Environmental Protection Agency acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler cleared a key hurdle Wednesday to be confirmed by the Senate to stay on the job.
The Senate voted 52-46 along party lines to end debate on Wheeler’s nomination to continue leading EPA without the acting title, paving the way for his confirmation with a final vote scheduled for Thursday.
Wheeler, 54, a former energy lobbyist and Senate Republican staffer, has been a faithful executor of President Trump’s deregulatory agenda since replacing former Administrator Scott Pruitt in July. He was previously approved by the Senate last year to be the second-highest ranking EPA official before he replaced Pruitt as acting administrator.
Since he replaced Pruitt, Wheeler has introduced major actions started by his predecessor to delay, weaken, or repeal various regulations on air, water, and climate change.
They include the EPA’s effort to weaken the Obama administration’s two signature climate change regulations: His strict fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, which were set to steadily rise through 2026, and the Clean Power Plan that was set to limit carbon emissions from power plants. And it includes his proposal introduced in December to shrink the Obama administration’s Waters of the United States rule, commonly referred to as WOTUS.
Wheeler has also emphasized his mission, started by Pruitt, to impose a “back to the basics” agenda at EPA, moving the agency’s focus away from climate change to basic duties such as cleaning hazardous toxic sites, and ensuring healthy drinking water.
Republicans had expressed concern about Wheeler’s commitment to part of that agenda.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., was among Republicans who considered opposing Wheeler because of uncertainty about whether the EPA will strongly regulate a class of chemicals that have contaminated water supplies across the U.S.
Earlier this month, Wheeler, responding to Republican pressure, launched a process for setting a drinking water limit for two toxic chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
That promise was sufficient for Capito and other Republicans representing states with PFAS contamination, although they encouraged Wheeler to actually follow up and impose a drinking water standard.
