Mccarthy tapped for EPA

HARTFORD>> The nomination of former Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy to become the next administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency is being well received by state political leaders.

Reports surfaced early Monday morning about the nomination. McCarthy, a Canton, Mass., native, headed the Connecticut DEP from 2004 to early 2009, and left to become head of EPA’s air and radiation office.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said McCarthy was “a fierce advocate of the state’s natural resources” when she headed the DEP, now the Department of Energy and Environmen-

tal Protection.

“Her legacy of environmental protection continues to this day in the programs spearheaded by DEEP,” Malloy said in a statement. “Connecticut’s loss has undoubtedly been the country’s gain — Gina’s tireless work to improve air quality and slow climate change has made an important impact in Washington and across the globe. I applaud President Obama on her nomination.”

McCarthy took over at DEP at a time when the agency was the target of ongoing state and federal criminal investigations into corruption, alleged bribery and possible bid rigging.

Dan Esty, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, credited McCarthy with “reinvigorating the environmental agenda in Connecticut, modernizing DEP, and engaging young people in environmental protection through the innovative No Child Left Inside program.”

“We are confident that as the EPA administrator, Gina will once again roll up her sleeves to tackle the tough national and global environmental challenges that we are facing,” Esty said in a written statement. “She will bring to the job a special sensitivity concerning issues facing Connecticut and New England.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called McCarthy “an environmental protector for all seasons,” and said he will actively support her confirmation. He said her service to Republican governors in both Connecticut and Massachusetts, where she worked in a variety of government positions, shows that “environmental protection is truly bipartisan.”

“Over the years we worked together in Connecticut, she was consistently tough, fair, and smart as an environmental law enforcer,” Blumenthal said in a prepared statement. “She recognizes the need to sometimes strike a balance between environmental activism and economic growth — but that the two are more commonly mutually supportive.” U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, said she is hopeful that Obama’s nomination of McCarthy, combined with the president’s recent statements regarding climate change, “means we will seriously attack that and other critical environmental challenges.”