If scandals oust Pruitt, Andrew Wheeler is an ex-coal industry lobbyist pledged to end the ‘pure hell’ of Obama regulations

If the extraordinary barrage of ethical scandals buffeting Scott Pruitt finally dislodges him as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a reassuringly familiar figure to Republicans will take over and probably continue much of Pruitt’s controversial work to scale back environmental protections.



Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, was confirmed as the EPA’s second-in-command by the Senate in April, in the face of complaints from Democrats that he will simply act as the same sort of industry mouthpiece as his boss, Pruitt.

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Wheeler’s installation gives the Trump administration a fallback option in a similar mould to Pruitt should the president’s patience with the EPA administrator finally snap. White House aides have reportedly urged Trump to dismiss Pruitt amid a seemingly endless parade of bad publicity involving the use of taxpayer money for luxury travel and furniture, unusually close relationships with lobbyists and alleged retribution against EPA staff who questioned his behaviour.

Trump has praised Pruitt as doing a “great job” but the president could eventually turn to Wheeler as a steady, lower-profile replacement. On Monday, Trump’s spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, would only say “certainly, we have confidence in the number two” when asked if Pruitt would be ousted in favour of his deputy.

Known as a technocratic policy wonk, Wheeler was previously a lobbyist at Faegre Baker Daniels, focusing on clients such as Murray Energy, one of the US’s largest coalmining companies. He joined Robert Murray, chief executive of Murray Energy, in a series of meetings with the Trump administration to wind back regulations affecting the coal sector.

Murray, an ardent supporter of Trump who donated $300,000 to his inauguration, has said the coal industry endured eight years of “pure hell” under Barack Obama’s presidency, prompting him to draw up a three-and-a-half page “action plan” that was presented to Trump.

The document calls for numerous rollbacks that have since been enacted, such as Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accords and Pruitt’s proposed evisceration of Obama’s clean power plan. Another Murray-suggested idea to cut the EPA’s staff by “at least half” was embraced to a certain degree by the Trump administration, only to be thwarted by Congress.

Wheeler is well known in Washington DC, having spent four years at the EPA at the start of his career before shifting to Congress to work for Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who has spent recent years disagreeing with the scientific world over whether climate change exists. Inhofe once brandished a snowball on the floor of the Senate and claimed it was evidence the world was not warming.

With his detailed knowledge of environmental laws and a reputation as a bridge-builder with political opponents, Wheeler is considered a prized asset by many conservatives who are enthused by the Trump administration’s zeal in scrapping air and water pollution regulations.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People protest before the EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, testifies before a House energy and commerce subcommittee in Washington last month. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

“Pruitt and Wheeler complement each other well,” said Myron Ebell, who led Trump’s EPA transition team. “Andrew knows the agency from the inside and has the skills and background necessary to manage the agency effectively and implement the reform agenda.

“It’s unfortunate that it took so long to get Andrew nominated and confirmed by the Senate, and it will be unfortunate if Pruitt is forced out now that the team is finally in place.”

While there is nothing to indicate Wheeler would sanction improper pay raises for favoured staff or ask for sirens to be used to part traffic in order to keep a reservation at a swanky French restaurant, some Democrats and environmental groups see him as an even more dangerous foe than Pruitt.

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While the Trump administration has launched a blitzkrieg on dozens of Obama-era environmental rules, several of these rollbacks have been halted by the courts for rushing the process or simply ignoring the reams of scientific evidence that led to the rules in the first place.

Wheeler could take a more meticulous scalpel, rather than a Trumpian sledgehammer, to an EPA where staff are demoralised by the undoing of years of rule-making work and the departure of hundreds of colleagues, opponents fear.

“Pruitt does whatever his fossil fuel overlords like; Mr Wheeler’s main qualification is knowing which levers to pull to give polluters maximum benefit,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat.

“Andrew Wheeler has devoted his career to defending the interests of major polluters,” said Jeremy Symons, vice-president of political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund. “If scandal forces administrator Scott Pruitt from office, our leading environmental agency will be run by a coal lobbyist. It’s like letting tobacco lobbyists run the FDA.”