Gina McCarthy, Former Administrator of the EPA Under President Obama, "The Future of EPA and Our Planet"

Date & Time Oct 11 2017 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Speaker(s)
Gina McCarthy, former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Operating Advisor, Pegasus Capital Advisor
Audience Open to the Public

As final administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017, Gina McCarthy led numerous initiatives to cut air pollution, protect U.S. water resources, reduce greenhouse gases and strengthen chemical safety. In 2015, she finalized the Clean Power Plan (CPP), a lynchpin policy aimed at reducing emissions from coal-burning power plants, as well as increasing the use of renewable energy. The CPP currently is under review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which ruled that the Trump Administration must produce an alternative proposal rather than rescind it. McCarthy is visiting the Woodrow Wilson School as part of its Dean’s Innovative Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Initiative.

McCarthy will visit Princeton University on Wednesday, Oct. 11, to discuss the future of environmental advocacy in the face of the Trump Administration’s roll back of dozens of Obama-era regulations. Her talk, “The Future of EPA and Our Planet,” will be held at 4:30 p.m. in Robertson Hall’s Arthur Lewis Auditorium.*

McCarthy has dedicated her 35-year career in public service to environmental protection and public health. Her efforts as EPA administrator led to local, state and federal actions on critical issues related to the environment, economic growth, energy and transportation. Under her leadership, EPA also finalized the Clean Water Rule to protect rivers and streams that 117 million Americans rely on for their source of drinking water.

Previously, McCarthy held the position of assistant administrator in EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. From 2004 to 2009, she served as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, where she began an initiative called “No Child Left Inside” to introduce families to the natural world by visiting state parks, and she helped design and implement the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the nation’s first cap and trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for power plants. She has served as environmental adviser to five Massachusetts governors, including Governor Mitt Romney.

McCarthy currently serves as an operating advisor at the private equity firm Pegasus Capital.

*Formerly known as Dodds Auditorium