Irish-American nominated by Obama to head EPA

President Barack Obama has nominated an Irish-American to lead the Environmental Protection Agency in a crucial role for his administration as he fights climate change as one of his second-term priorities.

An Irish Catholic from south Boston, Gina McCarthy is the EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation where she has been nicknamed “Obama’s green quarterback” by environmentalists. She has spent three decades fighting pollution and climate change in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Mr Obama yesterday described her as having “earned a reputation as a straight shooter”. As assistant EPA administrator she “focused on practical, cost-effective ways to keep our air clean and our economy growing”, he said in a ceremony at the White House announcing her nomination. A tough-talking Bostonian with what is said to be a wicked sense of humour, Ms McCarthy is a long-serving government official and air quality expert who has campaigned for tougher carbon emissions standards.

The president’s choice of nominee is a measure of his intent to tackle climate change in the face of intransigent lawmakers such as political representatives from coal-rich states who have clashed with Ms McCarthy during lively congressional hearings.

Her confirmation is not a foregone conclusion, however; Republican senator David Vitter of Louisiana recently criticised her failure to respond to requests for information about the science behind EPA regulations.

In other nominations, Mr Obama tapped Sylvia Mathews Burwell as director of the Office of Management and Budget, a key position in his cabinet as he attempts to find common ground with Republicans to agree a budget.