Andrew Wheeler, the Environmental Protection Agency’s second-ranked official, said Wednesday he is not gunning for his boss’s job and is focused on helping embattled Administrator Scott Pruitt implement a deregulatory agenda that the duo share a passion for.
Wheeler, the deputy administrator of the EPA, is finishing up his third month in office after a difficult confirmation process.
Some of his supporters, and other observers close to the agency, have speculated that Wheeler, a career conservative Senate staffer and lawyer with EPA experience, could serve as a more disciplined, understated replacement to Pruitt should he resign or be fired as a result of his spending, travel, and ethics practices.
“While that’s flattering, I am not thinking about it, no,” Wheeler told the Washington Examiner in an interview in his spacious office at EPA headquarters.
Wheeler, laughing about news reports he has read about his aptitude for the top EPA job, said he’s content with being second-in-command.
“I am the deputy administrator,” Wheeler said. “That’s the job I wanted and that’s the job I have. I could have tried to be the administrator. I could have put my hat in the ring for the administrator. I wasn’t interested in that. I am still not interested in that. I am the deputy administrator and that is what I am focused on doing.”
He added that he and Pruitt never discuss the probes facing the administrator. Wheeler said it’s “impressive” how Pruitt has not wavered from his deregulatory agenda despite the scrutiny.
In recent weeks, Pruitt has issued proposals to block the agency from using scientific studies that do not make public the raw data used in research, and change how the EPA evaluates the cost of carbon dioxide emissions when crafting regulations.
“[Pruitt] comes in every day and is focused on the regulatory agenda, on the regulations we are working on, the policies, the guidances,” Wheeler said. “I have not seen that as a distraction to him at all. I have to say, I think it’s impressive. A lot of other people in the same situation would just be focusing all their time on those side issues. On the day to day, in my interactions with him, we’re focused on the agenda for the agency, and those issues have not come into our conversations.”
Confirmed in April, Wheeler joined EPA at an important time for the agency, which has been in turmoil over Pruitt’s spending and travel decisions that have left his future uncertain and have led to the resignations or departures of political staff close to the administrator.
Critics say Pruitt has little to show for his campaign to rewrite rules combating climate change and has failed to back his efforts with data to show why regulations he targets are unnecessary.
Supporters of the current EPA’s deregulatory agenda hoped Wheeler, a former energy lobbyist and staffer for Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, could bring more rigor and experience to that process.
Wheeler also worked from the EPA 1991 to 1995 on toxic chemical issues.
As the agency’s No. 2, Wheeler could become acting administrator if Pruitt were fired or resigned, though President Trump could choose someone else in an interim capacity.
Wheeler would have to be confirmed again by the Senate if Trump made him the permanent successor. If Trump were to choose someone else, Republicans have questioned whether the nominee could win confirmation.
Trump has steadfastly stood behind Pruitt, saying he values his deregulatory agenda, although he says he’s concerned with some of the spending and ethics allegations.
