[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13484-13486]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

 NOMINATION OF REGINA McCARTHY TO BE AN ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR OF THE 
                    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following 
nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Regina McCarthy, of 
Massachusetts, to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my strong 
support for the confirmation of Gina McCarthy to head the Office of Air 
and Radiation at the Environmental Protection Agency. I have had the 
opportunity to work with and get to know Ms. McCarthy during her tenure 
as the commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Environmental 
Protection. Ms. McCarthy has worked tirelessly to make Connecticut's 
air, land and water cleaner, which in turn has made Connecticut the 
wonderful place it is today to live, work and raise a family.
  Among her achievements, I would like to highlight Ms. McCarthy's 
pioneering work to address climate change in New England. She is widely 
recognized as a chief engineer of the very successful Regional 
Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Since her appointment in 2004, Ms. McCarthy 
has worked to dramatically improve Connecticut's environment. She has 
restored and defended the integrity of many of Connecticut's most 
cherished natural treasures. She devoted herself to protecting Long 
Island Sound, a source of nourishment and recreation to the millions 
who live and work along its coastline. As commissioner, Ms. McCarthy 
devised strategies for dealing with our State's solid waste, and she 
worked to improve Connecticut's air quality. She also made great 
strides to reinvigorate our parks and open spaces.
  Gina arrived in Connecticut with a wealth of experience after holding 
a number of health and environmental positions in Massachusetts at the 
local, State and Federal levels. She worked for the Stoughton Board of 
Health and Conservation, Massachusetts' Hazardous Waste Facility Site 
Safety Council, the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Program and the 
New England Governor's Environment Committee. Ms. McCarthy also served 
as the under secretary of policy at the Massachusetts Executive Office 
of Environmental Affairs and as the deputy secretary of operations to 
the Office for Commonwealth Development where she oversaw the 
development and implementation of Massachusetts' first Climate 
Protection Action Plan.
  We have been lucky to have Gina in Connecticut and I am excited that 
the entire country will now benefit from her talents at the EPA. In her 
new position, Ms. McCarthy will be responsible for developing national 
programs, technical policies and regulations to control air pollution 
and prevent exposure to radiation. She will continue her work to 
address climate change and improve energy efficiency--a double charge 
that is both timely and imperative to the continued health of our 
planet. She will also develop strategies to reduce industrial and 
vehicle-generated air pollution as she works to improve indoor and 
outdoor air quality. I am excited to have someone of Ms. McCarthy's 
character and credentials leading these essential efforts and I am 
filled with confidence in her ability to address them productively.
  I strongly support the nomination of Gina McCarthy to head the EPA's 
Office of Air and Radiation and urge my colleagues to do the same.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the nomination of 
Regina McCarthy to be Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation at 
the Environmental Protection Agency. I would also like to thank 
Chairman Boxer and the members of the Environment and Public Works 
Committee for their support of this excellent and deserving nominee. 
While I think it is regrettable that her confirmation was delayed for 
so long, I am glad that she will soon be able to get to work on finding 
solutions to the many important environmental issues facing our nation.
  I congratulate President Obama on nominating such a remarkably 
qualified, energetic, and passionate individual to serve as Assistant 
Administrator. Commissioner McCarthy has 25 years of experience working 
at all levels of local and State government and has a depth and breadth 
of knowledge on environmental issues that few can

[[Page 13485]]

rival. She has also served under both Democratic and Republican 
Governors, in Massachusetts as well as my home State of Connecticut. In 
both States and in all capacities, Gina has been universally recognized 
as a uniquely talented environmental advocate.
  As commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Environmental 
Protection since 2004, Gina has amassed an impressive record of 
accomplishments. She spearheaded the ``No Child Left Inside'' 
initiative in Connecticut and nationwide, which combines environmental 
education with numerous outdoor programs to promote physical activity 
while teaching kids to become good stewards of the environment. She has 
also been a key proponent of sustainable economic development in 
Connecticut, has worked tirelessly to reinvigorate our State park 
system, and has been a terrific advocate for open space and 
conservation initiatives.
  Perhaps most prominently, Commissioner McCarthy was one of the 
driving forces behind the creation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas 
Initiative, RGGI, the Nation's first mandatory cap and trade program, 
which was adopted by 10 States in the Northeast to address the grave 
threat of climate change. The commissioner's work on the issue of 
climate change has been recognized and lauded nationally, and her 
experience will be invaluable when she is confirmed as Assistant 
Administrator for Air and Radiation. President Obama has made it clear 
that addressing climate change is a top priority for his 
administration, and as Assistant Administrator, Gina will play a vital 
role in developing and implementing policies to control greenhouse gas 
emissions.
  In my view, this incredible list of accomplishments does not do 
justice to the qualities Gina will bring to her new position once she 
is confirmed. Across my State she has a well-deserved reputation for 
her boundless energy, incredible passion and determination, and 
willingness to speak frankly in order to address challenges head on.
  Indeed, she has made such an enormous impact that on March 14, the 
Hartford Courant ran an editorial entitled ``DEP Chief Gina McCarthy a 
Hard Act to Follow,'' which praised both her passion for the issues and 
her pragmatic approach. The Courant specifically noted her ability to 
revitalize a department which had lost the public's trust and engage 
people across the State in preserving Connecticut's landscape and Long 
Island Sound.
  Once again, I congratulate Gina McCarthy and strongly urge all my 
colleagues to support her nomination. Connecticut's loss is a win for 
our Nation. And, while we are sad to see her leave Connecticut, I am 
confident that Gina will continue to be the outstanding advocate for 
the environment and public health she has always been and I look 
forward to working with her in her new capacity at the EPA.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is, Will the Senate 
advise and consent to the nomination of Regina McCarthy, of 
Massachusetts, to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency?
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
motion to reconsider is laid upon the table, and the President will be 
immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of 
Regina McCarthy, President Obama's nominee to be Assistant 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for Air and 
Radiation. Ms. McCarthy has decades of experience administering 
environmental programs at the state level under both Democratic and 
Republican administrations. Her qualifications are unquestionable, and 
her confirmation will help move our country toward a safer environment 
and a healthier economy.
  We are at a critical point in the history of our Nation and indeed 
our planet. New science appears seemingly every month showing the 
danger posed by climate change. Already this year, new peer-reviewed 
studies revealed that the Arctic will likely be ice-free in the summer 
as early as 2012-- not 2050, as predicted by the Nobel Prize-winning 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--IPCC--in 2007. Another peer-
reviewed study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 
showed that global emissions, if they continue at current rates, would 
increase global temperatures by 12 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the 
century. This is on the extreme high end of temperature projections by 
the IPCC. Finally, two new studies found that ice melt from Antarctica 
and Greenland will likely raise sea levels by five to six feet by the 
end of the century, far above the two feet predicted by the IPCC, which 
did not consider melting from those two sources.
  Regina McCarthy will be on the front lines of our Nation's battle to 
stabilize the climate. The office she will manage is responsible for 
improving air quality and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that 
cause global warming.
  Congress must act quickly to place strong, science-based limits on 
emissions, and force polluters to pay to clean up the damage they have 
done to our environment and our health. We must do so in a way that 
creates jobs, allows businesses and individuals to save money through 
efficiency, and pulls the country out of this recession and into a 
clean energy future.
  The coal and oil industries are powerful, and are spending billions 
of dollars fighting the science and fighting any policies that would 
break their stranglehold on our Nation's energy policy. In the first 3 
months of this year alone, the oil and gas industry spent $37.3 million 
to lobby the Federal Government. That is money that could be going 
toward cleaning up their operations. Instead it goes toward impeding 
our progress toward a clean energy jobs bill to stop climate change.
  Despite those obstacles, the House has reported legislation out of 
committee and we are working toward a bill in the Environment and 
Public Works Committee. However, as Congress works toward comprehensive 
legislation, our planet cannot afford to wait to begin reducing 
emissions. That's why President Obama's EPA recently found that 
greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act. This will 
allow the EPA to use existing authority to regulate some of the largest 
sources of greenhouse gases, such as power plants, refineries, and 
automobiles.
  Just as the EPA does not use the Clean Air Act to regulate small 
sources of air pollution such as residential buildings, churches, or 
hospitals for pollutants like smog and soot, it will not regulate these 
sources for greenhouse gases. Our economy grew rapidly as we 
dramatically reduced emissions of air pollutants under the Clean Air 
Act, and I am certain we can use the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse 
gases while creating clean energy jobs and reviving our economy.
  Ms. McCarthy is supremely qualified to succeed in that task. 
Throughout her 25 years of experience at the State level, she has 
proven to be practical and intelligent in her approach to protecting 
the environment. She most recently served as the commissioner for the 
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection--DEP--and was 
appointed to this post by Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell in December 
2004. Prior to serving in this capacity, Ms. McCarthy worked on 
environmental issues for 20 years at the State and local level in 
Massachusetts. She served as the deputy secretary of operations for the 
Massachusetts Office of Commonwealth Development, a ``super 
Secretariat'' that coordinates policies and programs of that state's 
environmental, transportation, energy and housing agencies. She was 
appointed to this position by then-Governor Mitt Romney.
  Ms. McCarthy is known for her active role as Connecticut DEP 
commissioner in promoting the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI, 
a cooperative initiative by 10 Northeastern States, including New 
Jersey, to implement a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas 
emissions from powerplants. That experience will serve her well when 
she is tasked with implementing the climate legislation that Congress 
must--and will--pass.
  Our planet cannot wait any longer for lower emissions from cars and

[[Page 13486]]

power plants, American workers cannot wait any longer for clean energy 
jobs, and our economy cannot wait any longer for the technological 
innovations and improved efficiency that will lay the groundwork for 
lasting, sustainable prosperity. Confirming Regina McCarthy will let 
her get to work cleaning up our environment, and we in the Senate will 
begin the work of passing a bill that makes polluters pay, creates 
clean energy jobs, and revives our economy.

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