Earth Equity News

EPA's Chief Air Quality Regulator Appears Ready for a Good Fight. By Robin Bravender, Greenwire, November 13, 2009. "U.S. EPA air chief Gina McCarthy has a thick Boston accent, a shock of cropped white hair and a penchant for a good fight... That is lucky for McCarthy, 55, whose job as the nation's top air regulator has her in what may be the world's hottest spot: the center of a political free-for-all over climate regulation and other air pollution policies. As President Obama's nominee for the air office post, McCarthy got a whiff of how contentious her new job could be before she was even confirmed by the Senate. Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming stalled the vote on her confirmation for nearly a month last spring to protest EPA's movement toward using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases... McCarthy quickly made up for lost time when she finally moved in June into her fifth-floor office at EPA headquarters, the Ariel Rios Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. McCarthy and her staff quickly rolled out several climate policies in response to the Supreme Court's 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA decision, which gave the agency the authority to regulate greenhouse gases as air pollutants. Environmentalists have hailed the proposals, which they say were long overdue, while conservative lawmakers and many industry groups have accused EPA of attempting to impose new regulations that would cripple a struggling economy. But McCarthy, a veteran regulator and a pioneer in a Northeastern regional program to curb global warming emissions, has taken criticism and praise in stride."