(CNN) The Environmental Protection Agency's acting administrator Andrew Wheeler has maintained the custom of his predecessor Scott Pruitt of meeting with far more industry executives and lobbyists than environmental groups.

Wheeler held or attended more than 50 meetings with representatives of companies or industry groups regulated by the EPA between April and August of last year, including a company he previously lobbied for, a CNN review of his internal schedules found. He met with three nonprofit environmental groups during that time.

The Senate confirmed Wheeler as the EPA's second-in-command in April, but he took over as the agency's acting head after Pruitt resigned in July amidst ethics controversies. President Trump has since nominated Wheeler to serve as the EPA's permanent administrator, and now he awaits the Senate's approval.

The meetings with industry representatives represent only a fraction of Wheeler's total meetings during that time. His calendar also shows a variety of talks with federal, state and local government officials, journalists and some political groups.

But Elena Saxonhouse, an attorney with the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy group that obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request, said in a statement to CNN the schedules show "just how cozy Wheeler and his deputies are with the polluters they are supposed to be protecting American families from."

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