Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will step down at the end of this month, before the formal end of the Biden administration, he announced in an email to employees Friday.
President Biden appointed Mr. Regan as the 16th administrator of the E.P.A. He took over the agency in 2021 after the Trump administration had reduced it to its smallest size in decades. Mr. Regan is widely credited with helping to restore morale, staffing levels and scientific integrity at the agency.
He also oversaw some of the most far-reaching climate regulations in United States history. Those curbed pollution at power plants and oil and gas wells, and reduced emissions from automobiles. Most of those regulations are expected to be rolled back once Donald J. Trump returns to the White House in January.
“Together, we confronted climate change with the urgency science demands,” Mr. Regan wrote in the email sent to agency employees. “We set the strongest standards in history and put billions of dollars to work to spur clean energy development, create good-paying American jobs and lower costs for families.”
Mr. Regan intends to return to his home state of North Carolina to join his wife, Melvina, who had left Washington this summer so their son, Matthew, could start school there, agency officials said. Mr. Regan did not indicate his next career steps.
Senator Tom Carper, Democrat of Delaware and the outgoing chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, praised Mr. Regan’s work advancing climate regulations and environmental justice policies aimed at helping communities disproportionately affected by pollution.
“It’s no secret that he had a very tough job as administrator,” Mr. Carper said, adding, “But from the moment he was confirmed by the Senate, Michael took quick action to restore the agency.”
Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and the top Republican on the committee, said in a statement that while she “has had fundamental differences of opinion with Administrator Regan on many of E.P.A.’s policy decisions over the past four years,” she wished him well.
Jane Nishida, currently the acting deputy administrator, will step in to serve as acting administrator for the final weeks of the term, Mr. Regan said.
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