US Senate confirms Indian-American Radhika Fox to lead EPA's water office

The US Senate has confirmed IndianAmerican water issues expert Radhika Fox as head of the Environmental Protection Agencyrsquos Office of WaterThe Senate bitterly divided on party lines confirmed Foxs nomination on Wednesday by 55 to 43 votes after seven Republican Senators supported her candidature Two Democratic Senators did not cast their votesldquoMs 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 levelrdquo Senator Tom Carper Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works EPW saidldquoWe have the opportunity today to confirm a truly gifted leader and put her to work serving our country right awayrdquo he addedOn April 14 President Joe Biden nominated Fox for the post of Assistant Administrator for Water Environmental Protection AgencyFox currently serves as the Acting Assistant Administer for Water The EPArsquos Office of Water works to ensure that drinking water is safe waste water is safely returned to the environment and surface waters are properly managed and protectedPrior to joining EPA Fox served as the Chief Executive Officer for the US Water Alliance where she established herself as a widely recognised national thought leader on complex water issues from equitable water management to investing in the nationrsquos water infrastructureHer work has helped address the most salient water issues facing the US including climate change affordability equity governance innovative finance and the evolution of the One Water movementFox previously directed the policy and government affairs agenda for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission which is responsible for providing 24x7 water waste water and municipal power services to 26 million Bay Area residentsShe also served as the Federal Policy Director at PolicyLink where she coordinated the organisationrsquos policy agenda on a wide range of issues including infrastructure investment transportation sustainable communities economic inclusion and workforce developmentFox holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from Columbia University and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley where she was a HUD Community Development FellowThe seven Republicans who supported Foxs nomination are Susan Collins Lindsey Graham Cindy HydeSmith Roger Wicker Richard Burr Kevin Cramer and Lisa MurkowskiRepublican Senator Shelley Moore Capito opposed the nomination of Fox to be the Assistant Administrator for the Office of WaterldquoThroughout her nomination process when I asked Ms Fox about the administrationrsquos plans she expressed a desire to hear from stakeholders in order to create a lsquodurablersquo rule she saidThe Senator said Fox did not conduct any formal public stakeholder process before announcing the decision that was made to repeal the Navigable Waters Protection RuleThe administration has said it plans to repeal the rule ndash then put in place guidance from the 1980s ndash while we wait and while they come up with a replacementrdquo Capito saidldquoChanging the regulations three times in a short period of time mdash 2015 2020 and now 2021 mdash simply does not meet her commitment to develop a lsquodurablersquo definition Instead everchanging rules create a game of regulatory ping pong across administrationsrdquo she addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever