[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12497]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          McCARTHY NOMINATION

  Mr HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss my vote in 
opposition to the President's nomination of Gina McCarthy as the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. I praise Ms. 
McCarthy for her extensive experience and expertise in regulating air 
quality at the Federal level as well as at the State level. Throughout 
her career she has been able to be an effective regulator under 
Republican Governors as well as a Democratic President. Even with the 
opposition she faced during the months leading up to her confirmation, 
it was always clear to me that Ms. McCarthy would be approved.
  My ``nay'' vote was not against Ms. McCarthy. My vote was against 
President Obama's overreaching environmental policies and against the 
EPA. The environmental policies of this administration are clearly a 
war on fossil fuel and a war on Western jobs.
  The President's recent announcement of a Climate Change Action Plan 
will be implemented by EPA and will have a direct impact on jobs and 
the pocketbooks of the American people. This plan targets coal-fired 
powerplants by proposing Federal carbon emission standards that will 
cost billions of dollars nationwide to implement and will raise the 
price of electricity for private citizens as well as businesses.
  The Western United States is rich in coal, oil, and natural gas. We 
need to make it easier, not harder, to develop those resources. The 
development of the abundant and affordable energy that we are blessed 
with as a nation is crucial.
  The effort by this administration to quell the development of these 
resources is unacceptable. I cannot support them and, that being the 
case, I am not able to support the nomination of Ms. McCarthy.

                          ____________________