The Biden administration has turned to an experienced Maryland policy and political hand to fill a key environmental position.
The White House announced Tuesday that Adam Ortiz will become the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 3 office, which is based in Philadelphia and oversees EPA activities in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and works with seven federally recognized Native American tribes. The EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office is also housed within the Region 3 operation.
Ortiz, director of the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, is one of 14 individuals appointed to regional leadership posts in the Biden administration on Tuesday.
“These regional appointees will be critical to the President’s efforts to rebuild communities most impacted by the pandemic, the economic recovery, and climate change,” the White House said in a statement. “They bring deep expertise in their issue areas as well as critical relationships with federal, state, tribal, and local leaders. And, consistent with the President’s commitment to building an administration that looks like America, these regional appointees represent the diversity of American and the communities they serve.”
Click here to read the rest of the story written by Josh Kurtz over at The Baltimore Sun
