Rudhdi Karnik, rudhdi.karnik@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON D.C.-- Late yesterday, President Trump announced his nomination of Bill Wehrum, a lobbyist and former George W. Bush-era EPA official, to lead the EPA's air and radiation office. Wehrum was nominated for this position once before, in 2006, and rejected by the Senate.
In response, Sierra Club’s Global Climate Policy Director John Coequyt released the following statement:
"Donald Trump is putting yet another corporate polluting lobbyist into a position of power at EPA, which is already led by a climate denier who formerly sued EPA 14 times himself to fight public health protections. Bill Wehrum has been nominated to lead the air office at EPA but ironically has said that the Clean Air Act shouldn't apply to the carbon pollution that contributes to climate change and superstorms like Hurricane Harvey. Wehrum was rejected by the Senate once before for this position and like many of Trump's nominees has an astounding number of conflicts of interest given that he has regularly represented industry in their efforts to undermine clean air standards. Pollution-free clean air should be the standard for Americans everywhere but given Wehrum's track record, it's unlikely that he's going to put people before polluters. Hopefully this is an easy nomination for the Senate to rightfully reject again"