Occasionally, presidential nominees will spin in the wind while the Senate fights over whether to approve their nominations. That’s especially true when the upper chamber is so closely divided. But one of President Joe Biden’s nominees waited a very long time for approval.
The Office of Air and Radiation within the Environmental Protection Agency was led by an unconfirmed individual for three years. Nominated in 2022, Joseph Goffman has been serving as office manager since 2021. The Senate finally confirmed him on January 31 by a vote of 50 to 49.
Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, joined Republicans in voting down Goffman’s candidacy. The Senate had already committed to rejecting every one of Biden’s EPA appointees. For a long time, he and the president argued over environmental policies. Among Democrats, Manchin was the lone voice who opposed the nomination.
The regulations pertaining to the environment and clean air are drafted by Goffman’s office. That comprises the measures taken by the Biden government to reduce emissions from stationary sources like power stations and automobiles. New regulations for power plants, limiting soot emissions, are anticipated to be released by his office.
Michael Regan, the administrator of the EPA, released a statement in which he lauded Goffman. Claiming to be “uniquely skilled at building consensus among stakeholders” and able to craft policies that address the worldwide problem of climate change, he praised the official. Addressing “longstanding pollution concerns in overburdened communities” is another area where Goffman excels, according to Regan.
The other senator from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, shared Manchin’s opposition to the candidate. She said that Goffman was an originator of regulations that were responsible for the loss of jobs under Obama’s and Biden’s administrations. “Our country has been devastated” by Goffman’s policies, the senator proclaimed. She said he was attacking “American energy production” in an aggressive way. Capito also voiced his disapproval of the new power plant regulations he had written, predicting “disastrous consequences” for the country’s power grid and energy prices.
