften or dismantle climate regulations the administration
deemed harmful to the economy.
The Interior Department employs more than 70,000 people across the
United States and oversees more than 20% of the nation's surface,
including national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite. Haaland has said
she would seek to expand renewable energy production on federal land to
fight climate change, and undo Trump's focus on bolstering fossil fuels
output.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sign is seen on the
podium at EPA headquarters in Washington, U.S., July 11, 2018.
REUTERS/Ting Shen
"A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head
of the Department of Interior," Haaland said on Twitter. "Growing up
in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce. I'll be fierce for
all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land. I am honored
and ready to serve."
SPOTLIGHT ON THE PANDEMIC
Biden, set to take office on Jan. 20, has also vowed to prioritize
the fight against the coronavirus that has killed nearly 310,000
Americans. He must contend with the logistical challenges of a mass
inoculation and overcome skepticism among some Americans about the
vaccine's efficacy and safety.
A vaccine made by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE is
expected to become widely available next year.
Biden will publicly get vaccinated next week, according to
transition officials. At age 78, Biden is in the high-risk group for
COVID-19, which has taken a toll on the elderly.
Vice President Mike Pence, who has headed the White House
coronavirus task force, will receive the vaccine in public on
Friday, the highest-profile recipient to date. U.S. Senate Majority
leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement he would get vaccinated
soon also.
Trump will get the vaccine when his medical team decides it is best,
according to the White House.
Trump, who frequently downplayed the severity of the pandemic and
feuded with top U.S. public health officials, was hospitalized in
October after testing positive for COVID-19.
All over the country, doctors, nurses and delivery people are
wrestling with challenges in the vaccine rollout including delays,
anxiety and cooling the vaccine properly.
A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
endorsed emergency use of a second vaccine by Moderna Inc on
Thursday.
Many Americans remain skeptical. Only 61% of respondents in a
Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted from Dec. 2 to 8, said they were open
to getting vaccinated.
That is short of the 70% level public health officials have said is
needed to reach herd immunity - achieved when a large portion of a
given population is immune to a disease - either through exposure or
vaccination. Roughly 5% of Americans are believed to have been
infected by the novel coronavirus.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Wilmington, Delaware, and Jarrett
Renshaw in Philadelphia, additional reporting by Andy Sullivan,
Laura Sanicola, Steve Gorman and Steve Holland; Writing by Sonya
Hepinstall and James Oliphant; Editing by Scott Malone, Noeleen
Walder, Alistair Bell and David Gregorio)
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