Catherine McCabe is a retired public administrator and environmental lawyer who served as acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from January to February 2017 and commissioner of the

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staff o ...

from January 2018 to January 2021.

Education

McCabe graduated from Albany High School in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

in 1969. She attended

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and earned a Bachelor of Arts in environmental sciences. She also studied toward a master's degree in environmental science at the

Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan ...

and earned her J.D. from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

in 1977.

Career

McCabe worked as an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York. She was also an associate at the New York City law firm of

Webster & Sheffield Webster & Sheffield, formerly Webster, Sheffield, Fleischmann, Hitchcock & Chrystie, was a major "white shoe" law firm in New York City from 1934 to 1991. Webster & Sheffield dissolved in 1991, 57 years after it was established.Susan Heller Ander ...

Department of Justice

McCabe spent 22 years working in the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

, specializing in environmental issues. In 2001, she became deputy chief of the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Department of Justice.

Environmental Protection Agency

In 2005, she moved to the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

(EPA), where she was the principal deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. After seven years with the EPA, McCabe became one of three judges on the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, where she served until 2014. McCabe then served as deputy regional administrator of EPA's Region 2, covering New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. McCabe also served as acting assistant administrator of EPA's

Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) is the law enforcement arm of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is made up of attorneys, special agents, scientists and other employees. Organization The OECA ...

(OECA) from January to May 2009 and acting regional administrator of EPA's Region 2 from February to October 2017. She was selected by the outgoing Obama Administration to serve as acting EPA administrator starting on January 20, 2017, until President Donald Trump's EPA nominee, Scott Pruitt, was confirmed in February 2017. Following his confirmation, she returned to Region 2 to serve as acting regional administrator. As acting EPA administrator, McCabe commented that the Trump administration's hiring freeze was creating challenges for the agency's work. Nevertheless, McCabe stated that agency staff would "continue to do our best to ensure that this agency’s decisions and actions are based on our two bedrock principles: carrying out the law and ensuring that the best science informs all that we do.”

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

In December 2017, New Jersey governor-elect

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to Germa ...

announced he would nominate McCabe to serve as commissioner of the

(NJDEP). Environmental groups New Jersey

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

and

Clean Water Action Clean Water Action is an American environmental advocacy group. Created in 1972, the group focuses on canvassing and gaining support for political issues and candidates. It is a 501(c)(4) organization and is based in Washington, D.C. History The ...

supported McCabe's nomination, which was approved on June 7, 2018. During her time in office, NJDEP filed 13 major natural resource damages lawsuits against polluters, became a national leader in addressing contamination from per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (

PFAS Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain. An early definition, from 2011, required that they contain at least one perfluoroalkyl mo ...

), helped to address the Newark lead water crisis, coordinated passage of a landmark environmental justice law, spearheaded New Jersey's return to the

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced "Reggie") is the first mandatory market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the United States. RGGI is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, ...

(RGGI), released the state's first comprehensive scientific report on expected local impacts of climate change, and put forward a roadmap of recommendations for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. McCabe also led NJDEP's efforts to establish an offshore wind strategic plan to generate 3,500

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...

s of offshore wind energy by 2030. On August 30, 2018, McCabe signed an administrative order that closed "all lands owned, managed or otherwise controlled" by the

to black bear hunting. The black bear hunting moratorium was part of then candidate for Governor

's campaign. In December 2020, McCabe announced her retirement, effective January 2021.

Personal life

McCabe is married with three children. She and her husband have a home in

Ocean City, New Jersey Ocean City is a city in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the principal city of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Cape May County and is part of the Philadelphia- Wilmington- Camden, P ...

, which was hit by

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, Catherine State cabinet secretaries of New Jersey Administrators of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Barnard College alumni Columbia Law School alumni American environmental lawyers Trump administration cabinet members United States Department of Justice lawyers Lawyers from Albany, New York People from Ocean City, New Jersey Living people Year of birth missing (living people)