Gina McCarthy is the new administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Senate voted 59-40 Thursday to confirm her nomination.
Earlier that day, the upper chamber voted 69-31 to shut off debate on the issue. President Barack Obama nominated McCarthy to the post in March, but it stalled in the Senate, along with many other executive branch appointments.
McCarthy is an environmental health and air quality expert who will be tasked with fulfilling the administration’s climate change agenda and finalizing proposed greenhouse gas guidelines for existing power plants by 2015. She had been the assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.
