Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Environmental officials from three states and the governor of Kansas, once named as a potential running mate, may top Barack Obama's short list of possible U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrators.

The names most mentioned by officials at leading U.S. ecology groups include Kathleen McGinty, the former secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection, Mary Nichols of California's Air Resources Board and Ian Bowles of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas was cited as a ``wild card'' choice by a person familiar with transition issues.

Environmental groups have faulted the EPA under President George W. Bush for easing rules on harmful utility emissions, said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. Worse, the EPA under Bush declined to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that it could.

``The most important challenge facing the new administration is making serious progress on global warming pollution,'' Karpinski said. ``That includes specific steps such as regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.''

Congress is debating legislation that would cap greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and factories and create a market for tradable emissions credits. Obama may push to elevate the EPA administrator to ``cabinet-level status as the nation considers the regulation of greenhouse gases,'' Christine Tezak, a Stanford Group Co. analyst in Washington, wrote today in a note to clients.

Ex-Clinton Figure

McGinty, 45, secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection until she resigned in July, promoted legislation requiring the use of more renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, in the coal state. She previously served as a top environmental official in the administration of former President Bill Clinton.

In Pennsylvania, the fourth-largest coal-producing U.S. state, McGinty has a record of working with utilities, said Michael McKenna, president of the Washington consulting firm MWR Strategies, which lobbies for utilities and refiners.

``I've got to think she's got right of first refusal at EPA,'' McKenna said. ``If she wants that job, it's hers.''

McGinty wasn't immediately available for comment.

Nichols is chairwoman of California's Air Resources Board and a former EPA official under Clinton. She is overseeing development of rules to limit heat-trapping emissions from power plants and factories under the state's global warming laws. Nichols couldn't be reached.

Boxer's List

``Mary Nichols would be a great choice,'' Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, said in an interview today. ``If I was asked by the Obama administration, I'd say she'd be at the top of my list.''

Bowles, the Massachusetts' secretary of energy and environment, worked with officials from other Northeast U.S. states who in September opened the first American market for trading greenhouse gas permits. He declined to comment in an e- mail today.

Other names that have surfaced include Lisa Jackson, New Jersey environmental commissioner, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer.

Sebelius made national news in March when she vetoed the Kansas legislature's attempt to overrule her health secretary's denial of a permit to expand a coal-fired power plant. Sebelius, once mentioned as a vice presidential running mate for Obama, would be a surprise choice for EPA chief, according to the person familiar with the transition process.

The next EPA administrator ``is going to have to hose out the stables and fix a lot of the problems caused by the Bush administration,'' said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, in an interview. ``During the last eight years, we have made precious little progress against air pollution and we've missed some opportunities.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York at jefstathiou@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 5, 2008 16:20 EST