SMU Professor Al Armendariz to Head EPA Region 6

Dr. Alfredo "Al" Armendariz, an associate professor of environmental and civil engineering at Southern Methodist University, was named the new administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 6. The EPA’s Region 6 oversees programs in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and 66 Tribes.

As the regional administrator, Armendariz will promote state and local environmental protection efforts and serve as a liaison between EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and state and local government officials. He will help carry out the Obama administration's policies on curbing global warming and enforcing federal laws on air and water quality.

EPA Administrator Jackson offered Armendariz the job. The post is officially a presidential appointment, but does not require Senate confirmation, so Armendariz can begin work immediately.

Armendariz has been a strong advocate for environmental protection and conservation in Texas. In particular, he has focused on air pollution concerns related to Barnett Shale exploration. He has a long history of addressing complex environmental and public health challenges in everything from solid waste landfills to community and Tribal priorities.

The regional EPA post has been vacant since former Arlington Mayor Richard Greene, a Bush administration appointee, left in January.

Armendariz joined SMU in 2002 after receiving his Ph.D in environmental engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health. He is a research associate professor in SMU's Lyle School of Engineering, where he has received several outstanding faculty awards. Armendariz has worked as a research assistant at the MIT Center for Global Change Science at their Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory in Massachusetts and at the Radian Corporation in North Carolina as a chemical engineer before joining the SMU faculty. He also spent a summer on special assignment to EPA's Dallas office as an Environmental Scientist.

For more information, please visit the EPA’S Region 6 website or contact Meredith Armstrong at marmstrong@dallaschamber.org.