"Bill Wehrum pushed industry-friendly policies as he and his staff stayed in contact with his old corporate law firm."

"A trove of emails obtained by HuffPost sheds light on the ongoing relationship between the Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality chief, Bill Wehrum, and people at his former law and lobbying firm. This latest instance of Trump appointees communicating with previous employers highlights the extent to which corporate interests have gained access to crucial government decision-makers and raises questions about the usefulness of President Donald Trump’s ethics rules.

Since he became assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation last November, Wehrum has been criticized as the embodiment of regulatory capture.

Wehrum, a seasoned lawyer and lobbyist at the firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, previously worked at the EPA during the George W. Bush administration. Upon returning to private practice, he fought the agency on the energy industry’s behalf. His clientele included such powerhouses as ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, Koch Industries, Dominion Energy and Enbridge."

Itai Vardi reports for HuffPost October 23, 2018 [2].