‘WALK THE WALK’

Biden Soured on EPA Favorite After Concerns Over Environmental Racism: Report

Mary Nichols, the chair of California’s clean air agency, was thought to be one of Biden’s top candidates to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

President-elect Joe Biden soured on one of his initial favorites to lead the Environmental Protection Agency after over 70 environmental groups wrote him a letter saying she had a “bleak track record in addressing environmental racism,” The New York Times reported Monday. Mary Nichols, the chair of California’s clean air agency, was thought to be one of Biden’s top candidates to lead the EPA, according to the Times. The letter cited California’s cap-and-trade program, which environmental activists say facilitates disproportionate air pollution in majority-minority neighborhoods. “Being transformative means being willing to walk the walk,” said Tina Johnson, director of the National Black Environmental Justice Network and one of the letter’s signers, according to the Times.