Democrats and even some Republicans pressed Wheeler on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Senate Democrats used the Wednesday confirmation hearing of Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to push him on the agency’s negligence on climate change, its rollback of regulations designed to protect Americans’ health, and his uncannily close ties to the fossil fuel industry.
“Do you agree with the scientific community that climate change is a global crisis?” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asked Wheeler repeatedly.
“I would not call it the greatest crisis, no, sir,” Wheeler responded. “I consider it to be an issue that has to be addressed globally.”
“Substantively, I think you have your thumb, wrist, forearm, and elbow on the scale,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told Wheeler, referring to Wheeler’s past work as a coal lobbyist. Some Republicans raised concerns about climate change as well.
At a few points, the hearing was interrupted by protesters and chants of “shut down Wheeler, not the EPA.” Eight protesters were arrested.
Wheeler, for his part, emphasized in the hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the EPA was revising Obama-era environmental regulations like the Clean Power Plan and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards to comply with court rulings. It was a signal that he plans to continue to methodically advance Trump’s agenda, but in a much less bombastic way than former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who resigned last year in disgrace after numerous allegations of ethics violations.
Some Democrats even praised Wheeler for his collegiality and for being much more accessible than Pruitt. However, others said he was tilting regulations in favor of the sectors the EPA is supposed to regulate, for instance, weakening pollution regulations on coal-fired power plants.
Before his work as a coal lobbyist, Wheeler was a staffer at the EPA and on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
