Senate committee approves friend of fossil fuel, chemical industries to head Trump’s EPA

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted in an 11-10 party-line vote Tuesday to advance President Donald Trump’s nomination of Andrew Wheeler to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), despite a track record that shows him favoring polluting industries at the expense of the environment and public health. Wheeler’s nomination to succeed Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator will now head to the Republican-controlled Senate, where he is expected to be confirmed. The former coal industry lobbyist joined the EPA as deputy administrator in April 2018 and took over as acting administrator in July when Pruitt’s mounting scandals forced him to resign. President Donald Trump formally nominated Wheeler to serve as the full-time EPA administrator in January.