The Environmental Protection Agency abruptly pushed out its top regional official for California and other points West, touching off an unusual public dispute between the two over the reason why. Mike Stoker, the EPA’s chief for California and other far West states and territories since 2018, said he got a call Wednesday from senior agency officials in Washington telling him to resign. The flare-up marks the latest political road bump for the Trump administration in California, a Democratic stronghold leading the ranks of states fighting the president on environmental and climate rollbacks and immigration issues. In his farewell note to regional EPA staff, which Stoker provided to The Associated Press, Stoker said he believed his repeated clashes with the agency’s headquarters over unspecified “policy and non-policy items” helped prompt his removal. To view the full article visit the New York Times.
