McCarthy Confirmed by U.S. EPA

On June 2, 2009, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm the nomination of Ms. Regina McCarthy for the position of Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA).  Ms. McCarthy is the current Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and is also the Chairwoman of The Climate Registry.  She is known for her work with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a market-based greenhouse gas program with 10 Northeastern state participants.  She was nominated on March 16, 2009 but her approval was on a slow track due to concerns that some Senate members had around her position on how the New Source Review (NSR) Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program could be applied to require air permits for emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a result of U.S. EPA’s “endangerment finding.”  There was also speculation that once her confirmation was complete, several regulatory initiatives that have been pending within U.S. EPA would quickly be released. Chief among these pending initiatives is a potential re-formulated Boiler MACT rule which could ultimately impact thousands of sources.