Ex-coal lobbyist taking over as EPA’s new chief
WASHINGTON — Bowing out after months of scandals, Scott Pruitt is turning the Environmental Protection Agency over to a far less flashy deputy who is expected to continue Pruitt’s rule-cutting, business-friendly ways as steward of the country’s environment.
With Pruitt’s departure on Thursday, President Trump lost an administrator many conservatives regarded as one of the more effective members of his Cabinet. But Pruitt had also been dogged for months by scandals that spawned more than a dozen federal and congressional investigations.
EPA Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, will take the helm as acting administrator starting Monday.
Trump tweeted that he has “no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!”
Republicans say Wheeler is well-qualified to lead the EPA, having worked at the agency early in his career. He also was a top aide at the Senate Environment Committee before becoming a lobbyist nine years ago.
Democrats and environmental groups decried Wheeler as an apologist for the coal industry. He’s also a former top aide to GOP Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who rejects mainstream climate science.
“Andrew Wheeler’s coal credentials are without equal. He is, without question, a member of the coal industry’s Hall of Fame,” said Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass. By elevating Wheeler to replace Pruitt, he said, “the EPA is only trading one fossil fuel friend for another.”
Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, one of the most relentless and vocal of Pruitt’s Democratic critics in Congress, said he expects more of the same with Wheeler as chief.
“Somebody that destructive, I think it’s good to have them go, no doubt about it,” Udall said of Pruitt. “But let’s not forget he was carrying out President Trump’s policies.”
The prospect of more EPA rollbacks even after Pruitt is gone is “really, really worrisome to me,” he said. “The head of the agency’s changed, but I don’t think there’s any indication that the acting administrator will do anything any different.”
Like Pruitt, Wheeler is a conservative who will seek to roll back rules governing clean air and water and fighting against climate change.
But unlike Pruitt, Wheeler is considered low-key and is a Washington insider who has spent much of his career in the nation’s capital.
Wheeler, 53, could serve more than a year in an acting role. A Senate vote would be required if he is nominated to lead the agency permanently.