11/16/2018

ENVIRONMENT/EPA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Trump on Friday [11-16-18] said he intends to nominate Andrew R. Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, to be the permanent administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The E.P.A. has been at the center of the Trump administration’s agenda to reduce the regulations on industry, and Mr. Wheeler has been instrumental in seeing through rollbacks of major environmental policies. The changes include proposals to weaken the Obama administration’s signature policies to combat climate change, including a sweeping regulation on emissions from coal-fired power plants and a rule reining in pollution from vehicle tailpipes. Mr. Trump made the announcement about Mr. Wheeler while leading a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House…In an interview at E.P.A. headquarters earlier in the day, Mr. Wheeler, who has served as acting head of the agency since Scott Pruitt resigned in July amid federal ethics inquiries, said he wanted the job.”

Lisa Friedman, “Trump Says He’ll Nominate Andrew Wheeler to Head the E.P.A.,” The New York Times online, November 16, 2018