The NRDC Action Fund today announced it has endorsed Katie McGinty as the group works this year to build a pro-environment majority in the U.S. Senate. McGinty is running against incumbent Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA).
“Katie McGinty has been a champion for clean energy, environmental protection and fighting climate change during her entire impressive career,” said Kevin Curtis, executive director of the NRDC Action Fund. “She understands that Pennsylvania’s future depends on developing the clean energy economy. Sen. Toomey, on the other hand, has too often voted with big polluters and against the protections that keep our air and water clean.”
McGinty was the first woman to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She is also the former head of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, which actively pursued renewable energy under her leadership, helping the state rank third nationwide in a 2009 Pew Charitable Trust survey of green jobs.
Her opponent, Sen. Toomey, has repeatedly voted to undermine bedrock environmental protections, including voting to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, to gut the Clean Water Rule and against clean energy tax credits.
“I’m honored to have the support of the NRDC Action Fund, a leading organization working to elect candidates who will stand up for the environment,” McGinty said. “Throughout my career, I have worked to prove that a clean environment and a strong economy go hand-in-hand. In fact, you can’t grow an economy without clean air, land, and soil. We can–and as Senator I will–put people to work on sustainable infrastructure and clean energy projects, sustainable agriculture and open space preservation. I will work to bridge partisan divides, enact common sense environmental protections, and invest in a clean energy economy that meets the needs of the 21st century.”