As EPA chief Scott Pruitt reaches deeper and deeper into the deadly sins of vanity and avarice, the fossil fuel industry continues to make sure that it places the most compromised individuals into positions of regulatory power in our government. Right now, Andrew Wheeler—a former coal industry lobbyist—is set to become the second-ranking official, behind Scott Pruitt, at the Environmental Protection Agency. Inside Climate News reports that the Senate voted to cut off debate on Wheeler’s nomination Thursday, leaving only a vote—and two compromised Democrats.
But with two fossil fuel-state Democrats—Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia—saying they would join the GOP 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. Another Democrat facing a tough re-election battle, Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, also voted to advance Wheeler's nomination.
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 Donald Trump's most avid campaign supporters in the fossil fuel industry, has undue influence with the administration; Trump's team already has checked off a number of the items on a deregulatory "action plan" Murray submitted to the White House soon after Trump's inauguration.
Wheeler has told Democrats he didn’t write the insane “action plan,” even though he was photographed in the same room where the world watched Rick Perry hug Murray Energy CEO Bob Murray’s head, like a goon. Probably the biggest strike against the idea that Wheeler may be a decent human being is his close and long relationship with Oklahoma Republican science denier, Sen. James Inhofe.
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.
To put James Inhofe into perspective, the least offensive thing he’s done in relation to science was bring a snowball into the House in failed attempt to disprove climate change. Writing “swamp” and “conflict of interest” in regards to our current government should be an automated browser extension at this point.