"Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler is reportedly recusing himself from agency reviews of a proposed mine whose developer his former law firm represented.
In 2017, Wheeler’s then-firm Faegre Baker Daniels arranged a meeting between then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Pebble LP, the developer of the proposed gold and copper mine near Alaska’s Bristol Bay, according to Bloomberg.
Soon after the meeting, Pruitt proposed withdrawing mining regulations that would have hindered the project in securing necessary Clean Water Act permits.
Wheeler never provided services to a client on the mine, but said the recusal would be effective for the length of his tenure as EPA chief, reportedly delegating all issues involving the Pebble Mine to EPA general counsel Matthew Leopold."
