Senate confirms Biden EPA enforcement nominee two years after initial nomination

The Senate Thursday confirmed David Uhlmann, President Biden’s nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) enforcement chief, in a 53-46 vote more than two years after his initial nomination.

Uhlmann, an environmental law professor at the University of Michigan Law School, was nominated by Biden to serve as assistant administrator of the EPA in June 2021, but the nomination expired in both 2021 and 2022, leading the White House to renominate him this year. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted to advance Uhlmann to the full Senate in April.

Three Republicans, Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Lisa Murkowski (Ak.) and Susan Collins (Maine) voted to confirm Uhlmann, while Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) voted against. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee and one of the chamber’s most vocal critics of the Biden administration’s energy and environmental policies, did not vote.

Manchin vowed earlier this year to oppose all Biden EPA nominees in protest of how the administration has implemented the Inflation Reduction Act, also voting earlier this month against cloture on the nomination. Manchin, who voted for the 2022 law,  has since been sharply critical of its enactment, particularly its renewable energy tax credits.

In floor remarks, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) cast Uhlmann’s confirmation as a necessary corrective to the decrease in EPA enforcement under the Trump administration.

“According to data from EPA, between 2018-2021, environmental enforcement and compliance actions had fallen to half of what they had been during the Bush and Obama administrations. This lack of enforcement presented a threat to public health and the well-being of our environment, potentially letting many big polluters off the hook after violating our environmental laws,” Carper said.

“I am confident that David Uhlmann will make an outstanding assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance at EPA,” he added.