Climate change issues face Obama's EPA and Energy nominees

Mar 05 - USA TODAY

Reflecting his intent to tackle climate change in his second term, President Obama picked two Washington veterans who've been wrestling with such issues for years.

Obama announced the selection of the Environmental Protection Agency's clean air chief Gina McCarthy, 58, to head the agency and MIT professor Ernest Moniz, 68, to lead the Department of Energy on Monday. In making the long-expected picks, Obama said, "they're going to be making sure that we're investing in American energy, that we're doing everything that we can to combat the threat of climate change."

If confirmed by the Senate, they would take over agencies with missions that Obama raised to the top of his priority list in his recent inaugural address and State of the Union speech, calling for a doubling in energy efficiency and other steps to address global warming.

Both McCarthy, who headed the EPA's air-pollution efforts during Obama's first term, and Moniz, who was a top Energy official during President Clinton's second term, stand out as politically experienced pragmatists, policy analysts say.

"Both of these nominees are very consistent in pursuing practical means, not ideology, to reach their goals," said policy expert Dan Lashof of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental group.

McCarthy, who also worked for two former GOP governors including Mitt Romney when he led Massachusetts, is known for considering industry concerns during her successful push to nearly double gas-mileage standards for new cars and light trucks by 2025.

Moniz supports nuclear power, natural gas as a "bridge fuel" to replace coal and burying carbon dioxide from power plants underground, none of which are favorites with environmental groups. His broad energy research embodies Obama's "all of the above" energy strategy.

Chief among challenges awaiting McCarthy, who will replace her current boss Lisa Jackson, are calls by the NRDC and other groups for tighter emission caps on existing coal-fired power plants, the leading U.S. source of greenhouse gases.

Such regulations give the industry pause. Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, said Obama touts job creation as a top priority, but adds, "The problem is that EPA, in many cases, is not proposing regulations that meet this goal."

Other looming issues include an Obama decision on whether to approve the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. The billion-dollar private project would carry a heavy crude oil, known as tar sands oil, from Canada across the Great Plains to refineries in Illinois and Texas. On Friday, the State Department issued a draft review that riled environmentalists, who seek the pipeline's rejection, by saying Canada's tar sands will likely be developed whether the project is approved or not.

Environmental groups expect McCarthy will be on their side. The president "has scored a slam dunk for the environment by picking Gina McCarthy," said Gene Karpinski of the League of Conservation Voters.

http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=27810622