New England Environmental Protection Agency chief and former Pace Law dean Alexandra Dunn has been nominated by President Donald Trump to be assistant administrator of the agency”™s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
Dunn is currently EPA Region 1 administrator, having been appointed last November. Prior to that she was executive director and general counsel for the Environmental Council of States, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that aims “to improve the capability of state environmental agencies and their leaders to protect and improve human health and the environment of the United States of America.”
With the post subject to Senate confirmation, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, “nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment,” already fired off a warning shot to politicians.
In a statement by Scott Faber, vice president of government affairs for the group, said: “The Senate should not confirm Alex Dunn unless she clearly commits to follow the law ”“ unlike the team of former chemical industry lobbyists she has been nominated to work with and supervise. In particular, she should commit to immediately follow through on proposed bans of methylene chloride, TCE, NMP and chlorpyrifos, and pledge to reverse efforts by Nancy Beck and others to cook the books to underestimate the risks of toxic chemicals. This is a job for a janitor who is committed to cleaning up Trump”™s toxic mess, not a greenwasher for the chemical industry.”
Dunn is Trump”™s second nominee for the post. Last fall, he had picked toxicologist and college professor Michael Dourson for the post. But after growing political opposition due to his past work with chemical manufacturers, Dourson withdrew his name.
Dunn served as dean of environmental law programs from 2007-10 and taught Environmental Justice and Human Rights and the Environment as an adjunct professor at Pace Law in White Plains.
“For decades, Pace Law faculty and staff have been pioneers in implementing environmental law and have served as national and world leaders in the field,” Dean Horace Anderson said. “We are proud that Ms. Dunn is among this distinguished group and that she was tapped to lead this important office at the EPA at such a critical time for environmental law in this country.”
