Ex-EPA workers ask Virginia senators not to confirm Wheeler

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — More than 150 former Environmental Protection Agency employees urged the Virginia Senate on Friday to oppose the nomination of former EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to GOP Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin's cabinet.

Youngkin announced last week that he had selected Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who led the EPA during the latter years of the Trump administration, to serve as Virginia's secretary of natural resources, a similar state-level role. The announcement sparked an immediate backlash from the state's conservation community, and many Democratic state senators have publicly announced their opposition.

Ex-EPA officials who worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations detailed their concerns to the Democrat-led chamber in the sharply worded letter, which was first shared with The Associated Press.

“As EPA Administrator, Mr. Wheeler pursued an extremist approach, methodically weakening EPA’s ability to protect public health and the environment, instead favoring polluters. Mr. Wheeler also sidelined science at the agency, ignored both agency and outside experts, rolled back rules to cut greenhouse gases and protect the climate, and took steps to hamstring EPA and slow efforts to set the agency back on course after he left office," they wrote.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ex-epa-workers-ask-virginia-senators-not-to-confirm-wheeler/ar-AASMwOH