Energy

Ex-Trump Official Goes To Bat For Coal Lobbyist-Turned EPA Deputy Nominee

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The former head of President Donald Trump’s transition team at the EPA called energy lobbyist Andrew Wheeler well-suited to take over as Scott Pruitt’s second-in-command.

Myron Ebell, the director of energy and environment for the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), gave a full-throated endorsement of Wheeler as the Senate debates confirming the lobbyist. Lawmakers passed 53 to 45 a procedural vote Thursday to confirm Wheeler.

“Andrew Wheeler is a great choice to be deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,” Ebell said in a statement shortly before Senate passed cloture. “He has the experience and the expertise necessary to manage the agency and to make sure that the reforms undertaken by Administrator Pruitt will be fully implemented.”

Ebell also touted Wheeler’s ability to navigate Washington, D.C.’s bureaucracy. “He is level-headed, soft-spoken, and knows how to get things done,” he said. “During his tenure on the committee, he helped the Senator defeat ruinous cap-and-trade legislation, and also pass major energy legislation with bipartisan support.”

Wheeler co-heads Faegre Baker Daniels, a law and consulting firm, and was previously registered as a lobbyist for coal-mining giant Murray Energy, but stepped down in 2017 before President Donald Trump tapped him for the EPA job. He might offer a more deft touch to regulatory rollback than Pruitt, who’s employed more of a bull-rush mentality to deconstructing Obama-era climate rules.

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