Senate confirms Biden nominee to lead EPA's climate and clean air office

Source: The Hill

01/31/24 6:21 PM ET


Three years into the Biden administration, it finally has a Senate-confirmed official leading the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) work on clean air and climate change.

In an 50-49 vote, the Senate confirmed Joseph Goffman to be the EPA’s assistant administrator, leading its Office of Air and Radiation.

Goffman has led the office since January 2021 and was formally nominated in March 2022 but hasn’t been confirmed until now. The office he runs writes high-profile climate and clean air rules, including rules that seek to limit carbon emissions from power plants and cars, in addition to a highly anticipated rule that could soon tighten the nation’s soot pollution limits.

Goffman’s path to confirmation became more precarious in the narrowly divided Senate last year after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he would vote against President Biden’s EPA nominees over energy policy disagreements, including the power plant rules that were being developed by Goffman’s office.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4440683-senate-confirm-joseph-goffman-biden-nominee-epa-climate-clean-air-office/