Carper Statement on Appointment of Gina McCarthy as White House Climate Czar

“When Gina McCarthy was called to serve in the Obama-Biden Administration as EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Air in 2009, her nomination sailed through the Senate unanimously, but the job itself was no easy task. Prior to her coming to office, nearly early every major clean air regulation by the Bush administration had been rejected by the courts, one by one. By her first day on the job at the EPA air office, Gina McCarthy was tasked with writing many major rules in just a matter of years. But she rose to the challenge, and she rewrote rules that would lead to better air quality and a better climate across our country—all during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. She successfully developed our nation’s first-ever greenhouse gas vehicle standards, helping to save consumers money and curb emissions from our nation’s largest source of global warming pollution. She also developed long-awaited regulations to reduce mercury and other air toxics from our nation’s power plants and address air pollution that crossed over state borders. If Gina McCarthy’s subject matter expertise is matched by anything, it’s by her dogged persistence and relentless determination.

“After putting in place safeguards that ushered in dramatic improvements to our nation’s air quality, Gina McCarthy was nominated to serve as EPA Administrator. As the head of EPA, she positioned the agency to fight the climate crisis, using every tool at its disposal to clean our air, clean our water and ensure healthier communities everywhere in this country. She worked tirelessly to implement the first regulations to address greenhouse gas pollution from our power plants and worked with Congress to oversee the overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act, the first rewrite of a major environmental law in a generation. Under her leadership, EPA took sweeping action to clean our air and save our planet while the United States experienced the greatest economic expansion in our nation’s history.