Andrew Wheeler--Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Sans used mattresses and soundproof booths. (But give it time).

https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/who-andrew-wheeler-and-why-you-should-be-afraid-him

Meanwhile, there’s another big EPA story that’s deserving of our attention but getting far less of it. Yesterday a slim majority of senators approved Andrew Wheeler to be the EPA’s deputy administrator―the person who could end up running the agency should the current administrator suddenly decide (as so, so many Washingtonians before him have decided) that he really wants to spend more time with his family.

If you’re hoping Wheeler could represent some sort of departure from Pruitt’s (literal) scorched-earth agenda, he wouldn’t. While it may be impossible to imagine anyone worse than Pruitt to lead our nation’s environmental policy, plenty of individuals could be just as bad. And as he’s shown us on numerous occasions, President Trump has a sixth sense for ferreting these people out and putting them on the executive-branch payroll.

So who is Andrew Wheeler? And what is it about his particular career trajectory that makes the White House, energy-company executives, and assorted climate deniers think he’s a perfect fit for the Trump-era EPA?

Well, for starters, his most recent job was as an energy lobbyist. His biggest clients included Murray Energy Corporation, which proudly bills itself as the largest coal mining company in America, and whose CEO, Robert E. Murray, vigorously fought the Obama administration’s attempts to reduce carbon emissions and strengthen environmental and public health laws. Shortly after Trump took office, Murray, an unabashed climate denier, presented Vice President Mike Pence with a ridiculously pro-coal “action plan” that called for doing away with the Clean Power Plan, withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, eliminating federal tax credits for renewable energy, and—yes—halving the EPA’s workforce.

In his spare time, Wheeler serves as the vice president of the Washington Coal Club, a powerful yet little-known federation of more than 300 coal producers, lawmakers, business leaders, and policy experts who have dedicated themselves to preserving the uncertain future of our dirtiest fossil fuel. Wheeler clearly loves coal, but he’s also made time to lobby the U.S. Department of the Interior to open portions of the Bears Ears National Monument to uranium mining.

It gets worse. Before joining his current K Street lobbying firm, Wheeler worked as a legislative aide to Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe. Inhofe is without question the most virulent climate denier on Capitol Hill—a man who regularly refers to the science of climate change as “the greatest hoax” ever perpetrated on the American people and who told one radio interviewer that educating schoolchildren on the basics of climate science was tantamount to “brainwashing.” When Wheeler’s nomination was announced last year, Inhofe effusively praised the decision, saying that “there is no one more qualified than Andrew to help Scott Pruitt restore EPA to its proper size and scope.” (The italics are mine; the anxiety that they denote should be everybody’s.) In that same statement, Inhofe referred to Wheeler as his “close friend”; indeed, the two are close enough that Wheeler thought it perfectly appropriate to organize a fund-raiser for Inhofe last May, an act that many believe crossed ethical lines.

[underpants]

1. Inhofe AND Murray? Good grief

[BigmanPigman]

2. He loves, loves, loves coal and hates

the environment and Climate Change. We won't get fooled again! Start shaming the new guy while out in public. If you have a baby, bring it along for a better photo op. Apparently it is an effective strategy.

[Snellius]

3. Politico - Pruitt's replacement 'should scare anyone who breathes'

Environmentalists say former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, the new acting EPA chief, is smarter and more plugged in to Washington than Scott Pruitt was.

The man taking the reins at the Environmental Protection Agency after Scott Pruitt's downfall is a longtime Washington insider and coal lobbyist who is set to pursue the same anti-regulation agenda — only without all of Pruitt’s baggage.

Andrew Wheeler, sworn in as EPA’s deputy administrator in late April after a six-month confirmation battle, has spent decades in what President Donald Trump calls “the swamp,” first as a top aide to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) at the Environment and Public Works Committee, then as an energy lobbyist for clients such as the politically active coal company Murray Energy.
...
“Wheeler is much smarter and will try to keep his efforts under the radar in implementing Trump’s destructive agenda,” said Jeremy Symons, vice president for political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund. “That should scare anyone who breathes.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/05/scott-pruitt-epa-andrew-wheeler-570641

[smirkymonkey]

4. That's the problem with these bastards.

Cut off one head, and another one - often worse - comes back in its place. We need to take back the Presidency and drain this swamp.

[Snellius]

5. Maybe that was the plan: To offer Pruitt as the sacrificial goat then bring in the lion