Blunt continues hold on EPA nominee

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri is continuing to block confirmation of the nominee for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, part of his effort to speed up work on the St. Johns Bayou/New Madrid Floodway project in southeast Missouri.

President Barack Obama has nominated Gina McCarthy to lead the EPA. Blunt, a Republican, has blocked the nomination for two months and said Thursday he'll continue to do so until government agencies reach consensus and move forward on the floodway project.

Blunt and his Democratic colleague from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, want resolution of the long-delayed project that would build a quarter-mile levee and install infrastructure to protect farmland and small towns from the Mississippi River.

The project has been delayed for six years over environmental rules.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.