Governor-elect Bob Ferguson appointed Casey Sixkiller, current Regional Administrator of EPA and an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, as Director of the Washington State Department of Ecology effective January 15, 2025. Sixkiller’s appointment reflects Ferguson’s commitment to protect Washington’s clean air and water and create good-paying clean energy jobs across the state.

President Biden appointed Sixkiller to lead Region 10 in May 2022. Sixkiller oversees the EPA’s work to protect human health and the environment across the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska, and 271 tribal nations, leading the EPA’s efforts locally to implement both the Bipartisan Infrastructural Law and Inflation Reduction Act, through investments in water infrastructure, addressing the impacts of climate change, and identifying solutions to achieve clean energy.