EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy's Confirmation: Barack Obama, Al Gore And Others React

After a laborious wait, Gina McCarthy was confirmed as EPA administrator in a 59-40 Senate vote on Thursday.

Many environmental organizations took the opportunity to publicly congratulate McCarthy on the new position. Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke called McCarthy “one of the most qualified, capable and collaborative leaders ever to head the Environmental Protection Agency.” Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, voiced similar sentiments. “Gina McCarthy has a proven record of protecting American families and getting things done,” he said in a press release.

Yet a number of Republican senators came out against the new administrator, despite a deal struck earlier this week to clear five nominations, including McCarthy’s.

In a public statement, Sen. Joe Manchin (R-W.Va) said he found McCarthy to be “earnest, friendly, pragmatic and incredibly intelligent,” yet held her responsible “for overseeing some of EPA’s most unreasonable and restrictive proposals.”

“I do not believe she is the leader who we are looking for to make this all-of-the-above plan a reality,” Manchin asserted.

Despite this opposition, many environmental leaders applauded the administrator's bipartisan efforts. “Gina McCarthy has spent her entire career working with both parties, and it showed in this bipartisan confirmation vote,” the League of Conservation Voters wrote in a press release emailed to the Huffington Post.

Check out the slideshow to see which politicians turned to Twitter to congratulate the new EPA administrator. Do you support McCarthy’s confirmation? Let us know in the comments below.