President Obama announced his picks for Secretary of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency administrator on Monday. The President nominated MIT professor Ernest Moniz as energy secretary and EPA official Gina McCarthy as administrator for the agency.

While Moniz is a virtual unknown, McCarthy has served as EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation and her appointment is being well received by agricultural and biofuels organizations.

“We appreciated working with Assistant Administrator McCarthy over the past few years in her role as head of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, which was responsible for the approval of the E15 ethanol blend fuel option in 2012. We look forward to working closely with her and her team on ethanol and other issues that come before the agency,” said National Corn Growers Association President Pam Johnson.

Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen says McCarthy is “knowledgeable, willing to listen, and straight-forward. She knows the EPA inside and out and has typically approached challenges with a common-sense determination to resolve them in a timely manner.” Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis added that “McCarty has been a strong supporter of biofuels and we look forward to working with her to bring sustainable, clean, homegrown American fuels to the consumer.”

In September of 2009, McCarthy was one of two high-ranking EPA officials to visit farm operations and biofuel facilities in Iowa. She is pictured here during that visit with Margo Oge, director of the EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality and Senator Chuck Grassley on the farm of Rick Kimberley. (Photo from Iowa Farm Bureau Flickr)