Senate confirms former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as EPA administrator
By Anna M. Phillips
28 February 2019
(Los Angeles Times) – The Senate on Thursday confirmed Andrew Wheeler to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, handing the reins of the agency responsible for ensuring clean air and safe drinking water to a former coal industry lobbyist.
The 52-to-47 vote removed the word “acting” from Wheeler’s title, installing him as the agency’s full-fledged administrator.
But it left the EPA’s recent focus unchanged. Under Wheeler, it is expected to continue its anti-regulatory crusade that has made it the nemesis of environmental groups and put it in constant conflict with states such as California that are leading the push to abandon fossil fuels.
Wheeler assumed control of the agency on an interim basis in July 2018 after President Trump chose him to replace former Administrator Scott Pruitt, who resigned under a cloud of federal investigations. Scrutiny of Pruitt’s lavish spending of taxpayer money and the use of his position to enrich his family turned him into a political liability. When the spotlight became too intense, it fell to his deputy to continue Trump’s agenda of rolling back Obama administration environmental regulations.
Under Wheeler, the EPA has introduced a variety of proposals favored by the industries it regulates.
They include a proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which sets limits on carbon emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants, and a push to weaken the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards regulation by assigning more importance to the costs incurred by corporations and less to the potential health benefits of air pollution restrictions.
Another of the agency’s proposals would strip federal protections from millions of acres of waterways and wetlands, including up to two-thirds of California’s inland streams.
Most Republicans continue to support these policies, but the aggressive anti-regulation push has cost Wheeler the backing of some of the more moderate senators who voted a year ago to confirm him as deputy administrator.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine voted against his confirmation.
“I believe that Mr. Wheeler, unlike Scott Pruitt, understands the mission of the EPA and acts in accordance with ethical standards,” Collins wrote on Twitter. “[H]owever, the policies he has supported as acting administrator are not in the best interest of our environment and public health, particularly given the threat of climate change to our nation.”
All Democrats voted no, including Sen. Joe Manchin III, a centrist from West Virginia and a defender of the coal industry. [more]
Senate confirms former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as EPA administrator
