Office of Water Assistant Administrator Radhika Fox Stepping Down
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Radhika Fox, has announced she will be stepping down from the position at the end of February this year. She was the first woman of color and person of Asian American descent to hold the position. During Fox’s three-year tenure as Assistant Administrator, she oversaw the Office’s major policy and regulatory priorities to improve the quality, access, and affordability of the nation’s water resources.
Specifically, Fox led the Office’s implementation of the water investment provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), co-chaired the PFAS Executive Council, the development of the PFAS Strategic Roadmap which outlined the Agency’s approach to regulating PFAS chemicals, and the rewrite of the Waters of the U.S. Rule. Fox also helped champion the Agency’s broader environmental justice mission at the Office of Water by pursuing an agenda to improve the water quality and infrastructure needs of low-income and disadvantaged communities. The Agency has yet to announce who will replace Fox as Assistant Administrator after February.