Potential candidates for EPA's top job have state experience

Potential candidates for EPA's top job have state experience

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

Lisa Jackson, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will step down [1] in mid-January, and a number of people have been mentioned as President Obama's possible recommendation to take her position. How will solid waste and recycling issues fare under a new EPA chief?

Many of the rumored candidates have extensive state environmental management experience, with these responsibilities including the oversight of the state waste management program. For example, the most-often-mentioned candidate, Bob Perciasepe, now the EPA's second in command, previously headed the Maryland Department of the Environment. He also has local government experience, having been Baltimore's assistant planning director. And he previously was the chief operating officer at the National Audubon Society.

Other possible candidates also have state environmental management experience. Gina McCarthy, currently an assistant EPA administrator, served previously as Connecticut's top environmental official and as an environmental advisor to then-Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Kathleen McGinty led the Pennsylvania environmental management agency for five years, and Daniel Esty is currently the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Ian Bowles was the head of the Massachusetts energy and environment agency.

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