Obama to Name Crony Environmental Operative to Head EPA

Gina McCarthy

President Obama has nominated Gina McCarthy, who currently heads the Environmental Protection Agency’s air and radiation office, as the agency’s next administrator.

The press doesn't provide much coverage of the crony left, but that is pretty much what  Obama is all about.

He has his interventionist agenda, but there are always cronies somewhere in the background making big bucks. McCarthy will fit in nicely with this model.

I find this WaPo provided background on McCarthy enlightening (my highlights)

In March 2009, public health advocates S. William Becker and Frank O’Donnell were walking the halls of the EPA when they spotted McCarthy poring over briefing books. She was preparing for her Senate confirmation hearing as head of the agency’s air and radiation office, and she was intent on defusing any controversy surrounding global warming.

“I know greenhouse gases are important, but I’m committed to strengthening public health protections,” she told them.

It was an early indication of how the politically savvy McCarthy was prepared to get her way in Washington. A veteran of Republican administrations in Massachusetts and Connecticut, she has devoted much of the past four years to shepherding through air regulations that have protected public health — but that also have helped shutter power plants emitting greenhouse gases linked to climate change.

“She’s very data- and fact-driven, and that’s been helpful for us as well as the entire business community,” said Donna Harman, president and chief executive of the American Forest and Paper Association. “It doesn’t mean I always got what I was looking for, but we can have a dialogue.”

Many environmentalists, for their part, see her ability to broker deals with potential opponents as an asset. “What she’s tough about is the science-based standard,” said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “She’s very pragmatic about how you get there.”

Here's a quote via the National Journal:

  “Early on, Gina brought us in to talk about the rules,” said John McManus, AEP’s vice president of environmental services. “We talked about timing, technology, and cost. My sense is that Gina is listening, has an open mind, she wants to hear the concerns of the regulated sector.”

She will likely be tough on the coal industry and coal-fired power plants, which will impact Kentucky, so Rand Paul is not going to like her nomination, but it appears she has a lot of support in different sectors of the lobbyist community. You should never trust anyone, who has lobbyist support, coupled with support from the Union of Concerend Scientists.  She'll use the cover of wacko science to create crony deals. And there's plenty of room for cronyism in the EPA. Keep in mind that Enron was instrumental in helping to establish the EPA’s $20 billion–per–year sulfur-dioxide cap-and-trade program in the early 1990s and soon became a major trader on the “pollution credit” exchanges, raking in hefty profits. As always the devil will be in the details