"WASHINGTON — Acting Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler’s past lobbying work for coal companies and other industries regulated by the agency is expected to draw scrutiny Wednesday when a Senate committee considers his nomination to the position.
Wheeler’s roughly six-month tenure as the agency’s acting administrator has been far more low-key than that of the man he replaced, Scott Pruitt. Pruitt’s fondness for the perks of power and for alleged favors — from round-the-clock bodyguards to lavish travel to special deals on mattresses from the Trump International Hotel — generated constant headlines and helped lead to Pruitt’s resignation as the agency’s administrator in July.
In line with Trump’s regulation-cutting ethos, the agency under Wheeler has moved forward on major rollbacks and pending rollbacks of Obama-era environmental measures: easing the mileage standards that cars and trucks will have to meet, relaxing measures on climate-changing carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants and removing millions of miles of wetlands and waterways from federal protections, among other changes."
Ellen Knickmeyer reports for the Associated Press January 16, 2019.
SEE ALSO:
"Watchdog Files Ethics Complaint Against EPA Head" (The Hill)
"Andrew Wheeler Returns To The Senate For EPA Administrator Confirmation Hearing" (CNN)
"EPA Nominee Andrew Wheeler’s Confirmation Hearing" (PBS News Hour)
Editorial: "EPA Nominee Showcases How Trump Keeps Failing To Drain The Swamp" (USA TODAY)
"Shutdown Looms Over Wheeler’s Senate Test for EPA Top Slot" (Bloomberg Environment)
