While environmental issues took a back seat in the campaign to the economy and foreign policy, there is little doubt that the direction of the EPA under President-elect Obama will have far-reaching effects on our industry.

With last night's victory speech -- for those of us still awake to hear it -- still ringing in the nation's ears, speculation had already begun on what this historic election will mean for the day-to-day operation and greater future of the federal government's large agencies.

Key to the direction of the EPA for the next four years will be the administrator that Obama will choose to head it. Here are a few possible faces that speculators have put forth as possible agency chiefs under the 44th president:

Kathleen McGinty

Her name is well-known to Pennsylvania environmentalists and industrialists alike. A long-time Al Gore aid, McGinty made a name for herself by establishing tough new mercury and HAP standards in the face of the state's strong coal industry. No stranger to EPA, McGinty chaired President Clinton's Counsel on Environmental Quality.

"McGinty maintains -- to the point of evangelizing -- her conviction that protecting the environment and creating a new, clean energy future can lead to dynamic growth in the economy." – Grist, Dec. 15, 2005

Lisa Jackson, P.E.

Tapped by New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine as his incoming chief of staff, Jackson may have her eyes on a bigger prize. Currently the Commissioner of the state's DEP, Jackson is expected co-chair Obama's transition group, and will likely be the first voice in selecting the new federal administrator. However, the well-experienced Jackson may pull a "Dick Cheney" and select herself. Before joining Corzine in 2006, Jackson headed EPA Region 2's New York office for the Superfund program. Environmentalists, however, would likely see her as a pro-industry pick.

"Back in March, [Jackson] issued an order creating a 'Permit Efficiency Task Force'... Task force members read like a who's who list of pro-development and anti-regulatory advocates with a long history in NJ environmental politics." – Bill Wolfe, director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, N.J. Chapter, Aug. 6, 2008

Dan Esty

Esty is Obama's top energy advisor, and would signal a moderate pick – or at least moderate for a Democratic president elected with over 360 electoral votes and a Congress decidedly behind him. A Yale environmental law professor, he apparently wowed Obama with his definitive book on sustainable business, Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage. Esty served in the EPA under George H. W. Bush and was instrumental in crafting the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments.

"Specifically, it is not an environmentalist telling businesses how to behave, but is a business perspective on bringing the environment into corporate strategy." – Triple Pundit on Esty's book, March 6, 2007

Mary Nichols

The chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board for the last year and change under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (reprising a role she played from 1978 to 1983 under Gov. Jerry Brown)  Nichols is a well-known environmental lawyer who made her bones at the Natural Resources Defense Council. She served as the assistant administrator for Air and Radiation in Clinton's EPA, where she gained a reputation as a tough but fair environmental enforcer.

"Industry has fought us on most all of our major regulations, decrying that the economic impacts of our rules outweigh the projected benefits to public health. Over the long haul, however, we have consistently found that claim false." – Mary Nichols in Forbes, March 19, 2008

Dark horse candidates:

Ian Bowles – Massachusetts energetic Energy and Environmental Affairs director could step in. Bowles served in the Clinton Administration as Associate Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and as Senior Director of the Global Environmental Affairs directorate at the National Security Council.

Kathleen Sebelius – The governor of Kansas could have her pick of cabinet positions in the Obama White House, though her term-limited time as governor doesn't end until 2010. A top candidate for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius' credentials could also give EPA a nationally respected face and fiscal discipline.