SEN. BLUNT PLACES HOLD ON MCCARTHY’S EPA NOMINATION

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
3/22/13

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) placed a hold on Gina McCarthy’s nomination for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator this week. In a March 18 statement, Blunt said he would stall McCarthy’s nomination until the Obama Administration announces a timeline for a path forward for the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway Project slated for southeast Missouri. Blunt’s office said EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Service did not meet a self-imposed deadline last week to report progress on the stalled project and provide a timeframe for moving forward with a draft environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act. “These agencies missed their own self-imposed deadline, which is entirely unacceptable. That’s why I’m placing a hold on the EPA Administrator until the Obama Administration can provide us with a concrete timeline for progress on the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway Project,” Blunt said in a statement.

The $165 million flood control project would install pumping stations and close a 1,500 foot gap in a levee by the Mississippi River to protect area farmlands. However, the project is considered controversial and has been kicked around for decades because of claims from environmental groups that it could harm nearby wetlands. Blunt said that disagreements between the three federal agencies about how to move forward have delayed the project for years, but that the trio had promised to release a progress report on March 15.

McCarthy Makes Rounds on Capitol Hill

Despite the hold, McCarthy continued to make the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, meeting with senators to discuss her nomination and upcoming EPA regulations. A confirmation hearing with the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee has yet to be scheduled for McCarthy, who President Obama nominated earlier this month to replace Lisa Jackson. A handful of Republicans on EPW could further slow or halt her nomination due to expressed skepticism of the Obama Administration’s regulatory agenda and a series of controversial air regulations that are unpopular with many members of the party.

McCarthy is expected to garner the most scrutiny of the President’s three Cabinet-level energy and environment nominees. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee easily cleared Sally Jewel’s nomination for Interior Secretary this week, and is expected to vet and pass the nomination of Ernest Moniz for Secretary of Energy next month.