“Most of us are most happy when we align our values with our work.” H. Curtis Spalding, who was sworn in as the New England Regional Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday in Providence, used those words in talking about his parents, Joseph and Susan Spalding.

But from his career – almost 20 years of it as executive director of Save the Bay – it is apparent the axiom also applies to Spalding. He is the first Rhode Islander to direct the regional EPA office based in Boston with 700 employees.

Spalding was named to the post by President Obama and started the daily commute to Boston months ago, but it wasn’t until yesterday, with his hand on a three-inch thick leather bound Bible held by his son Henry, did he repeat the oath of office as administered by Senator Jack Reed. The ceremony attended by a lexicon of officials and staff members of environmental agencies and departments was held in the auditorium of the Providence Career and Technical Academy.

The setting didn’t escape Spalding’s notice and served as a building block to his message that investing in the environment is an investment in the economy and the future.

“The kids here are learning the skills to fill the jobs the new ‘green economy’ will be creating. They are being called on to make a commitment to learning the skills necessary to employ new technologies to clean up the land and water degradation that the unchecked industrial economy created,” he said.

Spalding spoke about the “green jobs corridor” Providence Mayor David Cicilline is seeking to create and efforts to restore the Woonasquatucket watershed.

“If Rhode Island was a Fortune 500 company, these investments would be an asset on the balance sheet, and not considered an expense fully taken in the year the funds were spent. The restored green capital would be the cornerstone for building the future of the company,” he said.

He added, “investments in wastewater treatment, contaminated land cleanup are not simply expenses adding to government deficits, they are investments that strengthen the balance sheet for the future.”

Spalding also noted that Feb. 17 is the first anniversary of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and that within the last year $45 million came to the state to help build wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, as well as 20 percent of that going towards green infrastructure. In an announcement following the ceremony at the Narragansett Bay Commission, Spalding said the stimulus funds are responsible for creating an additional 1,000 jobs.

A Cranston resident, Spalding said he now finds himself riding the train to work with his wife, Dr. Patrice Milos. She is the chief scientific officer of Helicos BioScience in Cambridge. The company is a leader in the field of gene sequencing.

“Twenty years from now we may all look at her work as transformative towards a new future for medicine,” he said.

In his opening remarks Mayor Cicilline talked of Spalding’s “deep and long commitment to protecting our environment.” He noted how under Spalding’s direction Save the Bay built its bay campus at Field’s Point.

“We are all lucky to have Curt’s expertise,” he said.

Reed spoke of how with Spalding’s leadership the dredging of the Providence River and Narragansett Bay shipping channel was accomplished albeit 16 years from its inception to completion.

He said Spalding took a stand for the environment “not simply to make a point but to make progress.” Reed also spoke of the state’s role in the developing wind power business and how $22 million earmarked for Quonset Point will be used to help development of businesses to support offshore wind farms.

“Curt knows the ropes, the environmental community and the laws,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. He said Spalding will “push to see that the public interest is truly served.”

Congressman Jim Langevin called Spalding “a steadfast defender of the environment.” He said that with Spalding as director “we have a real champion and hero at the helm of EPA.”

Offering even more insight to Spalding was Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts. As a neighbor she said their children grew up together and they have been friends for years.

She said it is an honor for the state to have him serve.