Climate clash: Trump EPA pick Wheeler to face Democrats angry at rollback of environmental rules

WASHINGTON - A rollback of mercury emissions standards. A revamp of clean water regulations. A retreat from a climate change agenda.

Democrats have seethed as they helplessly watched the Trump administration undo or block a slew of Obama-era environmental proposals during the past two years.

On Wednesday, they will get a chance to grill President Donald Trump's point person on deregulation when Andrew Wheeler goes to Capitol Hill for his confirmation hearing to be the next permanent administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Wheeler, who took over as acting EPA chief after Scott Pruitt left in July under an ethics cloud, is expected to win confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate. But the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing will give Democrats a public platform to vent about a president – and an agenda – they consider dangerous to the health of citizens and the planet.

Andrew Wheeler during his confirmation hearing to be Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency before the United States Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.,  Nov, 8, 2017.
Andrew Wheeler during his confirmation hearing to be Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency before the United States Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Nov, 8, 2017.

"I'm a big one for accountability and we're going to hold Andrew Wheeler and those that work for him accountable," Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the committee, told USA TODAY. "We're going to have a lot of questions as you might imagine."

Wheeler, 54, a former EPA bureaucrat, Capitol Hill aide and energy lobbyist known for his low-key demeanor, has been the agency's acting administrator since Scott Pruitt left under an ethical cloud in July.

In his six months at the agency's helm, Wheeler has pushed for the cleanup of hundreds of toxic waste sites under the Superfund program, promoted lead cleanup, and proposed rules that would hand states more power to oversee environmental issues while weakening the federal role.

The rules seek to provide "regulatory certainty to states and industry," an EPA spokesman said.

While Trump has called global warming a "hoax," Wheeler said he believes "man has an impact on the climate" but he believes the Obama administration went too far with its Clean Power Plan to curb carbon emissions that the overwhelming majority of climate scientists say are accelerating global warming.

Wheeler has the backing of a key Republican: Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who encouraged Trump to nominate him months ago.

He "has done an outstanding job leading EPA and is well qualified to run the agency on a permanent basis," Barrasso said in a statement following the formal announcement of his nomination earlier this month.

Over the past several months, Wheeler has taken a few steps that pleased some Democrats and environmentalists.

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As soon as he took over as acting administrator, Wheeler tried to reassure EPA employees who may have felt marginalized under Pruitt that he respected their work. He reversed a Pruitt proposal to undo an Obama-era cap on the sale of heavy duty vehicles known as “glider trucks." And earlier this month, the EPA told lawmakers it will abandon efforts to roll back an Obama-era rule prohibiting anyone under 18 from handling restricted-use pesticides.

But environmental and public health advocates mainly regard Wheeler as a shrewder and less ethically scarred version of Pruitt.

On his first month on the job, Wheeler's EPA moved ahead with a proposed rule to set state guidelines for power plant emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to a warming planet, and his agency finalized revisions to a 2015 Obama-era rule regulating the disposal of coal ash that gives states and utilities what he called "much needed flexibility" to manage their waste.

He also recommended freezing mile-per-gallon standards for cars and light trucks after the 2020 model year and preventing California and other states from setting tougher standards, saying it will improve safety, keep prices lower for consumers and improve safety.

"We haven't slowed down and we haven't missed a step," Wheeler in August told the same Senate committee that will hold his confirmation hearing Wednesday. "As you can see, we're continuing the president's agenda post-haste."

But few steps have alarmed activists more than the EPA's proposal last month to roll back mercury emission standards applied to power plants by significantly devaluing the health benefits that justified the current rule. Critics, including Carper, say the move could be used to weaken a raft of other federal environmental regulations that Trump wants to eliminate.

Harold P. Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, called EPA's mercury proposal "one of its most dangerous efforts yet."

While Wheeler's confirmation appears imminent in the coming weeks, Carper says there's no guarantee.

That's because the House, now controlled by Democrats, is planning hearings on the Trump administration's environmental agenda that could unearth troubling findings which might convince enough Republicans to oppose Wheeler.

"They have the ability to subpoena. They have the power to do investigations," Carper said of the House committees. "My guess is they're going to be focused on this intently even though they're not part of the confirmation process. You never know what's going to come out of that oversight."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Climate clash: Trump EPA pick Wheeler to face Democrats angry at rollback of environmental rules