{"id":12139,"date":"2018-10-29t10:39:07","date_gmt":"2018-10-29t10:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/epas-new-acting-leader-what-do-we-know\/"},"modified":"2023-02-28t18:36:24","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28t18:36:24","slug":"epa-acting-administrator-wheeler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/epa-acting-administrator-wheeler\/","title":{"rendered":"epa’s new (acting) leader: what do we know?"},"content":{"rendered":"

a $43,000 soundproof phone booth, $1,560 pens, first-class travel, clashes with ethics rules, and numerous other \u200breported\u200b practices<\/a> defined scott pruitt\u2019s short tenure as epa administrator. before president trump appointed him to the position, pruitt was attorney general for the state of oklahoma.<\/p>\n

according to the oklahoma office of the attorney general<\/a>, pruitt \u201c\u200bwas a leading advocate against the epa\u2019s activist agenda\u200b\u201d and filed multiple lawsuits against the agency. once at the helm of the epa, pruitt’s reign was overshadowed by questionable spending practices, and accusations of federal ethics violations as well as inappropriate professional behavior, as reported by numerous media outlets. oh, and he rolled back several energy and environmental regulations, too.<\/p>\n

\"scott
former epa administrator scott pruitt, speaking at the 2017 conservative political action conference (cpac) at the national harbor in maryland, on feb. 25, 2017. (gage skidmore<\/a>\/creative commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

pruitt\u2019s actions culminated in a whopping \u200b13 federal investigations\u200b after only 17 months as administrator. he resigned in july 2018, citing the \u201c\u200bsizable toll\u200b\u201d of the \u201c\u200bunrelenting attacks\u200b\u201d on him and his family from the media and environmental advocates as reason for his departure, according to pbs news hour\u2019s<\/a> joey mendolia and daniel bush.<\/p>\n

\"\"
andrew wheeler (epa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

in pruitt\u2019s absence, former epa deputy administrator andrew wheeler, has stepped in as acting administrator. while pruitt made headlines nearly every week, wheeler\u2019s tenure has been noticeably quiet. however, wheeler is continuing to deregulate the epa and rolling back once strong environmental policies more quietly \u2014 and effectively \u2014 than his predecessor. his role as acting administrator begs a few questions:<\/p>\n

1. who is andrew wheeler?<\/h2>\n

according to his epa biography<\/a>, andrew wheeler was born in hamilton, ohio, in 1964. he became an eagle scout in high school, and \u200breceived his undergraduate degree\u200b in english and biology from case western reserve university. wheeler continued his education at george mason university where he \u200breceived his mba\u200b, and then \u200bearned his law degree\u200b from washington university in st. louis.<\/p>\n

2. how did wheeler end up in the epa?<\/h2>\n

this is actually \u200bnot the first time\u200b<\/a> wheeler has worked for the epa. wheeler worked as a special assistant in the epa\u2019s pollution prevention and toxics office during the george w. bush administration. he joined pruitt\u2019s team as deputy director in 2017 when pruitt was appointed administrator.<\/p>\n

after pruitt\u2019s resignation, however, wheeler expressed \u200bdisinterest in the administrator position. in an interview with the washington examiner<\/a>, wheeler indicated \u201che had no interest in taking over his boss\u2019s job. \u2018i could have put my hat in the ring for administrator. i was not interested in that. i am still not interested in that,\u2019 he said.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. what was he up to before working for the epa?<\/h2>\n

wheeler has been working in washington for more than 20 years<\/a>\u200b, primarily advocating for the interests of the fossil fuel industry. wheeler was the former chief of staff to oklahoma sen. james inhofe. inhofe is considered washington\u2019s \u200bmost prominent climate change denier\u200b (remember the guy who threw the snowball<\/a> on the senate floor? \u200byeah, that\u2019s inhofe), with wheeler\u2019s opinions of the environment and climate change closely mirroring that of his former boss\u2019.<\/p>\n

wheeler has \u200bworked as a lobbyist<\/a>\u200b for multiple natural resource corporations including some of the united states\u2019 largest chemical, coal, and uranium companies. he lobbied for energy fuels inc., the primary uranium company that \u200bsupported the shrinking of bears ears national monument<\/a> in utah.\u200b according to the center for responsive politics<\/a>, the coal-mining company, murray energy, \u200bpaid wheeler\u2019s consulting firm, faegre baker daniels consulting, \u200bover $300,000 per year from 2009 through 2017.<\/p>\n

in 2010, wheeler denounced<\/a> the science presented by the scientists of the united nations\u2019 international panel on climate change, claiming the ipcc \u201chas functioned more as a political body than a scientific body.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. why haven\u2019t i heard too much about wheeler?<\/h2>\n

wheeler purposely avoids the spotlight, and prefers to do his work legally, yet behind closed doors. \u200baccording to a report<\/a> from the new york times\u200b, \u201cmr. wheeler … avoids the limelight and has spent years effectively navigating the rules … \u200bhis career was built around quietly and incrementally advancing the interests of the fossil-fuel industry, chiefly by weakening or delaying federal regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. what is he going to do to the epa, and to the environment?<\/h2>\n

\u201c(wheeler) knows much more about managing the agency and the technical side of the environmental statutes that epa is charged with enforcing than pruitt,\u201d said myron ebell, head of the epa transition team, in an interview with the guardian<\/a>. \u201cundoing (barack) obama\u2019s regulatory onslaught at epa is a key part of the president\u2019s economic revival agenda, and therefore wheeler will be a point man for trump just as pruitt was.\u201d<\/p>\n

wheeler is going to push president trump\u2019s environmental agenda forward quickly and effectively. he will do so by staying within the boundaries of law and ethics, pursuing coal and chemical industry interests, and staying out of the limelight.\u200b \u200bwheeler knows washington, d.c., knows how environmental legislation and law work, and avoids the spotlight.<\/p>\n

6. as a fan of a healthy environment, is there anything i can do?<\/h2>\n

wheeler is competent and efficient. from working for climate change deniers and lobbying for mining companies and fossil fuel industries, he is a quiet, experienced, and formidable foe of the environment\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n

however, a keyword in wheeler\u2019s job title is “\u200bacting\u200b.” president trump still needs to officially nominate a new agency chief \u2014 one who must then be approved and confirmed by a senate majority vote. this is a process that could take months, and well past november, after the midterm elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

meet andrew wheeler, the quieter, more potent follow-up to scott pruitt’s tumultuous epa reign. but at more than 100 days out, the agency has not confirmed the acting administrator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9687,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5196,4899],"tags":[3946,1267,1129,4093,195,591],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-12139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-past-storyfest","category-policy","tag-environmental-organizations","tag-environmental-policy","tag-epa","tag-lobbying","tag-politics","tag-storyfest"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nepa's new (acting) leader: what do we know? - planet forward<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/epa-acting-administrator-wheeler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"epa's new (acting) leader: what do we know? 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