Gina McCarthy

Early life and education

A native of Boston, McCarthy graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 1976, as a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology. She later attended Tufts University, where she received a Master of Science in Environmental Health Engineering and Planning and Policy in 1981.

Career

McCarthy held the position of assistant administrator of the U.S. EPA from 2009 to 2013. Prior to 2009, she was commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, 2004–2009. She has held several top positions in the civil service of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including deputy secretary of the Massachusetts Office of Commonwealth Development in 2003–2004 and undersecretary for policy for Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs in 1999–2003.

McCarthy has worked on environmental issues at the state and local levels and has developed policies on economic growth, energy, transportation and the environment.

She has served as environmental adviser to five Massachusetts governors, including former Governor Mitt Romney. From 2004 to 2009 she was commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. In this capacity she implemented a regional policy to trade carbon credits to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

EPA Administrator

According to some observers, Obama's selection of McCarthy confirmed his seriousness about battling climate change. Daniel Fiorino, director of the Center for Environmental Policy at American University, said: "Her nomination signals that the president really wants to deliver on his State of the Union objectives to take serious action on climate change." Others regard McCarthy as an environmental extremist.

Regarding speculation that her appointment would affect Obama's decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline, Fiorino stated that this wouldn't affect the dynamics of the Keystone decision significantly as other considerations are paramount, but added: "... she knows air and climate issues very well and she's a very strong environmentalist." The EPA is one of the federal agencies that advised the Obama administration on the proposed pipeline, "a project that would carry millions of barrels of bitumen a week from Alberta's carbon-intensive oilsands to the U.S. Gulf Coast".

Confirmation

While the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved the nomination in a vote along party lines on May 16, the nomination was stalled on the Senate floor.

In the interim, Bob Perciasepe served as the EPA's acting administrator. David Vitter, the ranking Republican on the Committee, posed 600 of a total 1,100 questions, to McCarthy. The Committee Republicans demanded responses from McCarthy on five "transparency requests."

The delayed nomination became the longest period on record that the agency was without a leader. Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey and EPA administrator under President George W. Bush, stated: “It’s not about [McCarthy], it’s about the agency... Republicans lost the [presidential] election and they have to realize that this is the president’s choice of nominee. They can go after the president, but Gina McCarthy should get an up-and-down vote.” On July 18, 2013, the Senate confirmed McCarthy as the 13th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency by a vote of 59-40, largely along party lines. On September 11, 2015, 26 U.S. representatives introduced a resolution impeaching McCarthy. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and died.

Tenure

On May 27, 2015, McCarthy finalized a rule under the Clean Water Act which proposed a new detailed and inclusive definition of "waters of the United States". Thirteen states sued, and U.S. Chief District Judge Ralph R. Erickson issued an injunction blocking the regulation in those states.

In a separate lawsuit, on October 9, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judge David McKeague, joined by Judge Richard Allen Griffin stayed the rule's application nationwide; judge Damon Keith dissented. Congress passed a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act overturning the "WOTUS" rule, but President Obama vetoed the measure.

On June 25, 2015, McCarthy finalized the Clean Power Plan under the Clean Air Act, seeking to reduce coal use pursuant to the Paris Agreement. Challengers failed to get the regulation stayed by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, but on February 9, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States voted 5-4 to grant the stay, the first time the Supreme Court had ever stayed a regulation prior to lower court review.

On March 17, 2016, McCarthy and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder testified before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding the Flint water crisis. Snyder apologized for the state's mistakes. McCarthy, however, insisted the EPA had done nothing wrong and that "there is no way my agency created this problem", causing her to at times be shouted down by outraged members of Congress. In October 2016, the EPA's inspector general concluded that the EPA had wrongfully delayed issuing an emergency order regarding Flint, Michigan.

Personal life

McCarthy is married to Kenneth McCarey, a wholesale floral salesman. They have three children: Daniel, Maggie, and Julie.