Pruitt’s New Deputy: A Coal Lobbyist Knowledgeable in Washington’s Ways

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday confirmed the Environmental Protection Agency’s second-in-command, Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who not only shares the deregulatory zeal of Scott Pruitt, the EPA chief, but also his doubtful view of climate science.

More notable, however, are the differences between the two men.

Unlike Pruitt, a Washington outsider caught in a swirl of controversy over his costly first-class travel and security spending, Wheeler is viewed as a low-key insider with years of Washington experience in the art of pursuing policy change while avoiding public distraction.

Deregulation is among President Donald Trump’s central campaign promises, and Pruitt has proposed ambitious rollbacks of rules governing clean air and water and fighting against climate change. But many of his initiatives have stumbled because of haste or imprecision, and at least six have been struck down by the courts. That makes the arrival of Wheeler’s expertise particularly consequential.

In fact, on Thursday Trump also sent new marching orders to the EPA, directing the agency to weaken or delay implementation of a variety of air pollution regulations, several of which have been priorities for industries for which Wheeler has lobbied in the past.

Among other things, the proposals would reverse an Obama-era policy of forcing federally designed pollution restriction plans on states that fail to meet national standards for reducing soot, smog and nitrogen oxide. They would also allow states that fail to meet clean air standards not to comply with regulations if they attribute the dirtier air to pollution that drifted from Asia.

Pruitt, in a statement, said, “This memorandum helps ensure that EPA carries out its core mission, while reducing regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturing.”

Pruitt is facing an array of ethics questions accompanied by calls for him to step down or be replaced. If Pruitt were to leave the agency, Wheeler would become the acting administrator. Former EPA officials describe him as well positioned to pursue Trump’s agenda as effectively as Pruitt, or even more so, by moving more slowly but in ways likelier to withstand legal challenge.

Democrats have long sought to delay Wheeler’s confirmation. “He’s part of the climate denial fringe, he’s a coal lobbyist and there’s a possibility he’ll be running the agency if Scott Pruitt goes down,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who has emerged as one of Congress’ loudest proponents of climate change policy.

Wheeler’s supporters — among them Sen. James Inhofe, one of the most vocal climate-science denialists in Congress — welcomed his arrival at the EPA. “Andy Wheeler is the most competent and qualified person for the job he’s been asked to fulfill,” Inhofe said. “Anyone who sat through his confirmation hearing would tell you he did a masterful job.”

Wheeler worked for Inhofe as chief of staff for more than a dozen years on Capitol Hill. He also worked at the EPA in the office of pollution prevention during the administration of the first President George Bush. Most recently, he lobbied for Murray Energy, whose chief executive, Robert E. Murray, has been a supporter and adviser of Trump’s.

A few weeks after Trump’s inauguration, Murray, who contributed $300,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund, presented the president with a wish list of regulations that he wanted to see lifted from the coal industry. Trump then assigned Pruitt to roll back those rules.

Jack Gerard, head of the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for oil companies, said in a statement, “Andrew Wheeler knows the important role that natural gas and oil plays in the daily life of every American and will work to further a smarter, science-based regulatory agenda.”

In 2010, Wheeler criticized the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading scientific authority on global warming, writing in a blog post that it “has functioned more as a political body than a scientific body.”

In terms of environmental policy, Wheeler is expected to bring continuity to the controversial tenure of Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general who built his career suing the EPA and who, and as head of the agency, led an aggressive push to roll back dozens of environmental regulations. Pruitt has become known for staging prominent media events to announce his proposals and has spent taxpayer money on first class travel as well as services that his predecessors did not require, such as a 24-hour security detail.

By contrast, Wheeler, who has worked in Washington for more than 20 years, tends to eschew the limelight, his colleagues said. His career was built around quietly and incrementally advancing the interests of the fossil fuel industry, chiefly by weakening or delaying federal regulations.

Should Pruitt part ways with the EPA, it is unlikely that the Senate would confirm a successor this year, even if Trump were to nominate one quickly. “They’re not going to get anyone else through the Senate until after this election cycle,” said Christine Todd Whitman, who headed the EPA during the George W. Bush administration. “The acting administrator doesn’t have the same authority as the administrator, but they can do an awful lot.”

Nevertheless, Senate Democrats this week had sought to use Pruitt’s troubles as a political lever to further delay Wheeler’s confirmation vote, arguing that he should be subject to the same scrutiny and vetting as a Cabinet secretary.

“The problem with the Wheeler nomination is, if Pruitt goes tomorrow, Wheeler is in fact the administrator,” said Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., earlier in the week before the confirmation vote took place. “What I’m going to ask is that he go through a vetting process similar to taking over the Environmental Protection Agency. And we hope we can get some Republican support on that.”

That proposal, of course, met with no success in the current Republican-dominated Congress. Wheeler was confirmed Thursday afternoon by the Senate in a 53-45 vote.

One EPA official, along with one White House official, said that once Wheeler starts his new job, they expect the pressure to remove Pruitt to increase. Both spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss internal White House deliberations on the record. On the other hand, Pruitt clearly has received support from the White House in recent days, most significantly the president. Wheeler’s arrival as the EPA’s second-in-command could come as a welcome change to some agency staffers who have grown weary of defending their boss’ controversial decisions, according to an EPA official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“He’s a careful, studious person. A quiet fellow,” said Scott Segal, a fossil fuel lobbyist who has worked closely with Wheeler. “He knows the agency very, very well.”

Wheeler will be joining a cadre of fellow former staffers for Inhofe, including Pruitt’s current chief of staff, Ryan Jackson.

Inhofe has long been a political patron of Pruitt’s. And Pruitt is widely thought to be considering running for Inhofe’s seat, should the 83-year-old senator retire.

Pruitt’s current troubles, and his evident interest in Inhofe’s job, have irritated some of Inhofe’s allies. But the Oklahoma senator continues to stand by his protégé.

“This was bound to happen, because he’s doing his job,” Inhofe said. “They’ve been after him from the very beginning. They’re making him as miserable as they could.”

Inhofe acknowledged that, with Wheeler’s arrival, his influence is likely to grow as former staffers fill the senior ranks at an agency he has often criticized. “They’re all good people,” he said. “I trained them well.”