US Senate Republicans have lots of questions for Gina McCarthy, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — 1,038 of them, to be exact. Many target alleged lapses in the EPA's policies regarding transparency and information access, but they also reflect a more general distrust of the agency that regulates greenhouse-gas emissions, sets water-pollution standards and monitors air quality.McCarthy, currently the EPA's assistant administrator in charge of air and radiation, has had plenty of time to ponder the lawmakers' queries since her nomination on 7 March. She has already waited weeks longer for confirmation by the Senate than any would-be chief in the EPA's 43-year history (see 'Stalling tactics'). Obama's new energy department secretary, physicist Ernest Moniz, didn't fare much better. He was confirmed last week, but only after a key senator withdrew an objection that had held up the confirmation for more than two months.
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