Governor Steve Bullock has appointed a former liaison in the Obama White House to a state cabinet position leading the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
Shaun McGrath most recently worked in the Obama Administration as the Denver-based regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
On Friday, Governor Bullock publicly named McGrath as the new head of Montana’s DEQ.
Former DEQ Director Tom Livers says McGrath is well positioned to take up the ongoing issues within the agency.
“Continuing to close some of the big Superfund negotiations and keep those things moving forward and keep the momentum up," Livers said. "We made some really good progress there in the last year, year and a half. We still have a lot of work to do so I think that’s going to be a big priority and Shaun knows Superfund well.”
Livers expects McGrath to work well with the current regional EPA administrator in Denver under the Trump Administration, which has said it is prioritizing Superfund cleanups including those in Butte and Anaconda.
Before working for the EPA, McGrath was the deputy director for White House intergovernmental affairs, and the mayor of Boulder, Colorado.
He will start as the head of the Montana DEQ on December 1.