President Obama indicates new EPA head

Meet McCarthy

President Obama is rumored to be seriously considering Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency. This appointment would fill the gap left by former Head of EPA, Lisa P. Jackson, see EPA Loses Its Head, December 2012.

[Update, March 13, 2013: Sure enough, Obama officially nominated Gina McCarthy on March 3.]

McCarthy is an energetic Bostonian – known for straight talk and a refreshing sense of humor. (Any bets on how long she can keep it?) She's Irish Catholic, and if that's not tough enough, she hails from Dorchester whachu-lookin-at Massachusetts, arguably Boston's toughest suburb.

McCarthy speaks with one of those gritty, legendary Boston accents. She's tough. Smart. Dynamic. If appointed, she'll make for an interesting leader. Which, frankly, is what EPA needs right now. Upshot: a great candidate to head up EPA.

[Disclosure: The Boston-Irish half of this blogger would love to see this appointment, perhaps hoping for a little dynamism in EPA.]

More about Obama's EPA pick  Find out more about Gina McCarthy.

Suggested reading:

1. Catherine Hollander at Yahoo / National Journal
2. Reuters 
3. San Francisco Chronicle, of particular interest in terms of radiation detection and McCarthy's accountability for same after the huge earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011; this subject, understandably, is of particular interest to California, Oregon and Washington State (and anyone who eats fish from the northern Pacific) and will get a lot of focus from related news outlets