Gina McCarthy EPA Nomination By Obama Expected, Sources Report

President Barack Obama is expected to nominate Gina McCarthy as the next Environmental Protection Agency administrator, sources told Reuters this week. The new EPA head will replace Lisa Jackson, who recently stepped down.

McCarthy currently works for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation as the assistant administrator. The OAR develops policies and regulations for limiting air pollution and radiation exposure. According to the EPA website, McCarthy previously worked as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

According to Reuters, Obama is expected to nominate nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy.

Industries under the EPA's purview, with the exception of coal, may not object to the president's pick, reports the Washington Post. McCarthy is likely to face opposition from Senate Republicans, notes the Wall Street Journal.

If Obama nominates McCarthy, it may signal his willingness to follow through on the more assertive climate change rhetoric he has offered in recent months, explained the Los Angeles Times. In his 2013 Sate of the Union address, Obama declared, "For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change."

The next head of the EPA will lead an organization which has come under fire from industry groups and congressional Republicans and faces the task of regulating U.S. natural gas drilling and the controversial extraction process known as fracking.

This story is developing...