Josh Shapiro nominates former Philadelphia deputy mayor to top environmental job

• Rachel McDevitt
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  I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.
  
  My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.
  
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  I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.
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Marie Cusick / StateImpact Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is headquartered in the Rachel Carson State Office Building.

Courtesy: Shapiro Transition Team

Rich Negrin has been named Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection by the incoming Shapiro Administration.

Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro said Tuesday he wants to stick with two members of his predecessor’s Cabinet to oversee state parklands and agricultural matters.

Shapiro announced his choice of Cindy Adams Dunn to remain as secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and for Russell Redding as agriculture secretary.

Dunn has spent some three decades at the agency and has served as secretary since 2015. Redding was agriculture secretary under two other Democratic governors, Tom Wolf and Ed Rendell.

Shapiro, a Democrat who is set to be inaugurated in a week, also announced his choice of Rich Negrin to head up the Department of Environmental Protection.

Negrin is a lawyer, former prosecutor and former deputy mayor and managing director in Philadelphia’s city government.

He was most recently an executive at Commonwealth Edison, an Exelon-owned utility, overseeing clean energy regulatory policies, electric vehicle adoption and energy efficiency efforts.

“Rich Negrin, Cindy Adams Dunn, and Russell Redding are dedicated and experienced public servants and I am proud to nominate them to cabinet positions in my Administration,” Shapiro said in a news release. “Our Commonwealth needs leaders who can manage these agencies’ critical work – from protecting Pennsylvania’s beautiful state parks, forests, and trails, to carrying out a bold, comprehensive climate and energy plan that will grow our economy, protect and create jobs, and safeguard Pennsylvanians’ constitutional right to clean air and pure water.”

The Shapiro transition team says Negrin will be the first Latino to lead DEP.

“I am humbled that Governor-Elect Shapiro has entrusted me with the great responsibility of leading this Administration’s efforts to protect our Commonwealth’s air, land, and water,” Negrin said in the news release. “As Secretary of Environmental Protection, I will work diligently to bring people together and ensure the Department works efficiently and we effectively serve all Pennsylvanians in pursuit of a safer, healthier future.”

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StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF, WHYY, and the Allegheny Front. Reporters Reid Frazier, Rachel McDevitt and Susan Phillips cover the commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.

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