Coal Lobbyist Wheeler Just as Bad as Pruitt

On Thursday, July 5^th, Scott Pruitt sent in his resignation letter as Director of the Environmental Protection Agency. President Trump has put the agency’s deputy, Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist as acting administrator. Wheeler served until last year as top lobbyist to Murray Energy, the nation’s largest underground mining company. Andrew Wheeler served as a close advisor to GOP Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, on of Congress’s most prominent climate deniers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

“Even though getting rid of Pruitt is a win, he will be replaced by someone just as bad that will carry out Trump’s agenda. Andrew Wheeler, now acting director of the EPA, is one of the coal industry’s most powerful lobbyists and now he is acting director of an agency that regulates those same industries. Like Pruitt, minus the scandals, Wheeler is a climate denier who will continue to carry out Trump’s war on the environment,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “The unethical behavior of dirty dealing and siding with corporate polluters will continue under Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler is acting director for now, but he should be allowed to continue as director of the EPA.”

As advisor to Senator Inhofe, Wheeler fought air pollution regulations and opposed efforts to address climate change, helping stymie some of the early bipartisan efforts to deal with the issue. While waiting for a nomination to the Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler decided to raise funds for Republican Senators on the committee that would decide on Wheeler’s appointment. Last year, Wheeler served as a lobbyist for Energy Fuels Resources, a uranium mining company with operations just outside Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Last July, Wheeler and a top executive from the firm met with top Interior Department officials to discuss Bears Ears the same week Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended that President Donald Trump dramatically shrink the monument.

“Andrew Wheeler’s experience as a coal lobbyist and advisor to one of the biggest climate deniers in Congress proves that he will continue to carry our Pruitt’s terrible policies. We cannot let Trump put another phony in charge of the EPA. Congress must reject Wheeler’s appointment to protect this country from another embarrassment,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “It’s good that Swamp Monster Pruitt is gone but now he will be replaced with a coal lobbyist. The people of the U.S do not want Trump to turn our environment into a s-hole. That is why we must keep battling and fighting to protect our clean air, our clean water and remain vigilant.”