US Senate confirms Indian-American Radhika Fox to guide EPA’s water workplace

The US Senate has confirmed Indian-American water points knowledgeable Radhika Fox as head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water.
The Senate, bitterly divided on celebration traces, confirmed Fox’s nomination on Wednesday by 55 to 43 votes after seven Republican Senators supported her candidature. Two Democratic Senators didn’t forged their votes.
“Ms Fox brings with her an impressive professional record of service and accomplishment, spanning over two decades, working on water issues at the local, state and federal level,” Senator Tom Carper, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), stated.
“We have the opportunity today to confirm a truly gifted leader and put her to work serving our country right away,” he added.
On April 14, President Joe Biden nominated Fox for the publish of Assistant Administrator for Water, Environmental Protection Agency.
Fox presently serves because the Acting Assistant Administer for Water. The EPA’s Office of Water works to make sure that ingesting water is secure, waste water is safely returned to the atmosphere, and floor waters are correctly managed and guarded.
Prior to becoming a member of EPA, Fox served because the Chief Executive Officer for the US Water Alliance, the place she established herself as a extensively recognised nationwide thought chief on advanced water points, from equitable water administration to investing within the nation’s water infrastructure.
Her work has helped deal with essentially the most salient water points dealing with the US — together with local weather change, affordability, fairness, governance, progressive finance and the evolution of the One Water motion.
Fox beforehand directed the coverage and authorities affairs agenda for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which is answerable for offering 24×7 water, waste water and municipal energy companies to 2.6 million Bay Area residents.
She additionally served because the Federal Policy Director at PolicyHyperlink, the place she coordinated the organisation’s coverage agenda on a variety of points, together with infrastructure funding, transportation, sustainable communities, financial inclusion, and workforce improvement.
Fox holds a Bachelors of Arts diploma from Columbia University and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley the place she was a HUD Community Development Fellow.
The seven Republicans who supported Fox’s nomination are Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Roger Wicker, Richard Burr, Kevin Cramer and Lisa Murkowski.
Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito opposed the nomination of Fox to be the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water
“Throughout her nomination process, when I asked Ms Fox about the administration’s plans, she expressed a desire to hear from stakeholders in order to create a durable’ rule,” she stated.
The Senator stated Fox didn’t conduct any formal, public stakeholder course of earlier than saying the choice that was made to repeal the Navigable Waters Protection Rule.
“The administration has said it plans to repeal the rule — then put in place guidance from the 1980s — while we wait and while they come up with a replacement,” Capito stated.
“Changing the regulations three times in a short period of time — 2015, 2020, and now 2021 — simply does not meet her commitment to develop a ‘durable’ definition. Instead, ever-changing rules create a game of regulatory ping pong across administrations,” she added.