Ex-aide to Inhofe OK’d for EPA job

Andrew Wheeler, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, received approval from the Senate on Thursday to be second in command at the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Senate voted 53-45 on Wheeler’s nomination.

“You know, it’s awfully hard to find anyone who knows him well who will say anything bad about him,” Inhofe said of Wheeler in a speech on the Senate floor. “I guess the only thing you could criticize him for is he worked for me for 14 years, but I will tell you that during that time frame, I don’t remember ... anyone ever accusing him of being unfair and being negative in any way at all.”

Wheeler was chief counsel for the Tulsa Republican from 1995 to 1997 and later served under Inhofe on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee as a staff director and top attorney, according to an online resume.

All Republicans voted in favor of Wheeler, with the exception of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was not present. They were joined by three moderate Democrats. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, voted against.

“Andrew Wheeler will continue (EPA Administrator) Scott Pruitt’s efforts to undermine clean air, clean water and efforts to combat climate change,” Casey said Thursday.

Environmentalists have staunchly opposed Wheeler’s nomination, citing his recent work as a lobbyist for Murray Energy, the nation’s largest coal conglomerate.

“Countless Americans will suffer needlessly and die prematurely as a result of the reckless decisions Andrew Wheeler will make in this powerful role,” said Josh Nelson, co-director of an online petition that amassed more than 150,000 signatures opposing Wheeler.

Inhofe acquaintances are prevalent in the EPA’s upper echelon. Pruitt, a Tulsa Republican and former Oklahoma attorney general, is a longtime friend and close confidant. His chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, is a former chief of staff for Inhofe. Amanda Gunasekara, an EPA adviser, was the Inhofe staffer who once handed him a snowball on the Senate floor in 2015 as he sought to disprove climate change.