Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In

Obama administration officials "need to align together" to work on reducing the nation's total vehicle miles traveled -- work that should go beyond a pending congressional climate bill -- the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) air-quality chief said today.

GinaMcCarthy.jpgGina McCarthy, EPA's top air pollution regulator. (Photo: CECE)

Gina McCarthy, EPA's assistant administrator for air and radiation, acknowledged in a speech at EMBARQ's transportation conference that her agency as "less effective" working alone on crafting strategies to cut VMT.

McCarthy called for federal agencies to work together on a coordinated approach to transportation policy that makes economic and environmental factors an essential part of the mix.

"When we say transportation, everybody thinks 'car',"
McCarthy said. "That's a challenge for us as individuals, as a society
-- and clearly it's a challenge for me, as someone who's supposed to
deliver clean air to breathe."

McCarthy described lowering VMT as the third leg of the EPA's transport stool. The other two, she explained, are encouraging vehicle technology to reduce emissions and promoting cleaner-burning fuels.

But that third leg drew the bulk of McCarthy's attention, as she echoed the mission statement of the White House's inter-agency "livable communities" effort.

"Transportation, above all else, needs to be looked at through a series of complementary
measures, beyond cap-and-trade, in order to drive the types of reductions we need in order
to live in a sustainable world," said McCarthy, a veteran environmental regulator in Connecticut.

And McCarthy appeared to recognize the existing federal
system's built-in bias toward transportation projects that make life
difficult for air-quality regulators. "The easiest way to spend large
hunks of money is to widen a road," she said. "The worst way to spend
large hunks of money is to widen a road."

As for the cap-and-trade bill, which faces an uncertain future thanks to resistance from red-state Senate Democrats, McCarthy warned Congress that her agency is acting under a Supreme Court mandate to curb greenhouse gases: "Though we support cap-and-trade ... EPA is going to do what the law says and what the science says."

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: How Car Culture and the Internet Attention Economy Waste Your Time

Our favorite YouTuber breaks down what happens when car culture, hyper-consumerism, and internet brain rot collide — and how to claw our way out.

September 19, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Run Out the Clock

Thousands of unawarded federal transportation grants have been frozen, from reducing truck emissions to reconnecting communities divided by freeways.

September 19, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Live from MARS To Change the ‘Crash First, Fix Later’ Mentality

Welcome to MARS: Modern Analytics for Roadway Safety. Let's talk about it in a special edition of the podcast.

September 18, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines Freak Out, Give In

Doesn't matter what you believe in, at least regarding the current debate over how safe it is to ride transit.

September 18, 2025

How Many Americans Live in Walkable Neighborhoods?

...and how does your community measure up?

September 18, 2025

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Wednesday’s Headlines

Is our Jetsons future is finally upon us? Plus, a new and better way to measure streets' level of service.

September 17, 2025
See all posts