The Environmental Protection Agency has been working tirelessly to address the threat of climate change in any way it can. However, only so much can be done independent of congressional action, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Wednesday at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy summit.
“If you really want to get serious there’s a lot more that we need to do on climate,” she said. “The administration’s looking [at] other efforts we can take under existing law, but I have no doubt that over time you’re going to be looking at Congressional action, hopefully, a positive congressional action that looks at things like carbon pricing.”
Congress in 2009 nearly passed legislation that would have established an economy-wide greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system in the U.S. The Waxman-Markey Bill passed the House by a vote of 219-212 never received a Senate vote. Years later, Republicans in Congress continue to fight efforts to address climate change. They’ve launched challenges to several EPA measures dealing with pollutants, such as the Clean Power Plan, which sets emissions reduction goals for states.
In the absence of congressional action, the EPA and other federal agencies, including the Energy and Treasury departments, have been working together to address the climate issue through the president’s Climate Action Plan.
The ongoing collaboration between the EPA and the departments has “been a wonderful opportunity to work with people who have expertise so that we’re talking to the public we serve with a much more sophisticated approach to looking at these issues and moving forward, one that answers not only their interest in breathing clean air and in having their kids’ future healthy but also recognizes that you can shift an economy in a way that will grow jobs domestically but also allow us to be more competitive internationally,” McCarthy said.
As hard as the federal government is working to address climate change, McCarthy said, it can’t take credit for much of the progress that has already taken place. The administrator went on to suggest that EPA regulations have only built on ongoing trends propelled by the market. The administrator noted specifically the Clean Power Plan carbon emissions standard for existing coal-fired power plants.
“Nobody ever said that the Clean Power Plan was driving the energy change. We were always saying that the Clean Power Plan is a reflection of what is already happening in the marketplace,” she said.
The energy mix has shifted in recent years. The use of coal has declined, replaced largely by lower-carbon natural gas. Wind and solar power generation has gained in popularity due to technology improvements and decreasing cost.
“If you think the world isn’t changing, you are wrong. If you think that change is not going to continue, you are wrong,” McCarthy emphasized.
