NERO nat energy res org

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</div><div><span style="color: rgb(77, 81, 86); font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">join us for our upcoming 2014 </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(95, 99, 104); font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NERO</span><span style="color: rgb(77, 81, 86); font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Annual Dinner with U.S. Senator James M. Inhofe and U.S. Senator Tom Carper on Wednesday, June 4, 2014</span></div><div></div><div>API $. EEI</div><div>=</div>mostly this is wheeler bak 818<div>
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</div><div style="">HOME</div><div style="">ABOUT</div><div style="">BOARD OF DIRECTORS</div><div style="">EVENTS</div><div style="">MEMBERSHIP</div><div style="">CONTACT</div><div style="">
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</div><div style="">BOARD OF DIRECTORS</div><div style="">2022 NERO Executive Board</div><div style="">Jeanne Mitchell</div><div style="">CHAIRPERSON</div><div style="">Jeanne Mitchell</div><div style="">Allison Hull</div><div style="">PRESIDENT</div><div style="">Allison Hull</div><div style=""><b>Sempra Energy</b></div><div style="">Jeff Leahey</div><div style="">SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT</div><div style="">Jeff Leahey</div><div style="">SMI</div><div style="">Donise Dukes</div><div style="">VICE PRESIDENT, AWARDS</div><div style="">Donise Dukes</div><div style="">ITC</div><div style=""><b>Chris Tomassi</b></div><div style="">VICE PRESIDENT, MEMBERSHIP</div><div style="">Chris Tomassi</div><div style="">ClearPath</div><div style="">image-id-1399</div><div style="">VICE PRESIDENT, SPECIAL PROJECTS</div><div style="">Mike Sewell</div><div style=""><b>TECO Energy</b></div><div style="">image-id-1398</div><div style="">TREASURER</div><div style="">Michael Brairton</div><div style="">PSEG</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">SECRETARY</div><div style=""><b>Nick Pearson</b></div><div style=""><b>Google</b></div><div style=""><b>
</b></div><div style="">Laura Schepis</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">COUNSEL</div><div style="">Laura Schepis</div><div style="">Jacksonville Energy Authority</div><div style="">Marnie Funk</div><div style="">CHAIRPERSON EMERITUS</div><div style="">Marnie Funk</div><div style=""><b>Shell Oil Company</b></div><div style="">Board of Directors</div><div style="">image-id-1564</div><div style="">Julie Abraham</div><div style="">Cheniere Energy</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">Alicia Cannon</div><div style="">AEP</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">Kwame Canty</div><div style=""><b>Edison Electric Institute</b></div><div style="">Brian Caudill</div><div style="">Brian Caudill</div><div style=""><b>American Gas Association</b></div><div style="">image-id-1569</div><div style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Neil Chatterjee</b></div><div style="">Hogan Lovells</div><div style="">Carrie Domnitch</div><div style="">Carrie Domnitch</div><div style=""><b>Chevron</b></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">Emily Duncan</div><div style="">National Grid</div><div style="">Allison Graves</div><div style="">Allison Graves</div><div style=""><b>Entergy</b></div><div style="">Christopher Guith</div><div style="">Christopher Guith</div><div style=""><b>Global Energy Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce</b></div><div style="">image-id-1523</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Downey Magallanes</span></div><div style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">BP</b></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">Kiran Malone</div><div style="">CMS Energy</div><div style="">Majida Mourad</div><div style="">Majida Mourad</div><div style="">Tellurian</div><div style="">Bree Raum</div><div style="">Bree Raum</div><div style="">American Clean Power Association</div><div style="">Lisa Van Varick</div><div style="">Lisa Van Varick</div><div style=""><b>Nuclear Energy Institute</b></div><div style="">Montee Wynn</div><div style="">Montee Wynn</div><div style="">NRECA</div><div style="">The governing body of the Organization shall be a Board of Directors composed of the elected officers (9) and the elected directors (16) and the Chairman Emeritus. Elections for leadership positions are held in June, for terms beginning July 1st. Officers are elected for one-year terms; Directors are elected for three-year terms. The terms of Directors are staggered, with five Boards members retiring each year. Active NERO members who are interested in serving on the Board or as an Officer are encouraged to express their interest to any Officer, Board member or the Executive Director.</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">PREVIOUS NERO CHAIRMEN</div><div style="">2021</div><div style="">Marnie Funk</div><div style="">2020</div><div style="">Allison Graves</div><div style="">2019</div><div style="">Bree Raum</div><div style="">2017-2018</div><div style="">Laura Schepis</div><div style="">2016–2017</div><div style="">Joy Ditto</div><div style="">2015-2016</div><div style="">Christopher Guith</div><div style="">2014-2015</div><div style=""><b>Andrew R. Wheeler</b></div><div style="">2013-2014</div><div style="">Renee Eastman</div><div style="">2012-2013</div><div style="">Clint Williamson</div><div style="">2011-2012</div><div style="">Lisa Van Varick</div><div style="">2010-2011</div><div style="">Justin Maierhofer</div><div style="">2009-2010</div><div style="">Jennifer Diggins</div><div style="">2008-2009</div><div style="">Darrell Henry</div><div style="">2007-2008</div><div style="">Kelly Chapman</div><div style="">2006-2007</div><div style="">Joe Nipper</div><div style="">2005-2006</div><div style="">Hannah Simone</div><div style="">2004-2005</div><div style="">Leslie Barbour</div><div style="">2003-2004</div><div style="">Darnell DeMasters</div><div style="">2002-2003</div><div style="">Marc Yacker</div><div style="">2001-2002</div><div style="">Mark Whitenton</div><div style="">2000-2001</div><div style="">John Sparkman</div><div style="">1999-2000</div><div style="">Deborah Estes</div><div style="">1998-1999</div><div style="">Rob Long</div><div style="">1997-1998</div><div style="">Roy Willis</div><div style="">1996-1997</div><div style="">Susan Moya</div><div style="">1995-1996</div><div style="">Michael Boland</div><div style="">1994-1995</div><div style="">Margaret Kelley</div><div style="">1993-1994</div><div style="">Jana Sheffer</div><div style="">1992-1993</div><div style="">Thomas Altmeyer</div><div style="">1991-1992</div><div style="">Kathleen O'Leary</div><div style="">1990-1991</div><div style="">Al Cobb</div><div style="">1989-1990</div><div style="">John Shlaes</div><div style="">1988-1989</div><div style="">Michael McAdams</div><div style="">1987-1988</div><div style="">Richard Seibert</div><div style="">1986-1987</div><div style="">Jan Vlcek</div><div style="">1985-1986</div><div style="">Robert Boyd</div><div style="">1984-1985</div><div style="">Carl Emde</div><div style="">1983-1984</div><div style="">John LaBerre</div><div style="">1982-1983</div><div style="">H. Hollister Cantus</div><div style="">1981-1928</div><div style="">Sheryl Rutledge</div><div style="">1980-1981</div><div style="">Harold Timken</div><div style="">1979-1980</div><div style="">Donald Erat</div><div style="">1978-1979</div><div style="">Robert Cole</div><div style="">1977-1978</div><div style="">Henry Elder</div><div style="">Logo</div><div style="">© 2022 NERO - National Resource Energy Organization</div><div style="">HOME</div><div style="">ABOUT</div><div style="">BOARD OF DIRECTORS</div><div style="">EVENTS</div><div style="">MEMBERSHIP</div><div style="">CONTACT</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">----</div><div style=""><div>NERO Luncheons</div><div>Luncheons feature Members of Congress and high-level policymakers as guest speakers who discuss current energy legislation and initiatives. Luncheons are open to all NERO members and their guests, and are held monthly subject to the availability of speakers. Recent distinguished speakers include Chairmen, Ranking Members and prominent Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Senate Energy Committee, and other Committees with jurisdiction over energy and environmental issues. Between 150-170 energy and environmental professionals representing corporations, associations, and other organization usually attend the NERO luncheons. The luncheons typically are held on or near Capitol Hill to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information while promoting public awareness.</div><div>
</div><div>PREVIOUS LUNCHEON SPEAKERS</div><div>2019</div><div>Alex Flint</div><div><b>Alliance for Market Solutions</b></div><div>Rich Powell</div><div><b>ClearPath</b></div><div>Heather Reams</div><div><b>Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions</b></div><div>Rep. Paul Tonko</div><div>Chairman, Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Environment & Climate Change</div><div>Alexander Herrgott</div><div>Excutive Director, Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council</div><div>Hon. Andrew Wheeler</div><div>U.S. EPA Administrator</div><div>2018</div><div>Rep. Greg Walden</div><div>Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman</div><div><b>G. David Banks and Michael Catanzaro</b></div><div>Hon. Kevin J. McIntyre</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">FERC Chairman</span></div><div><b>Hon. Dan Brouillette</b></div><div><b>U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>2017</div><div><b>Hon. Neil Chatterjee</b></div><div><b>FERC Chairman</b></div><div>Senator Heidi Heitkamp</div><div>Senator Mark Warner</div><div>Rep. Pete Olson</div><div>Senator Lisa Murkowski</div><div>
</div><div>2016</div><div>Rep. Rob Bishop</div><div>Rep. Joe Barton</div><div>Chairman Emeritus, Energy & Commerce Committee</div><div>Senator Martin Heinrich</div><div>Rep. John Shimkus</div><div><b>Rep. Joe Barton</b></div><div><b>Chairman Emeritus, Energy & Commerce Committee</b></div><div>
</div><div>2015</div><div>Hon. Colette D. Honorable</div><div>FERC Commissioner</div><div>Rep. Steve Scalise</div><div>House Majority Whip</div><div>Senator Shelley Moore Capito</div><div>Senator Cory Gardner</div><div>
</div><div>2014</div><div>Senator Joe Manchin</div><div>Senator Dean Heller</div><div>Rep. Jim Matheson</div><div>
</div><div>2013</div><div>Senator Heidi Heitkamp</div><div>Senator Chris Coons</div><div>Senator David Vitter</div><div>Rep. Lee Terry</div><div>Senator Jeff Flake</div><div>
</div><div>2012</div><div>Rep. Greg Walden</div><div><b>Senator Lamar Alexander</b></div><div>
</div><div>2011</div><div>Senator John Barrasso</div><div>Rep. Ed Whitfield</div><div>Senator Lisa Murkowski</div><div>
</div><div>2010</div><div>Senator Tom Carper</div><div>Rep. Paul Ryan</div><div>Senator Jim Webb</div><div>
</div><div>2009</div><div><b>Rep. Ed Markey</b></div><div>Senator Byron Dorgan</div><div>Senator Richard Burr</div><div>
</div><div>2008</div><div>Celinda Lake & Ed Goeas</div><div>Battleground Poll Pollsters</div><div>Rep. Peter Visclosky</div><div>Rep. Darrell Issa</div><div>Rep. Fred Upton</div><div>Rep. David McIntosh</div><div>
</div><div>2007</div><div>Rep. Al Wynn</div><div>Rep. Jim Matheson</div><div><b>Philip Moeller</b></div><div><b>FERC Commissioner</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Senator Jim Inhofe</span></div><div>Rep. Rick Boucher</div><div>Rep. Mark Udall</div><div>
</div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>=</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>epa # 2 --> 1</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sob</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/07/29/epa-chief-andrew-wheelers-past-lobbying-ties-attract-scrutiny/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/07/29/epa-chief-andrew-wheelers-past-lobbying-ties-attract-scrutiny/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">elperin</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p data-elm-loc="1" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Wheeler’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/07/06/incoming-epa-chief-this-is-the-right-job-for-me/?utm_term=.6ce7340add4f" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">lobbying ties</a> have come under increasing scrutiny now that he has taken the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency, even though federal rules offer him wide latitude to meet with groups that retained him before April 2016.</b></font></p><p data-elm-loc="2" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the Trump administration’s ethics pledge, a political appointee cannot meet with anyone to whom he or she has provided services during the two years before joining the federal government — except under specific circumstances. That two-year window defines which companies and groups count as a “former client” in the eyes of federal ethics officials and which do not.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="3" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Since joining the EPA on April 20, Wheeler has met with multiple organizations and businesses that retained him in his capacity as a principal at Faegre Baker Daniels.</b> The list includes biodiesel producer Darling Ingredients; agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, all of which ended their financial relationship with Wheeler’s firm before April 2016.</span>  "We’re very clear about what the definition of former client is,” Justina Fugh, senior counsel at EPA’s ethics office, said in an interview Friday. “You’re either in it, or you’re not. It’s a toggle switch.”</font></p><p data-elm-loc="5" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Wheeler’s <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/epa-acting-administrator-andrew-wheelers-recusal-letter/3134/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">May 24 letter</a> outlining his ethics obligations regarding former clients, he identified eight from which he needed to recuse himself when it came to EPA matters. Those included the nation’s largest privately owned coal company, Murray Energy; Sargento Food Co.; Underwriters Laboratories; Energy Fuels Resources.; Growth Energy; International Paper; Martin Farms, and Xcel Energy.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="6" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Wheeler did attend three events with groups connected to International Paper,</b> E&E News reported Thursday, including a June 6 meeting with the Business Roundtable’s Energy & Environment Committee, a June 28 session with the American Forest and Paper Association’s board of directors and a “stakeholder” meeting with AFPA and other organization.  But the ethics pledge allows for federal officials to meet with a former client if the session is on a subject that is “a matter of general applicability” and is “open to all interested parties.” Both the Trump and Obama administrations have defined an “open” session as one in which at least five people are present and the attendees represent a diversity of perspectives.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="8" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Melinda Pierce, legislative director for the environmental advocacy group Sierra Club, said in a statement that even if Wheeler was complying with the law, the recent meetings show that it took him “less than a month as acting EPA administrator to prove he can’t and won’t let go of his corporate polluter past.”</font></p><p data-elm-loc="9" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wheeler has estimated he represented roughly 20 clients with business before the federal government during his time in private practice: That portfolio included the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Domestic Fuels Solutions Group, Whirlpool Corp. and chemical manufacturer <b>Celanese Corp</b>.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="10" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under his recusal arrangement, his senior adviser, Michael Molina, screens his schedule for any potential conflicts of interest and consults with the ethics office should something arise.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="11" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’re trusting that they’re following the terms of recusal,” Fugh said. “And I believe that they are.”</font></p><p data-elm-loc="12" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">She noted that Wheeler’s staff checked with EPA ethics lawyers when he was invited to speak in September to the <a href="http://www.nationalenergyresources.com/home.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">National Energy Resources Organization</a> (NERO), a nonpartisan, nonprofit group made up largely of energy industry players. Wheeler chaired the group’s executive board from 2014 to 2015, according to Internal Revenue Service filings, and served as chairman emeritus from 2015 to 2016.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="13" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fugh said her office told Wheeler’s aides to decline the invitation, because he had been affiliated with the group, even though he did not have a financial relationship with it.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="14" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lukas Ross, a senior policy analyst at the advocacy group Friends of the Earth, said in an interview Friday that Wheeler’s affiliation with NERO raises questions because of its membership and because its <b>executive director, Carole Goeas, is a Republican fundraiser ...NERO Chairman Laura Marshall Schepis rejected the idea that her group was affiliated with a specific viewpoint or party.</b></font></p><p data-elm-loc="17" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We have Republicans and Democrats, we have traditional fuels and renewables,” Schepis said, adding that NERO’s events are open to the public.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="18" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schepis added that she respects the decision Wheeler and his colleagues made to decline the invitation. “We hope to welcome him next spring or summer as a speaker,” she said ...Archer Daniels Midland spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said in an email that company officials attended a meeting with Wheeler on the renewable fuels standard on May 24, which was “the first time we discussed EPA-related issues with Mr. Wheeler. Our previous work with Mr. Wheeler was several years ago around un-related food-issues.”</font></p><p data-elm-loc="21" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said that while the district did retain FBD from 2010 to 2012, “I cannot find any indication that Andrew Wheeler was a point of contact.”</font></p><p data-elm-loc="22" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The district’s executive officer, Wayne Nastri, met with Wheeler on June 22 to discuss its push for stricter nitrogen oxide emissions limits for heavy-duty trucks, Atwood added.</font></p><p data-elm-loc="23" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read More:</font></p><p data-elm-loc="24" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/07/06/incoming-epa-chief-this-is-the-right-job-for-me/?utm_term=.6ce7340add4f" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Andrew Wheeler talks about his lobbyist past</font></a></p><p data-elm-loc="25" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" color="color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/technocrats-are-replacing-big-personality-cabinet-members/2018/07/06/ace3d3a2-8138-11e8-b658-4f4d2a1aeef1_story.html?utm_term=.1522f50109cb" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">At EPA and elsewhere, the rise of the technocrats</font></a></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">off bs</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="white-space:pre"> </span>OurLeaders </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Home</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NERO Officers</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Luncheon Series</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Special Events</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2018 Annual Dinner Photo Gallery</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Awards Dinner</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Membership</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NERO 2017-18 </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">EXECUTIVE BOARD</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Chairman</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Laura Schepis - Hughes Harris Consulting</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">President</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bree Raum - American Wind Energy Association</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Senior Vice President</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Khary Cauthen - American Petroleum Institute</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Vice President (Awards)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Allison Graves - Entergy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Vice President (Membership)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Marnie Funk - Shell Oil Company</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Vice President (Special Projects)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jay Martin - Contura Energy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Treasurer</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Jeanne Mitchell - ExxonMobil Corporation</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Secretary</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Counsel</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Randall Davis - Stuntz, Davis & Staffier PC</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Chairman Emeritus</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Joy <b>Ditto</b> - Utilities Technology Council</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Executive Director</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Carole Goeas - Carole Goeas & Associates LLC</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BOARD OF DIRECTORS</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Michael Brairton - PSEG</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2019</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Renee Eastman - <b>Salt River Project</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2019</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Christopher Guith - <b style="">Global Energy Institute,</b> U.S. Chamber of Commerce</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Allison Hull - Sempra Energy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2019</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jeff Leahey - National Hydropower Association</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jessica Lenard</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kiran Malone - Consumers Energy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Majida Mourad - Tellurian</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2019</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mike Sewell - Duke Energy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kathy Steckelberg - Edison Electric Institute</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Term Expires July 2018</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lisa Van Varick - Nuclear Energy Institute</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2018</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ryan Walker - BP</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2020</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Brendan Williams - PBF Energy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2018</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Montee Wynn - NRECA</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2018</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Majida Mourad - Tellurian Investments</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2018</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Majida Mourad - Tellurian Investments</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Term Expires July 2018</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The governing body of the Organization shall be a Board of Directors composed of the elected officers (9) and the elected directors (16) and the Chairman Emeritus.  Elections for leadership positions are held in June, for terms beginning July 1st.  Officers are elected for one-year terms; Directors are elected for three-year terms.  The terms of Directors are staggered, with five Boards members retiring each year.  Active NERO members who are interested in serving on the Board or as an Officer are encouraged to express their interest to any Officer, Board member or the Executive Director.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PREVIOUS NERO CHAIRMEN</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2015-2016: Christopher Guith</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2014-2015: Andrew R. Wheeler</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2013-2014: Renee Eastman<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>2016-2017:  Joy Ditto</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1995-1996: Michael Boland</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1994-1995: Margaret Kelley</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2012-2013: Clint Williamson<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1993-1994: Jana Sheffer</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2011-2012: Lisa Van Varick<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1992-1993: Thomas Altmeyer</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2010-2011: Justin Maierhofer<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1991-1992: Kathleen O'Leary</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2009-2010: Jennifer Diggins<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1990-1991: Al Cobb</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2008-2009: Darrell Henry<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1989-1990: John Shlaes</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2007-2008: Kelly Chapman<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1988-1989: Michael McAdams</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2006-2007: Joe Nipper<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1987-1988: Richard Seibert</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2005-2006: Hannah Simone<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1986-1987: Jan Vlcek</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2004-2005: Leslie Barbour<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1985-1986: Robert Boyd</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2003-2004: Darnell DeMasters<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1984-1985: Carl Emde</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2002-2003: Marc Yacker<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1983-1984: John LaBerre</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2001-2002: Mark Whitenton<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1982-1983: H. Hollister Cantus</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2000-2001: John Sparkman<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1981-1982: Sheryl Rutledge</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1999-2000: Deborah Estes<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1980-1981: Harold Timken</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1998-1999: Rob Long<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1979-1980: Donald Erat</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1997-1998: Roy Willis<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>1978-1979: Robert Cole</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1996-1997: Susan Moya</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1977-1978: Henry Elder</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">National Energy Resources Organization</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> C/O <b>Carole Goeas</b> & Associates, LLC • 1707 Prince Street, #5 • <b>Alexandria</b>, VA 22314</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Phone: 703-548-1764 Fax: 703-842-8012 Email: ExecutiveDirector@NationalEnergyResources.com</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Web Hosting powered by Network Solutions®</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-coal-ash-rule-2589214229.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.ecowatch.com/new-coal-ash-rule-2589214229.html</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px;"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Green Groups Worry New Coal Ash Rule Could Harm Human Health</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></font><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px;"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2589214229" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Green Groups Worry New Coal Ash Rule Could Harm Human Health" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental groups expressed concerns over the health impacts of a recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">EPA</a>) decision to relax regulations on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal-ash" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">coal ash</a>, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/21/health/epa-coal-ash-reaction/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">CNN reported Saturday</a>.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coal ash contains toxic metals like arsenic, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lead" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">lead</a> and mercury and is often left in ponds where it has been known to contaminate groundwater.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The rule change gives states greater authority over regulating one of the nation's biggest sources of industrial waste and allows companies to forgo annual groundwater tests if they can prove their coal ash is not polluting nearby aquifers.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"These rules will allow yet more tons of coal ash, containing toxics like arsenic and mercury, to be dumped into unlined leaking pits sitting in groundwater and next to rivers, lakes and drinking water reservoirs," <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Southern Environmental Law Center</a> senior attorney Frank Holleman told CNN.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The new rule was signed July 18 and was the first rule signed by new acting EPA head Andrew Wheeler, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-coal/us-epa-eases-obama-era-standards-on-toxic-coal-ash-idUSKBN1K825A" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Reuters reported</a>.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Our actions mark a significant departure from the one-size-fits-all policies of the past and save tens of millions of dollars in regulatory costs," Wheeler said, according to Reuters.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Revisions to the Obama-era coal ash regulations put in place in 2015 were sought by <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">coal </a>CEO Bob Murray, who Wheeler used to lobby for.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In March 2017, Wheeler helped organize and was present at a meeting between Murray and Energy Sec. Rick Perry in which Murray presented a plan to "assist in the survival of our Country's coal industry" which included giving states more control over coal ash disposal, CNN reported.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It is now apparently the goal of EPA to save industry money by allowing them to continue to dump toxic waste into leaking pits, which is exactly what the new rule accomplishes," <a href="https://earthjustice.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Earthjustice</a> attorney Lisa Evans told CNN.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The obama-era coal ash regulations were written following two coal ash spills.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2008, a dam at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston plant broke and released a billion gallons of coal ash into the Clinch River, covering 300 acres with sludge and contaminating fish with arsenic and selenium for months afterword.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2014, a pipe at Duke Energy's Dan River steam station leaked 39,000 tons of coal ash into North Carolina waterways, extending 70 miles and leading to mercury levels in fish so high that authorities still recommend against eating them.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But even in the absence of a single disaster, coal ash can have devastating effects on human health.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tracey Brown Edwards, who grew up next to Duke Energy's Belews Creek Steam Station in Walnut Cove, North Carolina which had a coal ash pond next to a neighborhood lake, told CNN that in the five homes on her block, four had experienced cancer in the family.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There's been a lot of young people with cancer, certain kinds of cancers, brain cancer, stomach cancers, breast cancer," she said.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Doctors say they cannot confirm if the cancer is caused by coal ash, but they also cannot exclude it as a possibility, CNN reported.</font></p><div class="around-the-web"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/21/health/epa-coal-ash-reaction/index.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">With EPA rule change, worries linger for those near coal ash ponds ... ›</font></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://earthjustice.org/advocacy-campaigns/coal-ash" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Coal Ash Contaminates Our Lives | Earthjustice ›</font></a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://earthjustice.org/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Earthjustice: Environmental Law: Because the Earth Needs a Good ... ›</font></a></li></ul></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/epa-formaldehyde-warnings-blocked-696628" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/epa-formaldehyde-warnings-blocked-696628</a></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many lnx</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Trump administration is suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments, </b>a current and a former agency official told POLITICO.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency’s independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Andrew Wheeler,</b> the No. 2 official at EPA who will be the agency's new acting chief as of Monday, also has a history with the chemical. He was staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2004, when his boss, then-Chairman Jim <b>Inhofe (R-Okla.), sought to delay an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Formaldehyde is one of the most commonly used chemicals in the country. Americans are exposed to it through wood composites in cabinets and furniture, as well as air pollution from major refineries. The new assessment would give greater weight to warnings about the chemical's risks and could lead to stricter regulations from the EPA or class-action lawsuits targeting its manufacturers, as frequently occurs after these types of studies are released.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“They’re stonewalling every step of the way,” the current official said, accusing political appointees of interfering with the formaldehyde assessment and other reports on toxic chemicals produced by EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System. Industry has long faulted the IRIS program, the agency’s only independent scientific division evaluating the health risks of toxic chemicals, whose assessments often form the basis for federal and state regulations.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The current official and former official requested anonymity out of fear for their jobs and the impact that speaking out could have on the IRIS program.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Interfering with the formaldehyde study is one of several steps Trump's EPA has taken to side with the businesses the agency is supposed to regulate and undermine the agency's approach to science, critics say. Public health advocates also expressed alarm after Pruitt replaced academic scientists with industry advocates on the agency’s influential science advisory boards and sought to limit the types of human health research the EPA can rely on in rulemakings.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>The officials said Trump appointees have required that career officials receive their permission before beginning the required internal review of the formaldehyde study and have canceled key briefings that would have advanced it.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> That interference came after EPA career scientists revised the study once already last year to insulate it from political controversy, they said.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In a statement, EPA denied that the assessment was being held back.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“EPA continues to discuss this assessment with our agency program partners and have no further updates to provide at this time," EPA spokeswoman Kelsi Daniell said. “Assessments of this type are often the result of needs for particular rulemakings and undergo an extensive intra-agency and interagency process.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But as long ago as January, Pruitt told a Senate panel that he believed the draft assessment was complete.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Five months later, it has yet to see the light of day. Meanwhile, internal documents show, a trade group representing businesses that could face new regulations and lawsuits if the study were released had frequent access to top EPA officials and pressed them to either keep it under wraps or change its findings.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>“As stated in our meeting, a premature release of a draft assessment … will cause irreparable harm to the companies represented by the Panel and to the many companies and jobs that depend on the broad use of the chemical,” Kimberly Wise White, who leads the American Chemistry Council’s Formaldehyde Panel</b>, wrote in a Jan. 26 letter to top officials at the EPA. The panel represents companies including the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Koch Industries</b> subsidiary Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC that could face higher costs from stricter regulations or lawsuits.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Environmentalists: Pruitt's replacement 'should scare anyone who breathes'</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By ERIC WOLFF</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Nearly a million jobs “depend on the use of formaldehyde,”</b> White’s letter argued.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The holdup is attracting attention on Capitol Hill, where Democrats have already expressed alarm, arguing that the Trump administration has allowed politics to interfere in EPA’s scientific assessments of threats such as toxic pollution and climate change.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The agency must “move past politics and focus on its job of protecting human health” by releasing the formaldehyde study, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement to POLITICO.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"Because formaldehyde can be found in everything from wood products to women’s hair straighteners, the public health risks are substantial,” Markey said. “Delaying the EPA’s latest assessment of the health risks of formaldehyde only further endangers the health of Americans."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Public health advocates have similarly expressed fears that the Trump administration has allowed EPA to be captured by the industries it regulates. The revelations about the formaldehyde study come after Pruitt removed academic scientists from the agency’s influential science advisory boards and in many cases replaced them with industry advocates, and after he proposed a policy to limit the agency's use of human health data while offering a carve-out for confidential industry studies.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“At every corner, you see the agency trying to either minimize the role of science or manipulate the role of science or just ignore the work of scientists in doing the critical work to ensure that human health and the environment is protected,” said Jennifer McPartland, a senior scientist with the <b>Environmental Defense Fund’s</b> health program.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">POLITICO also reported in May that Trump administration officials, including EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson, sought to delay an HHS study finding that nonstick chemicals pose health dangers at a lower level than EPA has said is safe.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Insiders anticipate few major policy changes under Wheeler, who is widely expected to continue Pruitt's deregulatory agenda and is well-versed in chemicals issues. He began his career in EPA's chemical safety office, and after leaving Inhofe's staff lobbied for<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> several chemicals companies, including <b>Celanese Corp.</b>, a major formaldehyde manufacturer and ICOR International, a refrigerants manufacturer that was recently acquired by Chemours Co., a DuPont spin-off. A Celanese spokesman said Wheeler worked only on the Renewable Fuels Standard for the company, although Wheeler’s disclosure forms describe his lobbying as being on the broad topic of “chemicals issues.” Wheeler is not barred from working on chemicals issues under the recusal statement he signed in May.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Decades’ of research has linked formaldehyde to nose and throat cancer and respiratory problems, and newer research has suggested the connection to leukemia — controversial conclusions that would gain significant credence if EPA formally adopts them. The new assessment affirms those links to leukemia, nose and throat cancer and other ailments, according to the current and former officials familiar with its findings.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The new assessment could lead the EPA to impose stricter regulations of chemicals refineries or wood products and could spur class-action lawsuits from cancer patients attempting to hold companies responsible for their illnesses.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The agency officials said the political aides blocking the assessment include Jackson and <b>Richard Yamada, a former staffer for House Science Chairman Lamar Smith</b>(R-Texas) who is now a top official in EPA’s Office of Research and Development. And they said<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Nancy Beck, who criticized the IRIS program in her previous job as a top chemical industry expert, is now helping to stymie the program’s assessments in her new post as head of EPA’s chemical safety office</span>. Jackson, Yamada and Beck did not respond to requests for comment.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The EPA spokeswoman disputed the accusations and said Yamada and Jackson have, in fact, requested briefings on the assessment.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The current EPA official told POLITICO that political appointees have managed to avoid creating written evidence of their interference with the formaldehyde assessment by refusing to send emails or create other records that eventually could become public, instead using what the official described as “a children’s game of telephone."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By blocking the report at the first step of the IRIS review process, political appointees are keeping it from being reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences, an independent panel of the country's top scientists that must weigh in on all such risk assessments. EPA has already paid the academies $500,000 for that review, the highest level of scrutiny a scientific study can receive, but the work cannot start until Pruitt's aides send the study.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>“If the administration was really keen on protecting public health, why wouldn’t they send this to the National Academy and give it a really good review?” the former EPA</b> official asked. “If it survives that review, then there’s a public health problem that needs to be dealt with, and if it doesn’t survive the review, then they can point the finger at IRIS and say, ‘You’re dead.’”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">How Scott Pruitt blew it</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By ALEX GUILLÉN and ANDREW RESTUCCIA</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The former official said there would be only one reason not to ask the country’s top experts whether they agree with the analysis: “You don’t want the answer.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Public health advocates say the administration’s attacks on science have had especially<b> significant implications for the IRIS program.</b> The small office of about 35 experts pores over the huge body of existing research on chemicals, including industry-backed studies aimed at proving the substances safe, to independently assess their risks. While purely scientific, the program’s reviews are looked to by regulators not just at EPA, but also in the states and around the world, often paving the way for new or more stringent regulations.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But industry has long targeted the program, arguing it uses an opaque process to decide which studies to rely on and which research to give credence to when findings conflict.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The American Chemistry Council, Beck’s former employer, spent more than $7 million last year lobbying EPA and Congress </b>on issues including IRIS, formaldehyde and the policy to limit EPA’s use of human health research. Chemicals manufacturers, including Hexion, one of the country’s largest manufacturers of formaldehyde, have also spent tens of thousands of dollars on lobbying related to the program this year.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A National Academies panel agreed with some of industry’s criticisms of the IRIS program in a blistering review of an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment that recommended major changes to how IRIS decides how much weight to give conflicting studies, although it did not attack the substance of its findings about the health effects of formaldehyde. Critics of the IRIS program have pointed to that review frequently as they have sought to kill it, including in an appropriations battle this spring. The EPA spokeswoman also pointed to that assessment in her statement. "The National Academy of Science and Congress in legislative reports have for years been highly critical of EPA’s previous assessments involving formaldehyde," she said.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>But te EPA has overhauled the program since then, hiring a new director for IRIS and a new head of the National Center for Environmental Assessment, in which it is housed.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The changes have received high marks from the National Academies in two more recent reviews</span>, one in 2014 and one this past April. The latest formaldehyde assessment is expected to demonstrate further progress implementing the academies’ recommendations, potentially undermining industry critiques of the overall IRIS program if it were to be released.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Although efforts to kill EPA’s independent scientific arbiter have so far failed, EPA officials and public health advocates say the program has been significantly hobbled under an administration with close ties to the chemicals industry.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">White, the top staffer for the American Chemistry Council’s Formaldehyde Panel,<b> wrote the EPA three times between September 2017 and January 2018, urging the agency to incorporate industry-funded research that found no link between formaldehyde and leukemia, and arguing that the studies shifted the scientific consensus away from the conclusion that it does. </b>In November, <b>Pruitt appointed her to the agency’s influential Science Advisory Board.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Less than a week after the council's Jan. 24 meeting with EPA, Pruitt himself confirmed that the report had been complete for months. During a Senate hearing at the end of January, Markey asked Pruitt for an update on the formaldehyde assessment, saying it was his understanding “that the EPA has finalized its conclusion that formaldehyde causes leukemia and other cancers and that [the] completed new assessment is ready to be released for public review, but is being held up."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“You know, my understanding is similar to yours,” Pruitt replied, promising to follow up.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Markey reminded Pruitt of the exchange in a May 17 letter. In a response Thursday, the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> agency’s principal deputy assistant administrator for science, Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, said EPA “continues to discuss the formaldehyde assessment internally and has no further updates to provide at this time."</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07072018/epa-andrew-wheeler-trump-climate-policy-coal-lobbyist-auto-emissions-methane-science-clean-power-plan-pruitt">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07072018/epa-andrew-wheeler-trump-climate-policy-coal-lobbyist-auto-emissions-methane-science-clean-power-plan-pruitt</a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">W<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ith Scott Pruitt's resignation, responsibility for leading President Donald Trump's retreat from climate action passes from an ideological fighter to a Washington political pro.</span></font></font></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But it remains to be seen whether </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">former coal industry lobbyist and Congressional staffer <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12042018/epa-andrew-wheeler-senate-confirmation-vote-murray-energy-coal-lobbyist-climate-denial-inhofe-pruitt" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Andrew Wheeler</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> a will ease up at all or double down on Pruitt's ambitious deregulatory agenda when he moves from deputy to the helm of the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday.</span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two things are certain: The bulk of EPA's work lies ahead for carrying out Trump's fossil fuel ambitions, and Wheeler is taking on the job amid unprecedented scrutiny generated by Pruitt's ethics scandals. Even those who expect the worst from Wheeler—in terms of climate and environmental protection—expect him to tread more cautiously and quietly than his predecessor.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Pruitt just had utter contempt for government—that's why he kept getting overturned," said Daniel Becker, director of the <a href="http://safeclimatecampaign.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Safe Climate Campaign</a>, a nonprofit advocacy group, referring to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/07/climate/scott-pruitt-epa-rollbacks.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">at least a half-dozen reversals</a> of Pruitt's actions by federal judges. "Wheeler has been part of government, he has been a lobbyist, he is 'of the swamp.' I think he's going to be more careful and not as inflammatory."</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"He'll be Pruitt without the nasty smirk and the edge," Becker said.  Supporters of <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Trump</a>'s regulatory rollback plans hope so, too. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said he was confident that Wheeler would carry out changes that were increasingly difficult for Pruitt to implement while facing more than a dozen investigations into misuse of his office.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"President Trump made the right decision to accept [Pruitt's] resignation," Barrasso said in a prepared statement. "I know Assistant Administrator Andrew Wheeler is well prepared to continue the progress already made under President Trump."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But for the most part, Pruitt did not get further than telegraphing the blows he hoped to land against the Obama administration's climate legacy. Amid all of the <a href="http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/resources/climate-deregulation-tracker/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">deregulatory actions by the EPA</a> over the past year, here are the most important moves on greenhouse gas emissions begun by Pruitt that could be reshaped by Wheeler's follow-through.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Repeal of the Clean Power Plan</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the eve of <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05072018/scott-pruitt-resigns-epa-ethics-scandals-climate-science-environment-policy-coal-lobbyist-andrew-wheeler" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Pruitt's resignation</a>, the EPA finished drafting a replacement for President Barack Obama's signature climate initiative, the Clean Power Plan, and sent it to the White House for review, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/climate/clean-power-plan-replacement.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">The New York Times reported</a>. The rules, designed to rein in carbon emissions from electric power plants, were a key target of an <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy-independence" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">executive order</a> Trump signed within weeks of his inauguration.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Clean Power Plan has yet to go into effect; it was stayed by the Supreme Court in 2016 pending litigation over the EPA's authority. Pruitt<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16052017/clean-power-plan-epa-lawsuit-trump-obama-climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> repeatedly sought delays </a>in that litigation while the agency decided how to proceed, but in June, two of the judges overseeing the case indicated they were not inclined to grant further delays—meaning Wheeler will be under pressure to finalize the proposal.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead of outright repeal of the Clean Power Plan regulations, Pruitt's EPA crafted a replacement with less stringent requirements. In doing so, the agency chose not to challenge its legal obligation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Pruitt never moved forward on the idea that the EPA do away with its 2009 finding that greenhouse gases are a danger to human health and the environment, the scientific and legal basis for all of its climate regulations.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-030714bd-7269-786e-6e46-23da9fffb8ad" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Although Wheeler as a lobbyist supported repeal of the endangerment finding, few expect him to take on that battle, since most of the fossil fuel industry does not want to revisit it. In his </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/07/06/incoming-epa-chief-this-is-the-right-job-for-me/?utm_term=.c477e4ee350c" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">first interview</a> since being named to take the helm of the agency, Wheeler told the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Washington Post</em> he considered the endangerment finding settled law. "There would have to be a major, compelling reason to try to ever reopen that," he said.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler said the agenda was Trump's, not his. He said that he believed climate change was real, and that human beings had a role, but that Congress had given the EPA little legal authority to act.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I think that the statutory directives are very small," he told the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Post</em>. "As we move forward on a potential replacement for the Clean Power Plan, you're going to see us taking a hard look at what the [Clean Air Act] says and the authorities the act gives us, and we'll put something forward that follows the law."</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Future of Fuel Economy Standards</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The White House also is reviewing the Pruitt EPA's draft of <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02042018/climate-change-car-fuel-efficiency-cafe-standards-epa-pruitt-auto-pollution-gas-mileage-california-global-warming" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">a new set of regulations on greenhouse gas emissions</a> from cars and light trucks. The draft proposes freezing the emissions standards that the Obama administration crafted in an historic deal with automakers in the wake of their federal government bailout in 2009.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On this proposal, Wheeler could well decide to take a less confrontational path than Pruitt, who indicated he was prepared to challenge California's authority—enshrined in law since the 1970s—to set its own, stricter air pollution rules. Automakers have repeatedly urged the Trump administration to try to reach an agreement with California.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"The automakers are saying, 'Don't start a war with California that we will have to conduct, and get the whole thing rejected by the courts, and leave us with the blame,'" Becker said.<b>[lobbied for aqmd?]</b></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a <a href="https://medium.com/cityoftomorrow/a-measure-of-progress-bc34ad2b0ed" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">blog post</a> published after a contentious meeting between auto executives and Trump at the White House, Ford's executive chairman, Bill Ford, and CEO, Jim Hackett, wrote that their company acknowledged the need to address climate change due to carbon emissions. "We support increasing clean car standards through 2025 and are not asking for a rollback," they wrote. "We want one set of standards nationally, along with additional flexibility to help us provide more affordable options for our customers."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Becker said that translates into a roadmap that Wheeler may be inclined to follow: "Lots of loopholes—the same rollback, but where the public can't really see it."</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legal Battles Over Methane</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler inherits a legal battle over methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is leaking from oil and gas field operations, pipelines and other facilities at <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21062018/methane-leaks-oil-gas-climate-change-risks-natural-gas-slcp-global-warming-pollution-science-edf-study" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">rates far higher</a> than the EPA has estimated.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-court-blocks-trump-epa-on-air-pollution/2017/07/03/464a7344-601e-11e7-84a1-a26b75ad39fe_story.html?utm_term=.007bae8e18a2" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">a federal court rebuffed</a> Pruitt's effort to place a two-year hold on methane regulations finalized in 2016 for new oil and gas facilities. The agency's alternative proposal has been under review at the White House since May.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt also sought to forestall EPA regulations over the larger problem of methane leaking from existing oil and gas operations. He cancelled the industry's obligation to provide the agency with the information it needed to proceed with the rulemaking, but the EPA now faces a lawsuit from 14 states and two cities over the issue.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As long as EPA's legal obligation to address greenhouse gas emissions stands, it is hard to see how Wheeler's agency will be able to put off addressing methane.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21062018/methane-leaks-oil-gas-climate-change-risks-natural-gas-slcp-global-warming-pollution-science-edf-study" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">comprehensive study</a> last month led by scientists from the environmental group EDF estimated that methane equivalent to 2.3 percent of all natural gas produced in the nation is leaking in production, transportation and processing—an amount that would have roughly the same climate impact in the short term as emissions from all U.S. coal-fired power plants.</font></font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt's 'Secret Science' Plans</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the most controversial and potentially consequential initiatives started by Pruitt was his effort to curb the EPA's use of <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032018/epa-air-pollution-soot-rules-scott-pruitt-secret-science-policy-health-regulations" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">scientific studies</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt proposed rules that would bar the agency from using studies that relied on non-public data, a move that targets human health studies in which participants were promised confidentiality. That includes some of the most important research linking fossil fuel soot pollution to increased mortality.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Obama administration's air pollution rules affecting the fossil fuel industry—including the Clean Power Plan and mercury and smog standards—relied on such studies.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal was met with an onslaught of opposition from the scientific and public health community, forcing the EPA to extend its initial 30-day comment period until Aug. 16, and to <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/05/25/2018-11316/strengthening-transparency-in-regulatory-science-extension-of-comment-period-and-notice-of-public" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">schedule a public hearing</a> on the plan for July 17.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the agency still gathering public feedback on the proposal, Wheeler will now have a significant opportunity to reshape the plan.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thumb on the Scale of Cost-Benefit Analyses?</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another sweeping change that Pruitt initiated was a proposal to <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062018/pruitt-epa-cost-benefit-analysis-environment-regulation-health-climate-change-proposed-rulemaking" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">overhaul </a>the way the agency weighs the costs and benefits of regulations.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In doing away with calculations of the "co-benefits" of regulations—when control of one form of pollution also reduces another—the changes would tip the scales more frequently in industry's favor, critics say. Two days before Pruitt's resignation, the EPA agreed to <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/07/03/2018-14330/increasing-consistency-and-transparency-in-considering-costs-and-benefits-in-the-rulemaking-process" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">extend the public comment period</a> on this plan until Aug. 13, putting follow-through in Wheeler's hands.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt already had revised the way the EPA calculates what economists call the "social cost of carbon," an attempt to measure in today's dollars the costs imposed on future generations by carbon emissions. The agency's lowball estimates were the underpinning of EPA's efforts to roll back <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">climate change</a> rules under Pruitt.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Allowing Science Advisory Board Reviews</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another item on Wheeler's plate: He will have to decide whether to accept the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31052018/epa-science-advisory-board-review-pruitt-climate-change-clean-power-plan-auto-standards-secret-science-policy" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">recommendation</a> of EPA's Science Advisory Board—including most of Pruitt's hand-picked panel members—for a full board review of each of these policies to roll back regulation.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The board said it had received insufficient science from EPA on all of Pruitt's most important deregulatory moves—from the Clean Power Plan, fuel economy standard and methane rule repeals to the pending science transparency policy and the changes in the agency's social cost of carbon calculations.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The scientific review would give Wheeler an opportunity to revisit the policies, if Wheeler chose to.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For Pruitt's opponents, any joy at his departure is muted by uncertainty over what course his successor will pursue.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We now face the stark reality of a coal lobbyist, Andrew Wheeler, running the agency that is supposed to protect our air, water, and climate," Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. "Changing name plates is not enough—we need new, honest leadership that puts the health of American families first."</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/5-horrifying-things-about-scott-pruitts-epa-replacement">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/5-horrifying-things-about-scott-pruitts-epa-replacement</a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Wheeler Will Be Better at Destroying the Environment</strong></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler is described by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/climate/wheeler-epa-pruitt.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><em>New York Times</em></a> as a “consummate Washington insider who avoids the limelight and has spent years effectively navigating the rules.”</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The acting chief is known for being highly effective in his work and avoiding the sorts of personal scandals that consumed Pruitt.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Analysts believe Wheeler could be more effective than Pruitt at implementing Trump’s deregulatory agenda at the EPA.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Wheeler Was an Energy Industry Lobbyist</strong></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Like Pruitt, this veteran coal lobby lobbyist has shown only disdain for the E.P.A.’s vital mission to protect Americans’ health and our environment,” Ana Unruh Cohen, managing director for government affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Times.Following his tenure at the EPA in the administration of George W. Bush, he became a <a href="https://fortune.com/2018/07/05/who-is-andrew-wheeler-epa-trump-replace-scott-pruitt/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lobbyist</a> for Murray Energy. The head of the company is a supporter of Trump’s.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Wheeler Worked for a Climate Change Denier</strong></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The acting EPA administrator previously worked for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), a climate change denier who called the science “the greatest hoax” ever perpetrated on Americans.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many remember Inhofe for his attempt to debunk global warming “hysteria” by bringing a snowball into the Senate.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He <a href="https://qz.com/1322131/andrew-wheeler-coal-lobbyist-replaces-scott-pruitt-as-head-of-epa/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">served</a> as the vice president of the Washington Coal Club.<strong>Wheeler Really Loves Coal</strong></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This organization is a quiet federation of more than 300 coal producers, corporate leaders, policy professionals and lawmakers.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Founded in 1981, the WCC is a powerful force for the coal industry today.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wheeler Lobbied to Open Public Land to Uranium Mining</font></strong></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“[We] respectfully request that DOI reduce the size of the BENM to only those specific areas or sites, if any, deemed to need additional protection beyond what is already available to Federal land management agencies,” Energy Fuels Resources wrote to the Trump administration in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/uranium-firm-urged-trump-officials-to-shrink-bears-ears-national-monument/2017/12/08/2eea39b6-dc31-11e7-b1a8-62589434a581_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">request</a> to open parts of Bear Ears National Monument to uranium mining.</font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>FaegreBD </b>was the lobbying firm that helped the organization petition the administration.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The two lobbyists who worked the Energy Fuels Resources case? Mary Bono,</b> and now-acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://qz.com/1322131/andrew-wheeler-coal-lobbyist-replaces-scott-pruitt-as-head-of-epa/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://qz.com/1322131/andrew-wheeler-coal-lobbyist-replaces-scott-pruitt-as-head-of-epa/</font></a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 16px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; transition: background 0.5s ease 0s; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental Protection Agency secretary Scott Pruitt, known for his <a href="https://qz.com/1246702/scott-pruitts-scandals-arent-so-bad-by-russian-standards/" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">lavish expenditures and misuse of power</a>, resigned today. In a letter addressed to Donald Trump, Pruitt cited “unrelenting” and “unprecedented” attacks on him and his family.</font></p><p style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; transition: background 0.5s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pruitt was <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/teacher-mother-scott-pruitt-lunch_us_5b3ae867e4b05127cceba2bb" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">publicly asked to resign</a> this week by a schoolteacher in a DC restaurant, an exchange that was videotaped and has been <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kristin.mink/videos/10108391238198206/" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">viewed over 500,000 times</a> on Facebook. “We deserve to have somebody at the EPA who actually does protect our environment, somebody who believes in climate change and takes it seriously for the benefit of all of us, including our children,” Kristin Mink told Pruitt as he was having lunch at a downtown restaurant. “I would urge you to resign before your scandals push you out.”</font></font></p><p style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; transition: background 0.5s ease 0s; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Recent reports allege Pruitt asked his young staffers to <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/scott-pruitt-made-aides-pay-for-his-fancy-hotel-stays" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">pay for his hotel stays</a> and then didn’t reimburse them, and to find a <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/07/scott-pruitt-wife-200000-job.html" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">$200,000 job for his wife.</a> He has also been accused of <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/scott-pruitt-reportedly-used-security-detail-to-pick-up-dry-cleaning-search-for-body-lotion-2018-06-07" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">using his security detail to track down</a>fancy hand lotion. Pruitt spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on special security features and private flights.</font></p><h2 style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 19px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 32px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Replaced by Andrew Wheeler</font></h2><p style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; transition: background 0.5s ease 0s; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt’s replacement, Andrew Wheeler, is a former coal industry lobbyist with <a href="https://www.faegrebd.com/energy-resources-clean-technology" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">Faegre Baker Daniels</a> who spent nearly a decade trying to get Congress to pass industry friendly laws. He also <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/who-andrew-wheeler-and-why-you-should-be-afraid-him" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">served as the vice presiden</a>t of the <b>Washington Coal Club, a group of businessmen who meets monthly on Capitol Hill</b>. Previously, Wheeler served as an aide to Republican senator James Inhofe from Oklahoma, who once <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E0a_60PMR8" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">presented a snowball</a> on the Senate floor in an attempt to prove that climate change was a hoax.</font></p><p style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; transition: background 0.5s ease 0s; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler was confirmed as the EPA’s deputy secretary<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-senate-is-about-to-confirm-a-coal-lobbyist-as-top-epa-deputy/2018/04/12/b1bb6844-3dbe-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html?utm_term=.54bb7c0a9307" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;"> in mid-April.</a> He will become acting head of the agency on July 9, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1014956568129892352" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">Trump tweeted</a>.</font></p><p style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; transition: background 0.5s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pruitt made no mention of the scandals riddling his tenure in his resignation letter, which was <a href="https://twitter.com/finnygo/status/1014959532408279046" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">made public Thursday afternoon</a>. Pruitt, who <a href="https://capmin.org/ministries/washington-dc/white-house-cabinet-sponsors/" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">was a member</a> of the White House’s evangelical Christian bible study group, <a href="https://twitter.com/finnygo/status/1014959532408279046" style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">said in his farewell</a> that he believes Trump is president “today because of God’s providence,” and that he believes the same “providence brought me into your service.”</font></font></p><p style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; transition: background 0.5s ease 0s; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“My desire in service to you has always been to bless you as you make important decisions for the American people,” he wrote.</font></p><p style="text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0px; padding: 16px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 30px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; transition: background 0.5s ease 0s; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt may have been the worst EPA chief ever, some believe. “Scott Pruitt will go down in history as a disgrace to the office of EPA administrator,” said Ken Cook, the head of the Environmental Working Group, a consumer advocacy group. “He will forever be associated with extraordinary ethical corruption and the abuse of power for petty personal enrichments.”</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/6/new_epa_chief_andrew_wheeler_former">https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/6/new_epa_chief_andrew_wheeler_former</a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Which brings us to Emily Atkin of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The New Republic</em>. Emily, first, your response to Scott Pruitt being out? And talk about the scandals that some say took him out. Others say the biggest scandal, of course, is the issue that Kristin Mink is just raising, and that’s the rollback of environmental policies like we’ve never seen in decades.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EMILY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ATKIN</span>:</strong> I mean, every single one of your guests so far has been correct. Scott Pruitt’s policies are the—were always the biggest scandal, and they’ll continue to be, because Scott Pruitt’s policies at the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span>, rolling back climate change regulations, clean air, clean water regulations, those are the policies of the Republican Party in general. That’s why Scott Pruitt was able to survive his scandals for so long, is because when Republicans saw what he was doing or what he was attempting to do, they said, “Well, I like that. I just don’t like this weird fountain pen, $1,500-on-12-fountain-pen thing.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And my reaction to Scott Pruitt getting fired yesterday was sort of like, “What?” because, I mean, at a certain point, Scott Pruitt, to me and, I think, a lot of other reporters and people who closely follow this—Scott Pruitt, at a certain point, became the sore that was just never going to heal. I mean, there’s one scandal, right? There’s two scandals. There’s three scandals. At a certain point, there’s 10 scandals, and he’s still not getting fired. <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">CNN</span> put together a list of the mounting scandals, Scott Pruitt controversies. There’s 29 bullet points on that, on that list. So, at a certain point, you just think to yourself, “This isn’t going to happen. Scott Pruitt is going to be the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> administrator forever.” So, I was met with a bit of shock, to be honest.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But something that hasn’t been mentioned yet—it’s actually just recently come out this morning—is that there have been some sources within the </span><span class="caps" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> talking to both, you know, liberal and conservative outlets, saying that there actually might have been a scandal that broke the camel’s back, which was what came out yesterday about Scott Pruitt—what also came out over the weekend—about </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Scott Pruitt changing his public schedule and strategically taking things off of his schedule, so that if you FOIAed things, you know, if you filed a public records request, or if you tried to look at what he was doing, there would be certain things that you just couldn’t find, because those things looked bad—for example, a meeting with a former Vatican official, climate-denying Vatican official, who was later accused of sexual abuse against minors. And that was—that’s a potential violation of the Federal Records Act that can result in a <b>felony conviction and potentially land Pruitt in jail.</b></span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I mean, some of these are—you know, there’s the $50-a-night condo. There’s the—you know, he spent $1,500 on 12 fountain pens. And, you know, he wanted his bodyguard to get him some lotion. That’s what made him viral, sort of like a viral, ridiculous figure. But some of these scandals are actually pretty important and have important consequences. They have implications that might see him breaking the law. So, there’s a lot going on.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Well, I mean, I think what’s very clear, especially in this last week, of hiding who he met with on a different schedule, and ultimately, I think, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The New York Times</em>, right before the tweet that he had resigned came out, the—noting that one of his aides was fired because she didn’t want to do this, keep this, that it was actually illegal to keep these two separate schedules, what is shown to the public and who he was actually meeting with. And, of course, those issues are around industry representatives versus, you know, the public.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But I wanted to read part of the resignation letter of Pruitt. He ended the letter to President Trump with these words: “My desire in service to you has always been to bless you as you make important decisions for the American people. I believe you are serving as President today because of God’s providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service. I pray as I have served you that I have blessed you and enabled you to effectively lead the American people. Thank you again Mr. President for the honor of serving you and I wish you Godspeed in all that you put your hand to. Your Faithful Friend, Scott Pruitt.”</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Emily Atkin, can you talk about this? Where has he talked about serving the public? He says he is serving Donald Trump, which will take us to the next point, which is who is replacing him, perhaps a person who, at this point, doesn’t have that level of scandal, but continues the policy, Andrew Wheeler, the former coal lobbyist.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EMILY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ATKIN</span>:</strong> This was one of Scott Pruitt’s failings, I think, as a public servant, obviously, the letter that you just read. There is no mention of serving the American public. And I think that that idea gets lost a lot in the Trump administration. He’s saying he’s serving a president. It almost sounds creepy, in a way. That’s not his job. And I think that’s what Mustafa Ali was saying earlier. His job as the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span>administrator is to serve the American people, is to protect American public health from pollutants, from water pollutants, from air pollutants. And there is no mention of that in his resignation letter.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s also no mention of his scandals in his resignation letter. And that’s another problem of Scott Pruitt and why I think, you know, you never saw a lot of Republicans come to his defense, is because Scott Pruitt never came to his own defense. He had one interview on Fox News where he attempted to defend himself from some of these scandals. It didn’t go well. He got challenged by people he thought were going to be nice to him, and they weren’t nice to him. And so he largely kept himself out of the spotlight.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>So now we have Andrew Wheeler </b>coming in to be the acting administrator. Andrew Wheeler is going to pursue the same policy agenda that Pruitt—that Pruitt, you know, pursued. And I think it’s sort of—Pruitt was a blessing in disguise for people in the environmental movement, because he was so ridiculous. Because he said such ridiculous things all the time, people actually started to care about the environmental deregulatory process. Scott Pruitt was—you know, he was a symbol of what was happening. And now, with somebody who’s a little more low-key, who’s a little more boring, to be honest—I mean, these policies aren’t sexy to talk about. You want to talk about methane leaks from oil and gas operations. You want to talk about the mechanics of scientific research and how we use it to fight air pollution. You talked about Steve Milloy. I mean, he’s a former tobacco lobbyist. These scientific policies are the same ones that the tobacco industry was pushing when they wanted to not be liable for the harm they were causing to humans’ health. But Wheeler is going to be pushing those same things, and he’s not going to attract the same zhoosh that Scott Pruitt did.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> The new <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> chief, Andrew Wheeler, worked for nearly a decade on behalf of fossil fuel companies, including the coal company Murray Energy, and as a senior adviser to Republican Senator James Inhofe, the prominent climate change denier. I want to go to Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma speaking from the floor of the Senate in February of 2015, the day he infamously brought in that snowball in an attempt to disprove global warming.</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243); letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SEN</span>. <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">JAMES</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">INHOFE</span>:</strong> In case we have forgotten, because we keep hearing that 2014 has been the warmest year on record, I ask the chair, “You know what this is?” It’s a snowball, and that’s just from outside here. So it’s very, very cold out, very unseasonal. So, here, Mr. President, catch this.</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> And he throws the snowball. That’s Senator Inhofe, Emily Atkin. Your final response on this? And here you have a man who has not been approved by the Senate. Can he, Andrew Murray [<i style="box-sizing: border-box;">sic</i>], the former chief of staff of Inhofe—Andrew Wheeler, of Murray coal, the former chief of staff of Inhofe, can he actually stay in office to the end of Trump’s term without being approved, as an interim, as an acting?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EMILY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ATKIN</span>:</strong> Absolutely, because he’s already been confirmed by the Senate to be the deputy administrator. So, whether or not he gets confirmed, he still has basically all the powers of the administrator.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One thing that I would say that people should be looking at now, I think that people should use Scott Pruitt and the attention that he drew to himself with his viral, weird scandals—lotions, mattresses, first-class flights—take the attention from that and put it back on those policies that Andrew Wheeler now has the full capacity to put forward as the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> administrator. And the first one that I would look at is climate change regulation. The day that Scott Pruitt resigned, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The New York Times</em> published a story saying that the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> is preparing to put out its replacement for the Clean Power Plan, Obama’s signature climate change regulation to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants. Andrew Wheeler, that’s his bread and butter. He’s been wanting to weaken or repeal that regulation for a long time. And Andrew Wheeler has also, you know, expressed interest in trying to roll back one of the most important Supreme Court case rulings in climate change law at all, which is the law that says that carbon dioxide must be regulated as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. So that’s something that I think we should be watching, because it’s going to have real, dangerous, long-term implications for the American people, if that does come to pass.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Which brings us back to Mustafa Ali and Chris Zarba. Mustafa, you were at the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> for what? Some two dozen years, 24 years.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">MUSTAFA</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ALI</span>:</strong> Yeah.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Chris Zarba, you were there for 38 years. In this year and a half, how has the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> changed, compared to what it was before? Let’s begin with Chris Zarba.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">CHRIS</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ZARBA</span>:</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> I think at the top of the list, I would see the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> agency disengaging with science</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The agency, in the entire time I was there, embraced science. It was—we used science to identify where the risks were to human health and the environment, and used that as a basis for going forward. And there seems to be a broad walking away from science. There’s very little work now in the pipeline for the<b> Science Advisory Board</b> to do. We usually have 20, 25 items in the pipeline. Right now I think there’s virtually nothing. So, it’s obvious that the agency isn’t going to be going forward with science.</span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And there seems to be some questioning of just some basics in science. I mean, Administrator Pruitt questioned whether evolution was—he thought it was just a theory. We have other Americans that actually believe the Earth is flat. And some Americans believe that dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth at the same time. And all three of those things are proven in science one way or the other. And I think, walking away from it, it lets people that want to do something—the science tells you what’s important and what needs to be addressed. And if those issues get in the way, then what you do is you sideline science.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And I think that gets back to the—<b>Steve Milloy</b>. So, Steve Milloy was a—he worked for—an attorney for the tobacco industry in the '90s. And he was part of the team that crafted the illusion that the data was inconclusive as to whether cigarettes are addictive and bad to your health. And they did that to keep tobacco sales up. And since that time, the tobacco—the CEOs of the tobacco industry, you know, they testified in front of Congress. They have since been found criminally liable, and billions of dollars' fines have been put against them. And we’ve all seen the recent commercials on TV where people who have suffered quite significantly from smoking cigarettes are there trying to tell people to be careful and avoid cigarette smoke whenever possible. Well, that same Steve Milloy was part of the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> effort to craft this transparency in regulatory science. It’s the same strategy, is to sideline the science so that we can do what we want. And to use somebody like Steve Milloy, who really led the charge with the tobacco industry and now is leading <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> on this transparency in regulatory science, is just—it defies belief.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Mustafa Ali, some people have compared Andrew Wheeler to Vice President Pence, and Scott Pruitt to President Trump—President Trump with all of the scandal and the tweets and outrageousness, and then the one who is right there steadily enforcing all the policies right behind. Your thoughts, as we wrap up?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">MUSTAFA</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ALI</span>:</strong> Well, Andrew Wheeler is just as dangerous or more so than Scott Pruitt. Coming from the background that he comes from, the actions that he has taken directly impact the lives of communities across our country<b>. Over 200,000 people die prematurely from air pollution in our country every year.</b> So, if you are weakening air protection laws, then you are putting folks in danger<b>. Twenty-seven million people have asthma. Seven million children have asthma. So, again, these actions that they’re moving forward on are dangerous for the American public</b>.</font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And then, if you look at climate change, if they would go to communities like Houston, Texas, or Port Arthur, Texas, or Princeville, North Carolina, where folks have been impacted by these strengthening hurricanes and these flood-related events, then folks would share with them that we want you to have stronger enforcement. We want to have stronger laws in place to help us to be better protected. So I see him as dangerous as Scott Pruitt, if he continues down to the same road that he has over the past 25 years.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Kristin Mink, my final question is to you. I think the whole country, perhaps the world, wants to know: Who do you want to bump into next at lunch?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">KRISTIN</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">MINK</span>:</strong> If this was actually effective, obviously, I’d love to bump into Donald Trump. But, I mean, I think what this really comes down to is, if we’re looking at who we want to get rid of and who we want in there protecting us, the imperative here is to get to the polls in November. We need a Congress that’s going to protect us, moving forward, that’s going to prioritize science and safety and the health of our citizens and our children and the next generation. The current Congress approved Scott Pruitt, who had sued the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> for trying to protect public health, and now they’re appointing Andy Wheeler to follow in his footsteps. So, clearly, the Congress that’s in place is not what we need right now. We need to get to the polls and turn Congress blue this November.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px; letter-spacing: -0.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Well, Kristin Mink, I want to thank you for being with us, a D.C. teacher and mom. I think you’ve taught the whole country a lesson as you bumped into Scott Pruitt and let him know what you thought this week, demanding he resign. Two days later, well, that’s what happened. Mustafa Ali, a former <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">EPA</span> official, now with Hip Hop Caucus. Chris Zarba, ex-director of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board. And, Emily Atkin, we’ll link to your <a href="https://newrepublic.com/authors/emily-atkin" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; border: 0px;">pieces</a> in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The New Republic</em>.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/its-good-day-agency-epa-staff-reportedly-cheer-scott-pruitts-resignation-shame">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/its-good-day-agency-epa-staff-reportedly-cheer-scott-pruitts-resignation-shame</a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...I</font><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">t’s a good day for the agency,” one employee, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><em>Post</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Another staffer smiled and took a picture outside the agency building with a man wearing a papier-mache head designed to look like Pruitt, the report says. When a</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><em>Post </em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">reporter tried to speak to her, though, she ran away.</span></font></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I am happy,” another employee told the <em>Post</em>. “He was never accepted. If you are going to be the environment chief, the environment has to be your passion.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The site <a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/07/06/stories/1060087985" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Climate Wire</em></a> found a similar reaction among employees, describing them as "quietly smiling" as they left work on Thursday.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They have good reason for joy. As <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/06/epa-formaldehyde-warnings-blocked-696628" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Politico</em></a> reported Friday morning, the administration has been suppressing an EPA report on the cancer-causing effects of formaldehyde vapor — just one of many industry-friendly moves the agency has taken at the expense of human health under Pruitt's leadership.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the agency is also unlikely to improve. The man wearing the papier-mache head was Lukas Ross, a senior policy analyst for the activist organization Friends of the Earth, and he warned <em>Post</em> reporter Dan Zak that Pruitt's replacement will not be any better.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<b>“The only person more dangerous than Scott Pruitt,” he said, “is Andrew Wheeler.”</b></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b></b></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-senate-is-about-to-confirm-a-coal-lobbyist-as-top-epa-deputy/2018/04/12">https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-senate-is-about-to-confirm-a-coal-lobbyist-as-top-epa-deputy/2018/04/12</a></b></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>=</b></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12042018/epa-andrew-wheeler-senate-confirmation-vote-murray-energy-coal-lobbyist-climate-denial-inhofe-pruitt">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12042018/epa-andrew-wheeler-senate-confirmation-vote-murray-energy-coal-lobbyist-climate-denial-inhofe-pruitt</a></b></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>april 12</b></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></font></div><div><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Former coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler was confirmed Thursday as the No. 2 official at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, putting him in line to take interim charge of the agency if Administrator Scott Pruitt is toppled by his ethical missteps.</b></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Senate voted 53-45 in favor of Wheeler's nomination to be deputy EPA administrator, after a final salvo of floor speeches in which Democrats spotlighted Pruitt's scandals and Wheeler's potential conflicts.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With two fossil fuel-state Democrats—Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia—<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/andrew-wheeler-epa-vote_us_5ac80acce4b0337ad1e82bab" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">joining the GOP</a> in supporting his nomination, Wheeler had the simple majority needed for confirmation. Both senators face tough re-election battles this year in states that Trump won. <span id="docs-internal-guid-2e514ebe-ba56-7a49-75ee-c2183416c17d" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Another Democrat facing a tough re-election battle, Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, also voted to approve Wheeler's nomination.</span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wheeler served until last year as top lobbyist to Murray Energy, the nation's largest underground mining company. Administration critics argue that the company's CEO, Bob Murray, one of President <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Donald Trump</a>'s most avid campaign supporters in the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22072016/donald-trump-fossil-fuel-campaign-contributions-republican-oil-money" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">fossil fuel industry,</a> has undue influence with the administration; Trump's team already has checked off a number of the items on a deregulatory "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/climate/coal-murray-trump-memo.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">action plan</a>" Murray submitted to the White House soon after Trump's inauguration.</font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the highest ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has said that Wheeler privately told him he did not write the action plan. Carper also said Wheeler assured him that he views EPA's legal authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, which is based on the agency's "endangerment finding," to be settled law—which would be a stark contrast from Murray, who not only thinks it should be repealed, but <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11102017/climate-denial-coal-industry-global-warming-robert-murray-energy" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">argues</a> that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Wheeler clearly helped Murray Energy make its case in the early days of the Trump administration. He was <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/features/images/MurrayDOE_03.jpg" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">photographed sitting at a conference table with Murray and Energy Secretary Rick Perry</a> on March 29, 2017.</font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 648px; margin: 0.25em auto;"><figure id="file-270586" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" class="file file-image file-image-png with-caption" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><figcaption class="field field-name-field-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 2em; line-height: 1.6; border-right: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-left: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-image: initial; border-top: none;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the Senate floor debate, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), showed a photo of Wheeler (at right) and coal company owner Bob Murray (third from right) meeting with Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Whitehouse said the papers in the photo include Murray's "action plan." Credit: U.S. Senate video</font></p></div></figcaption></figure></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When questioned by senators last year about his own views on climate change, Wheeler stuck to <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09062017/five-shades-climate-denial-donald-trump-scott-pruitt-rex-tillerson-jobs-uncertainty-white-house" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">one of the scripts </a>that Trump officials have favored to sidestep outright denial, while understating the agreement among mainstream scientists and the urgency of the issue. "I believe that man has an impact on the climate, but it's not completely understood what that impact is," Wheeler said at a hearing last November.</font></font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Long History with Senate's Top Climate Denier</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Prior to his work as a lobbyist, Wheeler was a top aide to one of Congress's most prominent climate science deniers, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).</b></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He served Inhofe as a personal staff member for two years and then as a committee staff member for 12 years, including as chief counsel for the Environment and Public Works Committee while Inhofe was chair. Inhofe praised Wheeler for his work on bipartisan legislative accomplishments, including the energy bills of 2005 and 2007, which increased vehicle fuel efficiency standards and promoted use of ethanol and energy efficiency. Wheeler also has prior experience at EPA; before joining Inhofe, he served for four years as a special assistant in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.</font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Wheeler, nominated by Trump on Oct. 5, was one of dozens of nominees whose names have languished for weeks. Marc Short, the president's legislative affairs director, took time out of the daily White House press briefing last month to <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?442695-1/white-house-no-personnel-time&start=425&transcriptQuery=andrew" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">blame</a> "historic obstruction ... by Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats" for the delay in approval of Wheeler and other nominees.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The delay was not unprecedented, however. The last deputy EPA administrator of President Barack Obama's administration, career agency official Stan Meiburg, served in an acting role for <a href="https://www.epa.gov/history/chronology-epa-deputy-administrators" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">more than two years</a> because the Senate did not act on his nomination, which Inhofe <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2016/3/inhofe-raises-concerns-over-meiburg-nomination-as-deputy-administrator-at-epa" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">opposed</a>.</font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The EPA deputy administrator serves as the agency's chief operating officer. </b>"You pay a lot of attention to the basic running of the shop, oversight of the budget, financial operations, personnel, information systems ... and generally trying to maintain internal operations needed for a healthy agency," said Meiburg, now <a href="https://news.wfu.edu/2017/02/02/wfu-names-former-epa-official-to-lead-graduate-programs-in-sustainability/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">director</a> of graduate programs in sustainability at Wake Forest University.</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt Under Fire Amid 'Drip-Drip' of Scandals</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler will walk into an agency under siege over Pruitt's spending on travel and security, his handling of personnel matters, and the potential conflicts of interest he created with a $50-a-night condo rental from the wife of an energy lobbyist.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), on Wednesday <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/11/gowdy-pruitt-epa-records-travel-condo-agreement-515679" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">fired off a letter</a> saying that EPA had not provided his committee with requested information on Pruitt's first-class travel arrangements or his Capitol Hill lease. EPA's inspector general is looking into Pruitt's spending—amounting to <a href="https://apnews.com/e2fdc3fe88be432792817795a34fda46" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">more than $3 million</a>, according to documents reviewed by the Associated Press. The Office of Government Ethics also weighed in with<a href="https://www.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/All%20Documents/778D0B693D42FEE08525826A004F5471/$FILE/Letter%20to%20EPA%20DAEO.pdf?open" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">a letter</a> to EPA's general counsel's office, focusing on what it said were "extremely concerning" reports of the agency's demotion and reassignment of staff members who challenged Pruitt.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Pruitt's aggressive actions to <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21032018/trump-epa-smog-rules-pruitt-air-pollution-clean-power-plan-air-quality-connecticut-pennsyvlania-power-plants" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">weaken, delay and repeal </a>environmental protections, and to <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032018/epa-air-pollution-soot-rules-scott-pruitt-secret-science-policy-health-regulations" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">remake the EPA's use of science</a> have won him supporters who count.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump so far has stood by Pruitt, saying in "coal and energy country ... they love Scott Pruitt." But other White House officials are reportedly exasperated by the EPA administrator's troubles. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the only Republican to vote against Pruitt when he was confirmed last year, said that the "drip-drip" of scandal has vindicated her position that he is the wrong person to head the agency. On Thursday, <span id="docs-internal-guid-2e514ebe-ba34-5142-bf4b-94ffa4f43214" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Collins voted "yes" on Wheeler's nomination.</span>  </font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats: 'We've Got a Real Problem Here'</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senate Democrats didn't allow Wheeler's nomination to reach a final vote without venting their concerns over the agency's direction.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, noted in a letter to senators that Wheeler never received his own confirmation hearing. Instead, his hearing was shared with Trump's doomed nominee to head the White House Council for Environmental Quality, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08112017/trump-environment-nominee-confirmation-kathleen-hartnett-white-andrew-wheeler-coal-lobbyist-hearing" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Kathleen Hartnett White</a>. White, an outspoken fossil fuels advocate, later <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05022018/harnett-white-withdraws-nomination-trump-environment-advisor-ceq-climate-change-denial" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">withdrew</a> from consideration. Karpinski said Wheeler's "long history of ties to the fossil fuel industry make him an entirely inappropriate choice" as deputy administrator at EPA. "Wheeler did not get a standalone hearing, where his ties to the fossil fuel industry could have been properly vetted," he said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"He's never been vetted to be [in] the top job. So we've got a real problem there," <b>Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee responsible for EPA's appropriations, </b>said at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/senatortomudall/videos/10156067075817870/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">a news conference </a>Wednesday. "What's happening is we could see Scott Pruitt leave in a matter of days. ... I know that there are many Republicans who haven't spoken out yet, but privately they are very disturbed at what Scott Pruitt is doing at EPA."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Udall took to the Senate floor to push for a further examination of Wheeler<span id="docs-internal-guid-3b4cf205-bbaf-f4c4-c1c8-199c88de58b8" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, and a half-dozen other Democrats also voiced their opposition. <b>(Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse </b>of Rhode Island said Pruitt and Wheeler would make a "dangerous duo" at the EPA.) But  after a preliminary vote on Thursday showed that no Republicans would oppose the nomination, opponents took far less than the 30 hours of discussion permitted before the vote was called</span>. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There are limited tools [Wheeler's opponents] have," said Jeremy Symons, vice president for political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Symons noted that Wheeler pledged in the <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/10/19/document_gw_04.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">ethics letter</a> he submitted after his nomination that he will refrain for one year from participating in matters concerning his lobbying clients—even though Trump, by <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-ethics-commitments-executive-branch-appointees/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">executive order,</a>has required a two-year ban. Wheeler could obtain a waiver of that requirement, but says Symons: "What does that say about the Trump ethics pledge if the whole thing is tossed overboard because they want a coal lobbyist to be at the EPA, where he can give favors to the industry?"</font></p></div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED UNDER:</font></label></font><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; 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background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div> <div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/scott-pruitt" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">SCOTT PRUITT</a></div></div></div></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b></b></font></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/andrew-wheeler-epa-coal-2559631467.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Former Coal Lobbyist Confirmed as No. 2 at EPA</font></a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url expanded" data-elid="2559631467" data-authors="Climate Nexus" data-headline="Former Coal Lobbyist Confirmed as No. 2 at EPA" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><div class="widget__brief"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Senate voted on Thursday to confirm former Inhofe staffer and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">coal</a> lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to the position of deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">EPA</a>), to serve as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Scott Pruitt</a>'s second in command.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats Heitkamp, Manchin and Donnelly joined with Republicans to give approval for Wheeler to move into a position regulating the industry on whose behalf he was just lobbying (for Murray Energy.)</font></span></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">And because Wheeler would become acting administrator in the event that Pruitt resigns or is fired, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) likened it to "a shadow confirmation vote for the next administrator of the EPA."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"Andrew Wheeler's coal credentials are without equal. He is, without question, a member of the coal industry's Hall of Fame," said Markey, the AP <a href="https://apnews.com/3e74d6b9fd0045a7853b96f56846fbb0/Senate-Republicans-aim-to-confirm-EPA-deputy-administrator" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">reported</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"Sadly, I am concerned that Andrew Wheeler's background means that he will never understand that saving coal is not the job of the EPA," Markey added. "It is the EPA's job to regulate coal to protect public health and the environment."</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">According to the AP, environmental groups said that Pruitt and Wheeler could be a devastating combination.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"Before the Trump administration, it would have been inconceivable that a coal and chemical industry lobbyist with a long history of hostility toward environmental policy would be the No. 2 at EPA," said Ken Cook, president of the <a href="https://www.ewg.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Environmental Working Group</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">As reported by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-senate-is-about-to-confirm-a-coal-lobbyist-as-top-epa-deputy/2018/04/12/b1bb6844-3dbe-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html?utm_term=.584c38fe6a6b" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Washington Post</a>, "Wheeler has changed his tune" about <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Trump</a> after vehemently opposing his candidacy:</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"Wheeler wrote a post on his personal Facebook account the day before Super Tuesday pleading with those considering voting for Trump to reconsider. In his six-point critique, Wheeler questioned Trump's character, business acumen and viability as a general-election candidate. Trump was a 'bully,' Wheeler wrote in the since-deleted Facebook post obtained by The Post. He said that Trump 'hasn't been that successful' in business and 'has more baggage then all of the other Republican candidates combined.' Wheeler added that Trump 'has demonstrated through the debates and interviews that he doesn't understand how the government works.'"</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong>
</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">News: <a href="https://apnews.com/3e74d6b9fd0045a7853b96f56846fbb0/Senate-Republicans-aim-to-confirm-EPA-deputy-administrator" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">AP</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/climate/epa-pruitt-deputy-wheeler-confirmation.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/04/the-senate-just-confirmed-the-coal-lobbyist-who-could-replace-scott-pruitt/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Mother Jones</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/12/politics/andrew-wheeler-environmental-protection-agency-scott-pruitt-congress/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">CNN</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-senate-is-about-to-confirm-a-coal-lobbyist-as-top-epa-deputy/2018/04/12/b1bb6844-3dbe-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html?utm_term=.584c38fe6a6b" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-confirms-andrew-wheeler-for-no-2-spot-at-epa-1523568483" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">WSJ</a>, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/andrew-wheeler-epa_us_5a874fc7e4b004fc3192118b" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">HuffPost</a>, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12042018/epa-andrew-wheeler-senate-confirmation-vote-murray-energy-coal-lobbyist-climate-denial-inhofe-pruitt" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Inside Climate News</a>, <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/382873-senate-approves-trumps-pick-for-no-2-at-epa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">The Hill</a>, <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/senate-confirms-former-coal-lobbyist-to-epa-99a71c8baa3a/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Think Progress</a></font></p></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>=
omg top job if pruittt fired, confrimation 3/18

<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/andrew-wheeler-epa_us_5a78dc2ce4b0164659c73e97">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/andrew-wheeler-epa_us_5a78dc2ce4b0164659c73e97</a>

</b>
</font><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="1" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andrew Wheeler, President <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/donald-trump/" data-beacon="{" p="p" lnid="lnid" donald="Donald" trump="Trump" mpid="mpid" plid="plid" http="http" www.huffingtonpost.com="www.huffingtonpost.com" news="news" donald-trump="donald-trump" data-beacon-parsed="true" class="bn-clickable" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:1" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="1" data-v9y="1">Donald Trump</a>’s nominee to be Environmental Protection Agency deputy administrator, appeared poised and polished at his Senate <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/11/hearing-on-the-nominations-of-kathleen-hartnett-white-to-be-a-member-of-the-council-on-environmental-quality-and-andrew-wheeler-to-be-deputy-administrator-of-the-environmental-protection-agency" target="blank" data-beacon="{" p="p" lnid="lnid" confirmation="confirmation" hearing="hearing" mpid="mpid" plid="plid" https="https" www.epw.senate.gov="www.epw.senate.gov" public="public" index.cfm="index.cfm" hearing-on-the-nominations-of-kathleen-hartnett-white-to-be-a-member-of-the-council-on-environmental-quality-and-andrew-wheeler-to-be-deputy-administrator-of-the-environmental-protection-agency="hearing-on-the-nominations-of-kathleen-hartnett-white-to-be-a-member-of-the-council-on-environmental-quality-and-andrew-wheeler-to-be-deputy-administrator-of-the-environmental-protection-agency" data-beacon-parsed="true" class="bn-clickable" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:1" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="2" data-v9y="1">confirmation hearing</a> in November. He couched his objections to widely accepted climate science in ambiguous legalese, and kept his cool when, at the same hearing, Kathleen Hartnett-White, the president’s pick for the Council on Environmental Quality, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kathleen-hartnett-white-climate_us_5a03700ee4b0937b510f5ad9" data-beacon="{" p="p" lnid="lnid" flamed="flamed" out="out" mpid="mpid" plid="plid" https="https" www.huffingtonpost.com="www.huffingtonpost.com" entry="entry" kathleen-hartnett-white-climate_us_5a03700ee4b0937b510f5ad9="kathleen-hartnett-white-climate_us_5a03700ee4b0937b510f5ad9" data-beacon-parsed="true" class="bn-clickable" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:1" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="3" data-v9y="1"><span class="bn-clickable">flamed out</span></a>, stammering over questions of basic science.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="2" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Saturday, the White House <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kathleen-hartnett-white-withdrawal_us_5a766477e4b01ce33eb35a72" data-beacon="{" p="p" lnid="lnid" announced="announced" plans="plans" mpid="mpid" plid="plid" https="https" www.huffingtonpost.com="www.huffingtonpost.com" entry="entry" kathleen-hartnett-white-withdrawal_us_5a766477e4b01ce33eb35a72="kathleen-hartnett-white-withdrawal_us_5a766477e4b01ce33eb35a72" data-beacon-parsed="true" class="bn-clickable" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="4" data-v9y="1"><span class="bn-clickable">announced plans</span></a> to pull Hartnett-White’s nomination amid waning Republican support. But on Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11 to 10 along party lines to advance Wheeler’s nomination, putting him one step from the EPA’s No. 2 job.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="3" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The restraint that steeled Wheeler’s nomination seems likely to clear the way for his confirmation. Unlike other Trump nominees whose outrageous opinions or lack of qualifications put them on the political fringe, Wheeler boasts both the Beltway aesthetic and the experience needed to become a powerful EPA operator. His confirmation, critics fear, will speed the Trump administration’s rollback of environmental and public health protections, and make a lasting, if quieter, impact. </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="4" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s very alarming and distressing,” Mary Anne Hitt, a campaign director at the Sierra Club, told HuffPost. “He is right up there with the list of the most extreme people that Trump has nominated for any agency.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="5" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler, a coal lobbyist and former legislative aide to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), is widely seen as having the relationships and finesse needed to avoid legal potholes while driving the EPA’s deregulatory agenda. He knows how to work the system from within, having spent four years working at the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He said the right things to woo critics at his confirmation hearing, calling EPA staffers “the most dedicated and hard-working employees in the federal government.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component bn-content-list-text yr-content-list-text text" data-beacon="{" p="p" mnid="mnid" citation="citation" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-cpos="6" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The mission of the EPA to protect human health and the environment is critical to our country and its citizens and something that I take very seriously and I know you do, too,” Wheeler said.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...
</font></p></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>=</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-coal-lobbyist-2493674865.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-coal-lobbyist-2493674865.html</a></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump Nominates Coal Lobbyist for Number Two EPA Job</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></font><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2493674865" data-headline="Trump Nominates Coal Lobbyist for Number Two EPA Job" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The White House announced Thursday that <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">President Trump</a> has officially nominated <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">coal</a> lobbyist Andrew Wheeler for the deputy administrator position at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a>).  <span style="text-align: center;">Before becoming a lobbyist in 2009, Wheeler served as a congressional aide to prominent </span><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">climate-denying</a><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">(and snowball-tossing) Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). While Politico</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/andrew-wheeler-epa-deputy-sources-236151" target="blank" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">on Wheeler's likely nomination in March, Wheeler remained registered as a lobbyist for coal company Murray Energy until mid-August.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler's nomination to the number two spot at EPA comes as the agency prepares to repeal the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/clean-power-plan" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Clean Power Plan</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In Andrew Wheeler, the President has tapped yet another fossil fuel industry lobbyist to help in the capture of the Environmental Protection Agency for big polluters,"Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said in a statement.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the office to which he's been nominated, but here we are."</font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Halloween apparently came early this October because the nomination of Andrew Wheeler as Deputy EPA Administrator is absolutely horrifying," the <a href="http://sierraclub.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Sierra Club</a> said in a statement. "There actually could not have been a worse choice for this highly influential position that is charged with protecting the health and communities of Americans across the nation.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Andrew Wheeler is a big time lobbyist who has represented Big Coal for <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/andrew-wheeler-epa-deputy-sources-236151" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">almost a decade</a>, including in numerous lawsuits challenging the EPA. He is a friend to polluters, not to American families that rely on clean air and clean water."</font></p><p><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For a deeper dive:</font></strong></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/climate/trump-epa-andrew-wheeler.html?r=1" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">New York Times</a>, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-epa-wheeler/trump-picks-coal-lobbyist-for-epa-deputy-role-drawing-mixed-reaction-idUSKBN1CB014" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Reuters</a>, <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/354127-trump-taps-ex-lobbyist-for-epa-no-2-job" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Hill</a>, <a href="https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard/2017/10/white-house-announces-wheeler-pick-for-epa-deputy-094007" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Politico Pro</a></font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>=</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>4 horse</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We can thank EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for these four horsemen of the EPA-pocalypse—four people who will gladly choose polluters over public health and clean air and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">water</a> standards every time.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><strong>Andrew Wheeler</strong>, who Pruitt has tapped for the number two spot at EPA, was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/21/trump-to-tap-longtime-coal-lobbyist-for-epas-number-two-spot/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">described by the Washington Post</a> as a "longtime coal lobbyist" and has worked on behalf of a company which reportedly has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/us/24murray.html?r=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">numerous environmental and worker safety</a> violations</span>. Wheeler <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/andrew-wheeler-epa-deputy-2318403147.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">has spent his career challenging vital life-saving environmental protections</a> that keep our air and water clean so that we can keep our families safe (I wrote <a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2017/07/another-fox-henhouse-coal-lobbyist-tapped-for-top-spot-trump-s-epa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">this post</a> about him earlier this summer).<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> He also used to be an aide for outspoken <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">climate-denying</a> and corporate-polluter-loving senator, <b>James Inhofe.</b></span></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/us/24murray.html?r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/us/24murray.html?r=0</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><div class="story-body-supplemental" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: space-between;"><div class="story-body story-body-1" style="position: relative; flex-grow: 0; width: 705px;"><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="315" data-total-count="315" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">HUNTINGTON, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/utah/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Utah." class="meta-loc">Utah</a>, Aug. 23 — If Robert E. Murray accepts a Senate subcommittee’s invitation to testify next month about what went wrong at the Crandall Canyon Mine, he is likely to be questioned about, among other things, adopting a new and riskier mining plan when his company took over the operation last year.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="222" data-total-count="537" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Mr. Murray hews to the always impassioned — at times, bombastic — style he has shown in news conferences since the mine’s collapse on Aug. 6, senators can expect his statements to be plain-spoken and provocative.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="489" data-total-count="1026" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As recently as Wednesday night, Mr. Murray, chief executive of the Murray Energy Corporation, continued to insist that the collapse had been caused by a 3.9 magnitude earthquake. He shouted down two reporters who tried to remind him that seismic scientists at the University of Utah and elsewhere were just as certain that the opposite occurred — that coal veins already thinned by a risky form of deep mining had buckled, setting off the collapse that sent seismograph needles spiking.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="105" data-total-count="1131" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Six men were trapped inside the mine. Three more died 10 days later in the collapse of a rescue tunnel.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="335" data-total-count="1466" id="story-continues-1" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is not the first time that Mr. Murray, 67, has taken a position far afield of the experts. Although most other industry executives have recognized the threat of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about global warming." class="meta-classifier">climate change</a> and the need for energy conservation, he has been among the few to question the concept of global warming and to openly criticize environmental regulations.</font></p></div></div><div class="story-body-supplemental" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: space-between;"><div class="story-body story-body-2" style="position: relative; flex-grow: 0; width: 705px;"><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="184" data-total-count="1650" id="story-continues-3" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In testimony last March at a hearing on clean energy, Mr. Murray told a House subcommittee that federal lands should be preserved, but also “prudently developed” to provide jobs.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="277" data-total-count="1927" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In every reference to climate change, he used the term “so-called global warming.” The debate, he said, “has been skewed and totally one-sided,” because the news media, Congress and pundits have been “preoccupied with possible, speculative environmental disasters.”</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="91" data-total-count="2018" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2001, a jury acquitted Mr. Murray of charges that he had assaulted an environmentalist.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="365" data-total-count="2383" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That same year, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint accusing Mr. Murray of violating federal labor laws at one of his companies, Maple Creek Mining, in Bentleyville, Pa., about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh. The United Mine Workers said Mr. Murray had threatened to replace union workers at the mine after they talked publicly about a labor dispute.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="381" data-total-count="2764" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2003, a federal court jury in Owensboro, Ky., convicted another of Mr. Murray’s companies, Ken American Resources, and four current or former employees on charges of conspiracy, lying and violating safety laws pertaining to dust levels at a mine in western Kentucky from 1996 to 2000. They faced fines of up to $1.4 million, but the company appealed and paid roughly $300,000.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="298" data-total-count="3062" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Murray has said that none of his miners have ever died in an accident, but federal mine records show otherwise. In April 2001, Thomas M. Ciszewski, a 45-year-old foreman, bled to death in the Powhatan No. 6 mine in Alledonia, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/ohio/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Ohio." class="meta-loc">Ohio</a>, owned and operated by Mr. Murray’s Ohio Valley Coal Company.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="259" data-total-count="3321" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federal investigators determined that Mr. Ciszewski, a 22-year mining veteran, was on a routine job when a conveyer belt cut off his arm, and was “bleeding profusely from the loss of the limb.” He died, in part, because there was not adequate first aid.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="42" data-total-count="3363" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The company was fined a total of $15,000.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="353" data-total-count="3716" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A self-made coal baron, Mr. Murray, owns 19 mines in five states, several with safety records far worse that that of Crandall Canyon, which has 33 health and safety violations this year. For instance, his Galatia mine, in Illinois, has accumulated more than 850 federal health and safety violations in 2007, in addition to about $1.46 million in fines.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="299" data-total-count="4015" id="story-continues-4" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Murray Energy mines produce more than 30 million tons of coal annually, generating annual sales of at least $800 million and fostering accusations from some miners and their families that Mr. Murray cares more about growing his bottom line than he does about making his mines safer for his workers.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="238" data-total-count="4253" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s hurting me very much,” he said this week during a middle-of-the night phone call to a reporter. “What they’re reporting is that I’m greedy. That is just so inflammatory and false and misleading to everyone in America.”</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><div id="#continues-post-newsletter"><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="120" data-total-count="4373" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Again and again, he calls himself a champion of miners and an advocate for their well-being and that of their families.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="270" data-total-count="4643" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But he is not always perceived that way. This week, relatives of the men trapped in the Crandall Canyon mine were outraged when Mr. Murray said that he planned to seal the mine, entombing their bodies inside, and to continue mining in another part of the vast property.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="267" data-total-count="4910" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He reversed himself the next day, saying he had simply been doing what he always does — telling the truth. In all likelihood, he said, the miners had died and it was not safe to continue trying to find them. “I’m no P.R. man,” Mr. Murray readily acknowledged.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="279" data-total-count="5189" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But as he rides over mountain roads on the way to candlelight vigils for the miners or funerals for the rescuers, he passes signs that come close to calling him a liar. Lori Prince, a local insurance agent, put up one such sign, which read, “Bob Murray, keep your promises.”</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="136" data-total-count="5325" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“He did say he was going to get them all out” dead or alive, Ms. Prince said. “Now he’s saying you just have to accept this.”</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="205" data-total-count="5530" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Murray says he refused to hire a public relations firm or disaster management team after the Crandall Canyon collapse because he wanted to make it clear that he was one who should take responsibility.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="115" data-total-count="5645" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Critics say it was another example of Mr. Murray’s outsized ego and cavalier attitude toward industry standards.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="332" data-total-count="5977" id="story-continues-5" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In terms of him being the face of this, he shouldn’t have been,” said a spokesman for the United Mine Workers of America, Phil Smith, adding that the Miner Act of 2006 requires the Mine Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency, to be at the forefront of dealing with any disaster. “They could have stopped him.”</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="118" data-total-count="6095" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Agency officials say they allowed Mr. Murray his First Amendment rights to speak out about what happened at the mine.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="235" data-total-count="6330" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At Wednesday’s news conference, Mr. Murray once again denied that he changed the mining plan when his company took over Crandall Canyon in 2006. “I just continued doing what the previous owner was doing,” he said in an interview.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="59" data-total-count="6389" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But federal mine agency documents contradict his assertion.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="345" data-total-count="6734" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Crandall Canyon’s previous owner, Andalex Resources, thought it too risky to mine coal barriers, the pillars that hold up the mountain and protect workers thousands of feet below. The technique is called “retreat mining,” and while common at shallower mines, it is far more problematic at Crandall Canyon’s depth of 1,800 feet and more.</font></p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="143" data-total-count="6877" data-node-uid="1" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" max-width="max-width" none="none" width="width" px="px" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 75px; line-height: 1.625rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevertheless, mine agency documents show, the agency this year approved a plan from a Murray company to perform such mining at Crandall Canyon.</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
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</b>
</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sen. Jim Inhofe yesterday touted his former top aide on the Environment and Public Works Committee to be U.S. EPA deputy administrator.</b></font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b /></font><p><b><b><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Inhofe said Andrew Wheeler is better-suited for the No. 2 slot than another candidate, Jeff Holmstead, who has drawn criticism in conservative circles.</b></font></b></b></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There is no one who is more qualified for that job than Andrew Wheeler," the Oklahoma Republican senator told E&E News of his former staff director and chief counsel.</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wheeler, who worked for Inhofe for 14 years and currently lobbies for energy interests at FaegreBD Consulting, "knows more about this than he's forgotten, more than anybody else," the former EPW chairman said.</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Inhofe's comments followed remarks earlier this week in which he said the other rumored contender for the deputy slot, former George W. Bush EPA air chief Holmstead, would be an "excellent" choice (<em><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1060056331">E&E Daily</a></em>, June 21).</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I heartily endorse him," Inhofe said Tuesday, also praising Wheeler.</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yesterday, Inhofe said he holds Holmstead "in high regard" and said he wanted to dispel conservative criticism that "Jeff's a bad guy."</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rumors that Holmstead, currently a partner at Bracewell LLP, is a top contender for the deputy position have drawn grumbling on the right that he could be a moderating force at EPA.</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some observers have questioned Holmstead's views on the climate endangerment finding — the legal underpinning of efforts to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act — which conservatives want to see gutted (<em><a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060056276">Climatewire</a></em>, June 20).</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There's no one I can think of who knows [EPA] as well as Andrew does, and that would include R.J., my former chief of staff," Inhofe said, referencing Ryan Jackson, another former aide who now serves as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's chief of staff.</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In the event that he's not acceptable and we'll be looking at other people, I certainly have nothing against Jeff. Clearly, the guy who would be most knowledgeable for the job would be Andrew Wheeler."</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Inhofe said the administration's timeline and decision-making on the EPA deputy slot remained unclear. He added that he was unfamiliar with another rumored contender, Paul Noe, vice president for public policy at the American Forest & Paper Association.</font></b></b></p><p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speculation on the deputy position comes as another Inhofe aide, current Communications Director Daisy Letendre, is slated to join EPA as a senior adviser for policy and strategic communications in the Office of Policy (<em><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1060056384">E&E News PM</a></em>, June 21).</font></b></b></p><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>

Inhofe welcomes Holmstead as possible deputy pick

</b></font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kevin Bogardus, E&E News reporter</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jeff Holmstead can count on a prominent Republican senator for support on Capitol Hill.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Holmstead, a partner at Bracewell LLP and former U.S. EPA official, is considered to be in the running for deputy administrator but has run into conservative opposition.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) had kind words for Holmstead yesterday. "I have dealt with him for years. He's excellent. I heartily endorse him," Inhofe told E&E News.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservatives have pushed back against the potential nomination, saying the environmental law attorney would gut President Trump's agenda from inside EPA (Greenwire, June 19).</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Holmstead has lobbied for coal and utility companies in the past. During President George W. Bush's first term, he served as head of EPA's air office, and before that, he was White House associate counsel for President George H.W. Bush.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Holmstead is not as well-known to many other Republicans lawmakers. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), current EPW chairman, said he was not familiar with the former EPA official.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andrew Wheeler, now a lobbyist for energy interests at FaegreBD Consulting, has also been under consideration to fill the deputy administrator role at EPA. Wheeler was staff director and chief counsel at EPW when Inhofe led the panel.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Andrew is excellent. Andrew was with me for 14 years. In fact, he and Jeff are very close friends," Inhofe said. "I have not heard if one is leading. I just know that they're both great, and I support both of them."</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Transition sources have told E&E News that several candidates have been under consideration. One other name mentioned has been Paul Noe, vice president for public policy at the American Forest & Paper Association.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats on the EPW panel said they would keep an open mind on forthcoming EPA nominees until they are announced. Ranking member Tom Carper (D-Del.) said he had heard of Holmstead.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I would just reserve judgment — wouldn't say absolutely never — but I would reserve judgment," Carper said.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Asked about Wheeler, Carper said: "We know Andrew. On a personal level, we like him. I've not given any thought to his suitability for that job."</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), another EPW member, said he wasn't familiar with the names mentioned, noting that administration officials had not consulted Democrats.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Regarding his party's potential opposition to whomever Trump picks for the deputy administrator job, Cardin said, "We'll see who they put forward.</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></b></div><div><b><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We obviously would like to see someone who has experience and balance on these issues, who believes in the mission of EPA," Cardin said.</font></b></b></div></div></div></div>