Who will be the next New England EPA chief?

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

The word from three well-placed environmental sources is that it is down to two choices for the next administrator of the approximately 800-person New England regional office of the EPA, and lobbying for both candidates is in full force.

Charlie Lord, who helped start and now directs Boston College’s Urban Ecology Institute, is a strong contender known for his entrepreneurial spirit, grassroots background and innovative ideas, according to interviews with people who know him. Lord co-founded the Boston-based Alternatives for Community and Environment, the respected environmental justice group. The Urban Ecology Institute works to preserve urban ecosystems through research, community action and education. Lord has the powerhouse support of Senator Ted Kennedy, as well as U.S. Representative Bill Delahunt.

The other candidate is David Cash, assistant secretary for policy at the state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, who is known for his political acumen and academic expertise, according to interviews with people who know him. The former head of air quality for the state who helped usher in the first multi-state carbon trading system in the country, he’s being pushed by Ian Bowles, the state's energy and environmental secretary.

Cash has letters of support from Governor Deval Patrick (who sources say was happy with either choice originally) and nine out of ten of Massachusetts members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Barney Frank and Edward Markey.

A spokesman for Frank, however, says he would be happy with either Lord or Cash.

The New England post has the potential to be an important position. Today, the Obama administration proposed a budget of $10.5 billion for the US EPA, the largest in the agency’s 39-year-history. The investment, along with Obama's plan for a cap and trade system for carbon dioxide emissions, is bound to re-energize environmental work in New England.

In recent years the office has maintained strong environmental enforcement, but the former regional administrator, Robert Varney, seemed more focused on the decidedly non-political -- and (often) non-environmental -- job of emergency planning for a pandemic or other catastrophe , according to observers and several people at the EPA.

Varney was reportedly angling for staying in the job, according to two of the environmental sources, but was told no -- and is now working as a senior vice president for Normandeau Associates, a New Hampshire-based environmental consultant group.

Another strong contender was Curt Spalding of Rhode Island’s strong environmental group Save the Bay, according to the sources.