The Environmental Protection Agency: then and now

President Donald Trump's administration released its 2019 budget this week, proposing a cut of 25 percent for the Environmental Protection Agency. This hour, Greg Dalton interviews former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, who served in the Obama administration, and had previously worked for several Republican governors.

It was in 1970, under President Nixon, that the Environmental Protection Agency was founded. While the Agency enjoyed tremendous bipartisan support for decades, the last 9 years have seen a decline in support from congressional Republicans.

Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says she is less worried about environmental protections being rolled back than she is about the agency budget cuts because "they're targeting our scientists, and EPA is a science agency. That's what we do for a living...and I think that's a serious threat."

But, McCarthy says she is hopeful, because she believes we are "absolutely moving to a carbon-free future." Clean energy, McCarthy says, is competing well in the marketplace, and environmentalists and scientists and business people agree on that. If the government "stays out of it," the market will bring us to a greener future.

As for bipartisanship, McCarthy says Republican office-holders want clean air to breathe and clean water to drink just as much as their constituents do.

Later in the hour:

Lynda Deschambault, a staff scientist who was a 20-year veteran of the EPA.

Benjamin Franta, PhD candidate in History of Science, Stanford University.

This "Climate One" program is called "The EPA: Then and Now." The host and moderator is Greg Dalton of the Commonwealth Club of California.