Lauren Lantry, lauren.lantry@sierraclub.org
Tomorrow, coal lobbyist, Scott Pruitt deputy, and current Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler will face the Senate Environment and Public Works committee as new questions swirl about his relationships with corporate polluters and whether he can fulfill the opaque promises of transparency he’s making to the media. Yet, after just a short month in his interim role it's so far, not so good for Wheeler. Reality is failing to match the rhetoric he is peddling to EPA staff, to the Senate, to the media, and to the American public. As Acting Administrator, the training wheels are off, and Wheeler is careening into the ditches by showing he can’t balance his corporate polluter past with his new responsibilities of keeping our air and water clean and safe.
Signed, Sealed, Not Delivered: Wheeler has made several promises in his short month in office, but he already hasn’t followed through. He’s promised increased transparency,but he’s released scant calendar data. He’s promised to break from his past with Pruitt and the coal industry to protect the environment, but he’s only done so when forced to by the courts. He’s vowed not to meet with his former corporate polluter clients and then turned around and almost immediately met with several of his former clients.
Signed: Trump ethics pledge which according to the Washington Post states “a political appointee cannot meet with anyone to whom he or she has provided services during the two years before joining the federal government — except under specific circumstances.” Wheeler also told Bloomberg News on June 27 “If I lobbied on something, I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to participate.”
Sealed: Wheeler told EPA employees “Just like me, you came to EPA to help the environment”
Not delivered:
Wheeler has already met with several of his former polluting clients
On track to roll back the clean car standards - one of the single most significant clean air and climate action policies on the books.
Publicly committed himself to rolling back clean air and clean water rules
Andrew Wheeler is not here to protect our environment. He’s a coal lobbyist through and through, out to continue the dangerous precedent set by disgraced former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.