Obama to name EPA official Gina McCarthy to head agency
McCarthy helped usher through many of the EPA’s most contentious rules during Obama’s first term, including regulations curbing mercury and soot emissions from power plants. But she has also cultivated a strong working relationship with members of the business community, dampening much of the opposition her selection might otherwise have encountered.
“I know
greenhouse gases are important, but I’m committed to strengthening public health protections,” she told them.
It was an early indication of how the politically savvy McCarthy was prepared to get her way in Washington. A veteran of Republican administrations in Massachusetts and Connecticut, she has devoted much of the past four years to shepherding through air regulations that have protected public health — but that also have helped shutter power plants emitting greenhouse gases linked to
climate change.
“She’s very data- and fact-driven, and that’s been helpful for us as well as the entire business community,” said Donna Harman, president and chief executive of the American Forest and Paper Association. “It doesn’t mean I always got what I was looking for, but we can have a dialogue.”
Many environmentalists, for their part, see her ability to broker deals with potential opponents as an asset. “What she’s tough about is the science-based standard,” said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “She’s very pragmatic about how you get there.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obama-to-name-epa-official-gina-mccarthy-to-head-agency-sources-say/2013/03/04/7f7c92bc-7975-11e2-9a75-dab0201670da_story.html
