MCCARTHY SAID TO BE OBAMA’S PICK FOR EPA ADMINISTRATOR, MONIZ FOR DOE

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
2/22/13

Gina McCarthy is said to be the Obama Administration’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and could be nominated within the coming days, multiple news outlets reported this week. The EPA’s current Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation has long been mentioned as a qualified candidate for the agency’s top post, vacated last week by Lisa Jackson, but rumors surrounding McCarthy’s candidacy reached a fever pitch this week after reports from Reuters, Bloomberg and others said her nomination is imminent.

In her four years at EPA, McCarthy has been the main architect of many of the Obama Administration’s highest-profile environmental regulations. She drafted a rulemaking last year limiting greenhouse gas emissions from new fossil plants, as well as technology standards clamping down on mercury and air toxics emitted from coal plants. McCarthy also spearheaded an effort to retool Bush-era ‘good neighbor’ air quality standards, drastically limiting SO2 and NOx emissions from tall smokestacks, before that effort was struck down by a federal court last summer. With 25 years of experience as a state and local environmental regulator, McCarthy has a reputation of reaching out to utilities and green groups alike when fashioning major rulemakings. She also boasts bipartisan credentials, having previously worked under both Democratic and Republican governors while the top environmental regulator in both Connecticut and Massachusetts, and at one point served as then-Gov. Mitt Romney’s chief climate aide.

McCarthy, though, is expected to face some opposition from Senate Republicans on the Environmental and Public Works Committee who oppose the White House’s recent regulatory agenda. Meanwhile, some fossil fuel industry groups have pre-emptively stepped out against McCarthy’s rumored nomination. Under McCarthy “the EPA will continue its anti-fossil-fuel crusade undeterred, and the Administration will continue to avoid normal democratic means to legislate the president’s climate change agenda through the regulatory agencies,” Benjamin Cole, a spokesperson for the advocacy group the American Energy Alliance, said in a statement.

McCarthy Calls on State-Federal Cooperation

McCarthy avoided questions from the media about her potential nomination following a Feb. 21 speech. But in her remarks to a workshop of environmental regulators and NGOs, McCarthy underscored that EPA headquarters seeks to continue working with states to move forward on limiting greenhouse gas emissions from the power generation and transport sectors. “Over the coming years, EPA needs your continued partnership, and we fully intend to be a good partner,” she said.

McCarthy added that fighting climate change must continue to be priority for regulators moving forward. “All of us here today know with certainty that it will take more than a village for this nation to successfully address the challenge of climate change. It’ll take at a minimum governments working hand-in-hand at every level with the energy, enthusiasm and innovation we have used in the past to address significant issues,” she said. “We need to continue to make progress moving forward.”

Reports Cite Moniz as Likely Energy Secretary Nominee

Meanwhile, media reports this week also indicated that nuclear physicist and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative Ernest Moniz is the frontrunner to lead the Department of Energy. Moniz previously served as Associate Director for Science in President Clinton’s Office of Science and Technology. He also worked as Under Secretary of Energy during the latter years of the Clinton Administration. In recent years, Moniz has served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, as well as the government’s Blue Ribbon Commission to study nuclear waste storage.

As part of his role heading up the MIT Energy Initiative, Moniz has co-authored major reports on reducing CO2 emissions from existing coal plants and has advocated for technologies like carbon capture and storage. His work on MIT’s Energy Initiative, though, has also garnered preliminary criticism from some environmental groups that have questioned the research program’s funding from oil companies like Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and Saudi Aramco. Moniz also angered anti-fracking environmental groups with his 2011 testimony in front of the Senate Energy Committee in which he endorsed natural gas as a “bridge” fuel on a path to a low carbon economy. “Mr. Moniz is affiliated with the industry-backed MIT Energy Initiative, so we shouldn’t be surprised about his favorable position on fracking. But President Obama could do a lot better. Appointing Mr. Moniz would be a nail in the coffin for one of his most lauded inaugural speech promises: a commitment to focus on climate solutions,” Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter said in a statement.