Sustaining a wholesome atmosphere is a “key part” of Trump’s “America first” agenda, an EPA spokesperson countered in an e-mail. “EPA will proceed to maneuver ahead on this agenda, and we hope NRDC below Gina McCarthy’s management can help us on this necessary mission,” the spokesperson mentioned.

A lifelong public servant with a thick Massachusetts accent and a blunt type, McCarthy is just not a reflexive partisan. For a lot of her profession, she held state environmental-agency positions in Massachusetts and Connecticut—roles during which she served below Democrats and Republicans, together with then–Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. She got here to Washington to work within the EPA’s air-and-radiation workplace in 2009, earlier than Obama nominated her to steer the company in 2013.

Based on Jewell, who served in Obama’s Cupboard concurrently McCarthy, officers’ shift to activism is about serving to the broader progressive agenda whereas utilizing the scientific and policy-building expertise they developed as authorities officers. “These of us who’ve been privileged to deeply perceive what’s at stake and what might be performed about it really feel an obligation to be a part of the answer,” Jewell advised me.

To make sure, McCarthy and her fellow bureaucrats-turned-activists aren’t precisely residing in poverty. And though compensation within the nonprofit sector ({and professional} politics) is far decrease than within the personal sector, tons of cash remains to be sloshing by the system; massive nonprofits corresponding to NRDC usually spend tens or a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} annually.

“It’s typical for environmental lobbyists to place a white hat on themselves and act like they’re doing one thing completely different. However they’re an enormous environmental moneymaking company,” mentioned Kathleen Sgamma, the president of the Western Power Alliance, a bunch that represents fossil-fuel corporations. “I don’t know what Gina McCarthy is making, however I’m certain she is making lavish cash. That’s not coming from environmental activists on the streets asking donors for 5 bucks … For her to recommend she is doing something completely different than a company lobbyist is spin at greatest.”

NRDC actually has the cash to push its agenda. By way of the group’s political arm, McCarthy can have hundreds of thousands to place towards endorsing and promoting for candidates in key 2020 races and selling the last word aim: unseating Trump. The fund budgeted $6.2 million for election and lobbying efforts in fiscal 2018, forward of the midterms. This cash, which additionally helps voter-turnout efforts, could make a big distinction in shut Home and Senate races. In 2020, the NRDC Motion Fund is planning to greater than double its earlier funds, and intends to lift and donate $200,000 to candidates by its PAC. McCarthy was initially planning to be a daily determine on the marketing campaign path within the lead-up to the election, however she needed to droop her spring tour of battleground states due to the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers say that they’ll take into account a modified in-person tour if it’s protected to carry public occasions earlier than November. McCarthy can be serving to the Democratic Nationwide Committee draft its official local weather platform forward of the occasion’s conference, which has been rescheduled for August 17.