In 2017, North Carolina governor
Roy Cooper selected Regan to serve as the secretary of the
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. During his tenure, he launched the state's Environmental Justice and Equity Board with a charter to advise the Secretary on how best to advance
environmental justice and promote community engagement, particularly across historically underserved and marginalized communities. He also worked to develop the state's Clean Energy Plan, which aims to reduce private sector
greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and ultimately move towards
carbon neutrality by 2050. In January 2020, Regan secured an agreement with
Duke Energy for the largest
coal ash contamination cleanup in United States history. The company committed to excavating eighty million tons of ash across seven of nine coal ash deposits. His department also ordered the chemical company
Chemours to address and eliminate toxic
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which they were dumping into the
Cape Fear River upstream of a major source of drinking water. While generally favored by
environmental organizations, Regan has clashed with the
environmental movement. In 2018, he approved permits for the
Atlantic Coast Pipeline, though the project was ultimately cancelled. == Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency ==