Obama eyes former Romney aide to head EPA

Reuters is reporting that President Obama is leaning toward Gina McCarthy, a former adviser to Republican Mitt Romney and a cap-and trade advocate, as his next Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

A top official in charge of air quality at the EPA, McCarthy served as an environmental policy adviser to then-Gov. Romney in Massachusetts and launched the state's first Climate Protection Action Plan, according to Reuters.

In 2004, McCarthy became head of Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection under then-Governor Jodi Rell, also a Republican, and helped lead the state into a carbon cap-and-trade system for Northeastern states, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

With Obama signaling that he’s ready for a fight with Congress on climate change initiatives, Reuters’ sources offered some insight into McCarthy’s no-nonsense style:

"She's about the most frank high-level public servant you've ever met," said one former colleague, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"She's a good manager, she picks stuff up fast, and she's ... certainly not afraid of a battle. So if they are anticipating a very combative Congress, Gina can certainly hold her own."