Outgoing EPA chief Gina McCarthy speaks on Obama Administration's legacy
Under Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy's leadership the U.S. agency has penalized Volkswagen following a diesel emissions scandal, promoted federal rules to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and expanded federal authority under the Clean Water Act.
McCarthy was appointed by President Obama in 2009 and throughout her career has worked on the state and local level to help form policy on critical environmental issues. She says the EPA's mission is to "protect public health and to safeguard the precious natural resources we all need to thrive and survive."
McCarthy spoke November 21, 2016 at the National Press Club in Washington. She answered questions about the environmental and public health legacy of the Obama Administration, with an emphasis on efforts to combat the global effects of climate change.
The last thing people in the U.S. want to worry about is political arguments over the environment, but they do care about the safety of the world around them and expect their water, air and food to be safe for them and their children, McCarthy said.
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"EPA is here because the American people demanded it. We will be here because they continue to demand it, because we stand between pollution and our people," she said.
McCarthy also addressed what she believes needs to be done going forward into a Trump administration.
"We're in a spectacularly different place today than we were when President Obama took office. Before, developing countries would point a finger at us. Now, they're wondering if the U.S. will turn its back on science and be left behind. That is the choice we face. And as the president said the inevitability of our clean energy future is again bigger than any one person or one nation and it must be guided by a simple but profound truth: we don't have to choose between economy or environment, but folks we can and we must choose both.
To listen to the entire event, click the audio link above.