The Next Likely EPA Chief Has Almost Completed His Former Coal Client's Wish List
Senators can ask Andrew Wheeler all about it during his confirmation hearing Wednesday.
REBECCA LEBER JANUARY 16, 2019 6:00 AM
Bob Murray is a 79-year-old coal baron who brags to news outlets that he calls many of the shots after “eight years of pure hell” under the Obama administration. Murray thinks most environmental, health, and worker safety protections are unlawful, often putting him at odds with other industry interests that appreciate some regulatory oversight.
Murray was an early supporter of President Donald Trump’s, campaigning with him, donating $300,000 to his inauguration, and another million dollars when he wanted Trump to prop up the industry. Shortly after Trump’s election, Murray submitted an action plan in two memos to the Energy Department and Vice President Mike Pence in the White House laying out almost 20 changes to existing policy. His target was primarily the Environmental Protection Agency, but also the DOE and the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration. After only one year, Murray boasted that the Trump administration had already “wiped out” the first page of his almost four-page plan.
And that was months before now-acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler arrived at the EPA. Before he took this post, Wheeler was a lobbyist for Murray Energy Company. “He worked for me for 20 years,” Murray told Politico last year. “Didn’t want to lose him. But the country has him.”
The country may have him as Scott Pruitt’s successor and the 15th administrator of the EPA should his confirmation hearings on Wednesday go as planned. He will be pressed on industry influence, the drop in enforcement, and the shadow left by Pruitt’s scandals, but Democratic protests are unlikely to keep him from the job. Meanwhile, 95 percent of the agency is furloughed thanks to Trump’s fight for a border wall, leaving important inspections undone.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/01/andrew-wheeler-bob-murray-confirmation-hearing/
-snip-
He’s also proposed removing California’s waiver for stricter fuel efficiency standards that effectively sets higher standards for the nation. He proposed a replacement last month for the 2015 Clean Water Rule that removes millions of acres of waterways from federal oversight. One of his greatest strengths is that Wheeler is more adept at operating behind the scenes than his scandal-plagued predecessor, which is what makes him a frustrating target for environmentalists asking the Senate to delay his confirmation until the government reopens.
He’ll still face questions at his hearing about the influence Murray has had at the EPA, though helping his former client is the last thing Wheeler likes to admit he is doing. He told The Columbus Dispatch just before Pruitt resigned, “Yes, I represented a coal company, but I also represented a cheese company.” One of his former clients was Sargento.
November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough.......................
= new reply since forum marked as read
