A Conversation with the 16th Administrator of the EPA Michael Regan [Podcast]

Michael Regan recently served as the 16th Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Previously he was Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality where he secured the largest coal ash cleanup settlement in U.S. history. And he led negotiations on the cleanup of the Cape Fear River from PFAS contamination. Now he has taken a role at POLIS: Center for Politics at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.

Conversation Highlights

Responses have been edited for clarity.

On where his interest in the environment stems from

I am from eastern North Carolina, raised in Goldsboro, and I grew up hunting and fishing with my father and grandfather. I've always enjoyed the outdoors and our natural resources, but there was a stage in my early childhood where I discovered that I had some respiratory challenges akin to asthma. And on those days where the ozone was high or there was a lot of pollution, I was not able to join my father and grandfather. And that really was frustrating. So, from an early age, I just had a personal connection to the impacts of health and the inability to enjoy the outdoors. That sparked a curiosity of the connection of the two and a vision for - how can I participate in something that would alleviate this for other kids like myself? So that was what was intrinsically motivating me to pursue an interest in environmental science.

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On the roots of his ‘Journey to Justice’ tour, visiting places overly burdened by pollution

When I was appointed Secretary of the Environment in North Carolina, I bumped into former Governor Jim Hunt, and he mentioned to me that in order to do the job well, I needed to visit all 100 counties in North Carolina. I visited 90, did not visit 100 because of COVID. But in those visits to 90 counties, even being a North Carolina native, I didn't know North Carolina as well as I thought. Governor Hunt was right. So that informed my thinking as EPA administrator. If I'm going to focus on the best regulations for the entire country, I can't do that sitting behind my desk. I need to get out and be in community.

And so, we created the Journey to Justice initiative because we wanted to engage in communities that have been hit the hardest by pollution. We started in Mississippi and made our way through Louisiana and ended in Texas for the first leg. And it was so impactful to walk the streets with people who have experienced significant impacts from pollution that led to loss of jobs or inability to go to school or cancer in multiple generations in the same family. These were the types of experiences that we took back to Washington DC, and it actually informed our policy and regulations to be sure that our regulations and our environmental protection didn't leave anyone out. 

That Journey to Justice was so informative to me as a leader in terms of my obligations and accountability as the administrator of EPA.

Advice for students (and others) on developing leadership skills to make change?

I think that number one, authenticity is so important. I believe, based on my experiences, that tapping into an intrinsic motivation, something that drives you personally, should absolutely influence your professional career. None of us really map out these amazing experiences we have. But if you pursue excellence, I do believe that success is being prepared for opportunity. 

I would say find your passion, pursue excellence in that passion, and be ready for the opportunities that will present themselves. And if we can find things that motivate us that are bigger than our individual (selves), we will be willing to talk to people who think differently if they can contribute to the cause that we're pursuing.

The last thing I would say is in today's society, it's so much easier to operate in a silo. Our students should actively pursue individuals that think differently and understand why they think differently and identify the common causes and work on those commonalities together that will bear fruit for so many different things that we all can find that will help us cut through some of the partisan politics.