McCabe worked as an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York. She was also an associate at the New York City law firm of Webster & Sheffield.[2]
McCabe spent 22 years working in the Department of Justice, specializing in environmental issues.[3] In 2001, she became deputy chief of the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Department of Justice.[4]
In 2005, she moved to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she was the principal deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. After seven years with the EPA, McCabe became one of three judges on the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, where she served until 2014.[4][5][6] McCabe then served as deputy regional administrator of EPA's Region 2, covering New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.[7][6] McCabe also served as acting assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) from January to May 2009 and acting regional administrator of EPA's Region 2 from February to October 2017.[8]
She was selected by the outgoing Obama administration to serve as acting EPA administrator starting on January 20, 2017, until President Donald Trump's EPA nominee, Scott Pruitt, was confirmed in February 2017.[2][3] Following his confirmation, she returned to Region 2 to serve as acting regional administrator.[9]
As acting EPA administrator, McCabe commented that the Trump administration's hiring freeze was creating challenges for the agency's work. Nevertheless, McCabe stated that agency staff would "continue to do our best to ensure that this agency’s decisions and actions are based on our two bedrock principles: carrying out the law and ensuring that the best science informs all that we do.”[10]
In December 2017, New Jersey governor-elect Phil Murphy announced he would nominate McCabe to serve as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP).[7] Environmental groups New Jersey Sierra Club and Clean Water Action supported McCabe's nomination, which was approved on June 7, 2018.[11]
During her time in office, NJDEP filed 13 major natural resource damages lawsuits against polluters, became a national leader in addressing contamination from per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), helped to address the Newark lead water crisis, coordinated passage of a landmark environmental justice law, spearheaded New Jersey's return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), released the state's first comprehensive scientific report on expected local impacts of climate change, and put forward a roadmap of recommendations for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.[12] McCabe also led NJDEP's efforts to establish an offshore wind strategic plan to generate 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.[13] On August 30, 2018, McCabe signed an administrative order that closed "all lands owned, managed or otherwise controlled" by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to black bear hunting.[14] The black bear hunting moratorium was part of then candidate for Governor Phil Murphy's campaign.
In December 2020, McCabe announced her retirement, effective January 2021.
