Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Daniel C. Esty recently issued the following statements applauding President Obama’s nomination of Gina McCarthy to serve as the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“During her tenure as Connecticut’s Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, Gina McCarthy was a fierce advocate of the state’s natural resources—her legacy of environmental protection continues to this day in the programs spearheaded by DEEP,” said Governor Malloy. “Connecticut’s loss has undoubtedly been the country’s gain—Gina’s tireless work to improve air quality and slow climate change has made an important impact in Washington and across the globe. I applaud President Obama on her nomination.”
“We are confident that as the EPA Administrator, Gina will once again roll up her sleeves to tackle the tough national and global environmental challenges that we are facing,” said Commissioner Esty. “Gina was widely credited with reinvigorating the environmental agenda in Connecticut, modernizing DEP, and engaging young people in environmental protection through the innovative No Child Left Inside® program. Her extensive knowledge and strong skills will serve her well in her new position—and she will bring to the job a special sensitivity concerning issues facing Connecticut and New England.”
An Irish Catholic from Massachusetts with a thick South Boston accent, Gina McCarthy, has often been referred to as President Obama's "green quarterback" for her efforts to tackle industrial pollution, and is expected to tackle climate change as a legacy issue for the President and will “write rules that will force the coal industry to change its ways.”
In fact, McCarthy has spent the past four years working hard on clean-air rules, as outgoing EPA head Lisa Jackson’s right-hand woman on clean air and climate-change policy. Once confirmed, however, McCarthy would likely take on an even more prominent role than Jackson, as EPA prepares to take on a new slate of aggressive new regulations to cut climate-change pollution from the nation’s coal-fired power plants, a task unprecedented in sweep and scope, and one fraught with legal and political complications.
In fact, she has already drawn the anger of some allies in the environmental community for her industry outreach. But, ultimately, they say, “Her approach is likely to lead to realistic rules that will stand up to challenges by industry.”
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