The Senate voted in favor of Janet McCabe's nomination for deputy administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday.
McCabe, the director of Indiana University's Environmental Resilience Institute, was nominated for the position by President Joe Biden's transitional team in January.
As deputy EPA chief, McCabe will serve in the No. 2 position at the agency.
In a release to WRTV from IU, McCabe made the following statement following her confirmation:
"I'm honored to be returning to the EPA as deputy administrator and grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the Environmental Resilience Institute and to teach the next generation of environmental lawyers at Indiana University these last four years. I look forward to supporting the amazing EPA career staff in protecting public health and the environment around the country.
The same challenges faced by farmers, businesses and communities in Indiana are also felt across the country. In my new role, I'll take with me the valuable lessons I've learned building a broad, bipartisan coalition to protect Indiana's economy and Hoosiers' health from the risks of environmental change. Just like in Indiana, these issues are critical to the long-term prosperity of the nation."
In addition to being a director at IU, McCabe is also a professor at the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law at IUPUI.
McCabe previously joined the EPA under President Barack Obama's administration in November 2009. She first served as the principal deputy to the Office of Air's assistant administrator and eventually took over as the acting assistant administrator from July 2013 through January 2017.
Directly prior to joining the EPA, McCabe was also the executive director of Improving Kids’ Environment, Inc., a children’s environmental health advocacy organization based in Indianapolis. She has held several leadership positions in the Hoosier state since 1993.
"Janet is truly one of Indiana University's top scholars and researchers, who has burnished her academic reputation with many achievements as a dedicated public servant at the state and federal levels," IU President Michael A. McRobbie said. "We cannot thank her enough for the contributions she has made to our world-class community of scholars, and we are enormously grateful for her leadership of the Prepared for Environmental Change Grand Challenge initiative, which is helping to ensure that our state and our nation are ready for and resilient to the negative impacts of global environmental change."
