Trump says he’ll nominate Andrew Wheeler to head the EPA

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Friday said he intends to nominate Andrew Wheeler to be the permanent administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA has been at the center of Trump’s deregulatory agenda, and Wheeler has been instrumental in seeing through rollbacks of major environmental policies that were initiated by former President Barack Obama. The rollbacks include proposals to weaken a sweeping regulation on emissions from coal-fired power plants and to loosen rules on pollution from vehicle tailpipes.

Before joining the EPA, Wheeler represented coal and energy-industry interests as a lobbyist.

Trump made the announcement about Wheeler while leading a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House. Referring to Wheeler, he said: “Acting administrator, who I tell you is going to be made permanent, he’s done a fantastic job and I want to congratulate him.”

In an interview at EPA headquarters earlier in the day, Wheeler, who has served as acting head of the agency since his predecessor Scott Pruitt resigned in July amid federal ethics inquiries, had said he wanted the job.

“At this point, yes, I would like to be nominated to be the administrator,” Wheeler said in the Friday morning interview, before Trump’s announcement. “I think I’m making a difference. This is a transitional time for the agency. We’ve started a number of initiatives that I’d like to see through to conclusion.”