The Honorable John A. Barrasso The Honorable Thomas R. Carper
Chairman Ranking Member
Committee on Environment Committee on Environment
& Public Works & Public Works
410 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg. 410 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510
Re: Support for the Nomination of Alexandra Dapolito Dunn
Dear Chairman Barrasso and Ranking Member Carper:
The Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates (SOCMA) is proud to offer its unqualified support for the nomination of Alexandra Dapolito Dunn to be Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety & Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and urges the Committee to hold a hearing and a committee vote during the upcoming lame duck, in sufficient time for a floor vote in this session of Congress.
The Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates (SOCMA) is the only U.S.-based trade association solely dedicated to the specialty and fine chemical industry. SOCMA members play an indispensable role in the global chemical supply chain, providing specialty chemicals to companies in markets ranging from aerospace and electronics to pharmaceuticals and agriculture.
Few if any nominees for a Senate-confirmed position at EPA have ever possessed Ms. Dunn’s extraordinary breadth of work experience:
- • In her brief tenure as Regional Administrator for Region I, she has already been widely-praised from all perspectives, but particularly by environmental groups and her predecessor from the previous administration.1
- • As Executive Director and General Counsel of the Environmental Council of the States, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Association of Clean Water Administrators, and General Counsel of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, she has spent more than fourteen years representing state environmental agencies, and thus has a deep appreciation for the importance of coordinating EPA’s and states’ efforts to protect the environment while maintaining economic growth.
- • As Assistant Dean of Environmental Law Programs and Adjunct Professor of Law at Pace University School of Law and Associate Adjunct Professor of Law at American University’s Washington College of Law, she developed a commanding grasp of the broad range of environmental law and policy subject matters and the complex history of the field.
- • As the former chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy & Resources, Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, and member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Law Institute, she has become personally acquainted with virtually every significant practitioner in the field, representing every perspective, and understands the value of creative problem-solving.
- • As a lawyer at Winston & Strawn and the American Chemistry Council, she understood the impact that EPA and state actions can have on regulated industry, the importance of ongoing, transparent communication between regulator and the regulated, and the key role that trade associations play in that process.
In all of these capacities, Ms. Dunn has demonstrated a pragmatic, problem-solving orientation, concern for affected stakeholders, and unflagging good humor.
OCSPP is currently managing a staggering docket as it implements the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act. That work and the office’s pesticide programs are crucial to this nation’s economy and highly controversial. OCSPP has suffered from its lack of a Senate-confirmed leader. Ms. Dunn is highly qualified for the job and should be confirmed as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Abril
President and CEO
Categorized in: Policy