EPW Committee Advances Dangerous Nominations of Wheeler and Hartnett-White

WASHINGTON D.C.-- Today, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee voted to advance the nominations of Kathleen Hartnett-White for Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Andrew Wheeler for Deputy Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along party lines.

The role of Director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which Hartnett-White has been nominated for, is to advise the President on how to best protect the health of our environment and our families. While Hartnett-White served as the Chairman and Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and member of the Texas Water Development Board from 1999 to 2001, she made decisions favorable to polluters, not Texans. Hartnett-White oversaw the TCEQ practice of intentionally under-reporting levels of radiation in water and allowed at least 35 violations to go unreported, stated we don’t need limits on carbon emissions, and called carbon dioxide the “gas of life,” praised vehicle tailpipe pollution, criticized the Clean Air Act, and voted to allow construction of a new coal plant despite pollution concerns.

“Kathleen Hartnett-White has shown us time and time again that she will continue to put the wants of corporate polluters ahead of the needs of American families,” said John Coequyt, Sierra Club’s Global Climate Policy Director. “It’s preposterous that someone who oversaw the intentional under-reporting of radiation levels in water and who has gone so far as to call CO2 the ‘gas of life’ should ever lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality. If the Senate does not reject this dangerous nomination, Hartnett-White will only advise the President on how to harm Americans’ health and safety at the benefit of corporate polluters.”

Andrew Wheeler is a big time lobbyist who has represented Big Coal for almost a decade, representing clients challenging EPA rules numerous times. Since 2009, Wheeler has been defending a company that: violated labor laws and worker safety standards at its mines; sued the government to block life-saving clean air protections; has tried to mine for coal in our parks; has consistently called threats to our health, such as acid rain and climate change, hoaxes; and has labeled life-saving proposals to toughen emission standards as criminal fraud.

“The advancement of Andrew Wheeler’s nomination is a victory for polluters and special interests-- not the American families that rely on clean air and clean water,” said Coequyt. “He’s spent his career challenging the vital lifesaving environmental protections that keep our air and water clean so that we can keep our families safe. Wheeler was not only a key D.C. advocate for the coal industry, but also a former aide for outspoken climate-denying senator James Inhofe. He is a dangerous pick and unfit for the job.

“There’s absolutely no doubt about it: both Hartnett-White and Wheeler are extremely dangerous picks for public health and American families,” concluded Coequyt. “The Senate must reject these nominations.”