By Rich Heidorn Jr.

BOSTON — Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said last week she is angry about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Clean Power Plan (CPP) and renege on the Paris Climate Accord but confident that the nation’s electric industry will continue reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.

The keynote speaker at ISO-NE’s public forum on its draft 2017 Regional System Plan Thursday, McCarthy cited former President Barack Obama’s observation that “the clean energy train has left the station.”

“And there’s no way that one person is going to slow it down,” she added. “…The science [on climate change] is only getting clearer and clearer. … If you look at the energy sector, the commitments are there, the solutions are on the table.”

“Did we do enough? Of course, we didn’t,” she continued, recounting questions she is asked frequently. “I can’t answer the question of whether it’s too late [to stop the worst effects of global warming]. … The only thing I know is I’m not going to admit that. I know it’s too late to have [climate] scientists continue to be vilified.”

McCarthy said Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord was “shortsighted” and “embarrassing.” But she noted the U.S. can’t formally withdraw from the agreement until 2020. (Over the weekend, administration officials denied reports that they seeking ways to remain a party to the agreement.)

She also said she expected the courts to restrict her successor’s plans to sink the CPP. “I do trust the courts,” she said, claiming the agency won 90% of its challenges in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals during her tenure. The Trump administration, she said, has lost three of four appeals. “They were real picky with us. They’ll be real picky” with Trump, she said.

Since leaving EPA, McCarthy, 63, has been named to the board of directors of the Connecticut Green Bank and awarded fellowships at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and School of Public Health. She also advises Pegasus Capital Advisors on clean energy investments. “After 37-plus years in public service, I’m now free to say whatever the hell I want,” she said.

McCarthy said she is encouraged by the engagement of young people on climate change and predicts transportation will be “the next big kahuna” for carbon reductions, noting the rise of ride-sharing services and Volvo’s pledge to produce only hybrids and electric vehicles by 2019. “Young people are not as in love with their cars as we were,” she said.

McCarthy, who served as a state environmental official in both Massachusetts and Connecticut before moving to EPA, made it clear that New England is her favorite region. “Every time you get aggravated or upset with ISO New England, I welcome you to go to any of the other RTOs, ISOs. You’ll want to come back home, let me tell you,” she said.