EPA has yet to decide who will take charge of the agency during the changeover to the next administration.
With the post-election transition imminent, EPA, as well as other agencies, were supposed to name interim officials for senior jobs last month. During the change from one administration to the next, career executives will hold down the fort as they wait for the new president’s batch of political appointees to be confirmed by the Senate.
Agencies prepare by drafting succession plans, deeming which civil servants will hold their top positions until the incoming administration’s appointees arrive. EPA, however, has not chosen who will be its acting leader during the coming transition.
EPA’s 2024 succession plan says the administrator job is “TBD,” as in “to be determined,” according to the agency’s response to a Freedom of Information Act request from POLITICO’s E&E News.
EPA spokesperson Andrea Drinkard said the agency followed White House guidance and submitted its succession plan for Senate-confirmed positions to the General Services Administration on Sept. 13.
“As was the case at EPA during the 2020 presidential transition, the agency has not identified a career executive to serve as the acting administrator,” Drinkard said, adding the agency will take that step at “an appropriate time” before Inauguration Day in January.
“The agency continues to plan for the upcoming transition, including preparations for the arrival of the agency review team and first team over the coming months,” said the EPA spokesperson.
Questions over who will lead the agency in the months ahead throws the spotlight on EPA Administrator Michael Regan’s future plans.
If former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, wins the election, Regan and other Biden officials will be expected to leave government service. If the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, wins, some current appointees may be asked to stay.
Some former EPA staffers believe Regan plans to leave the agency, even if Harris wins, and enter the private sector. Others, however, think the EPA leader could be drawn to serving in her administration.
Asked whether the plan’s “TBD” note meant Regan will leave EPA after the election, Drinkard said, “Administrator Regan remains focused on doing his job as EPA administrator under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
During the Trump-Biden changeover, Jane Nishida, then the principal deputy assistant administrator in the agency’s international affairs office, was the career official who led EPA in 2021 until Regan was confirmed later that year.
Trump had planned for another career employee, Charlotte Bertrand, to be the acting administrator, even changing EPA’s order of succession. Yet within hours of his inauguration, Biden deemed Nishida was in charge.
Nishida was later confirmed as head of EPA’s international affairs office and has been serving as acting deputy administrator since Janet McCabe’s departure earlier this month.
The agency could turn to one of its 10 regional branches for an acting administrator.
Catherine McCabe, then the EPA Region 2 deputy administrator, was in charge of the agency in 2017 until Scott Pruitt, Trump’s first EPA boss, arrived. She later left and became commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
As of now, EPA’s succession plan names Gregg Treml as its most senior official. Treml, the agency’s deputy chief financial officer, will be acting deputy administrator under the plan.
Others are familiar with running their respective programs at EPA.
Barry Breen, the principal deputy assistant administrator in the solid waste office, will be its acting head, according to the succession plan. Breen has been the program’s top official during this administration because the Senate did not confirm Biden’s nominee for the job.
In addition, Theresa Segovia, the principal deputy assistant administrator in the environmental justice and civil rights office, is named in the plan. Biden has never nominated someone to be assistant administrator for the office, which was created during his administration.
The plan also lists the inspector general spot as “N/A,” as in “not available.”
That is expected, considering inspectors general, although Senate-confirmed political appointees, traditionally serve across administrations, even under opposing parties. EPA Inspector General Sean O’Donnell was nominated and confirmed during Trump’s time in office and has remained at the agency during the Biden administration.
Agencies were to have their succession plans in place no later than Sept. 13 and align them with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, according to guidance from the Office of Management and Budget.
“Agency heads are statutorily required to ensure that a succession plan is in place for each senior noncareer position in the agency,” said the OMB memo.
Here is the EPA 2024 succession plan in full, as detailed in the agency’s response to E&E News’ FOIA request:
• Administrator: TBD
• Deputy Administrator: Gregg Treml
• Office of Air and Radiation: Sarah Dunham
• Office of the Chief Financial Officer: Lek Kadeli
• Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention: Rick Keigwin
• Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance: Cecil Rodrigues
• Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights: Theresa Segovia
• Office of General Counsel: Jim Payne
• Office of Inspector General: N/A
• Office of International and Tribal Affairs: Raphael Deleon
• Office of Land and Emergency Management: Barry Breen
• Office of Mission Support: Kimberly Patrick
• Office of Research and Development: Maureen Gwinn
• Office of Water: Benita Best-Wong
