EPA Admin. on CA Energy Crisis: We’re Cutting Back on Pollution, Creating Rules for ‘More Investment in Clean Energy’ and Better Grid

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan responded to a question on what the agency can do about the energy problems in California by stating the EPA has put in rules to cut back on the “pollution” that’s “exacerbating this climate crisis.” There are investments in grid resiliency, and “We’re also putting together rules and regulations that encourage more investment in clean energy, which is distributed so that we can be more nimble and mobile as we face this climate crisis.”

Host Joy Reid asked, “Let me ask you about California very quickly. … They have an electricity crisis right now because of the heat. Is there anything the EPA can do about what’s going on out west?”

Regan responded, “I think that’s another example — listen, we put together rules that began to reduce pollution that [is] exacerbating this climate crisis. But in the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Department of Energy received significant resources to invest in a more resilient grid. We’re also putting together rules and regulations that encourage more investment in clean energy, which is distributed so that we can be more nimble and mobile as we face this climate crisis. Joy, I would say that the president’s vision around mitigating the climate crisis and preparing for the future in an adaptive way, is really intertwined into these resources that we have at our fingertips. And so, you have an entire Cabinet, from DOE to Agriculture to EPA to Labor, who are all working together to create economies of the future, use technology of the future to generate clean energy, so that our society can adapt and be globally competitive.”

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