BLOOMBERG • December 18, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden’s nominees to lead the EPA and Interior Department could face tough Senate questioning over their past opposition to fossil-fuel projects. “We will be in a bit of a brawl,” said Senator Kevin Cramer of oil- and coal-rich North Dakota. Criticism has focused on Representative Deb Haaland, Biden’s pick to lead the Interior Department, because of her past support for the Green New Deal and endorsement of a ban on fracking. Conservatives are also raising questions about Michael Regan, the top North Carolina environmental regulator Biden has tapped to be Environmental Protection Agency administrator, because he opposed a proposed natural gas pipeline and battled a Trump-era rule scaling back the water bodies subject to federal oversight.