Former EPA head talks clean power, nuclear, and Bush’s climate reversal

The Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan represents an attempt to use the Clean Air Act to limit the US' carbon emissions. But its roots trace back to a lawsuit filed during the Clinton administration and decided by the Supreme Court during the Bush years. Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, was in charge of the EPA when President Bush reneged on a campaign promise and announced he was giving up on any attempt to regulate carbon emissions.

Whitman has stayed involved in environmental issues and is now the co-chair of an organization called the CASEnergy Coalition, which is promoting nuclear power as one of the solutions for limiting our carbon emissions. She recently talked with Ars about climate issues, nuclear power, and those awkward Bush years.

Ars: You were in charge of the EPA when Massachusetts v EPA was moving through the courts. Had you already started looking into carbon emissions and the Clean Air Act?