[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 27, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1510-S1512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Andrew 
Wheeler, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise to speak this afternoon about the 
nomination of Andrew Wheeler to become Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency.
  The day after Mr. Wheeler was named EPA Acting Administrator, I wrote 
him a letter. I reminded Mr. Wheeler of the opportunity he had to try a 
new course for that Agency after Scott Pruitt's scandal-plagued 
administration. Yet in the 7 months as Acting Administrator, 
unfortunately, Mr. Wheeler has so far chosen not to reverse course at 
EPA in too many important instances. In some cases, he has even 
accelerated the environmental damage and regulatory zeal that his 
predecessor began.
  I knew that Mr. Wheeler and I would not always agree on every issue, 
but like so many others, I did hope that he would moderate some of 
Scott Pruitt's most egregious and environmentally destructive policies, 
specifically on policies where industry and the environmental community 
are in broad agreement. Sadly, my hopes have not been realized.
  To be clear, Mr. Wheeler is not the ethically bereft embarrassment 
that Scott Pruitt was. Mr. Wheeler has also engaged more frequently and 
substantively than Scott Pruitt did with both Congress and EPA career 
staff, but time and again, Mr. Wheeler has proven that his 
environmental policies are almost as destructive and extreme as his 
predecessor's, despite the explicit promises Mr. Wheeler has made to 
Members of Congress, both in private and in public meetings.
  One of those promises was Mr. Wheeler's recent insistence that, when 
it comes to getting a deal on vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas 
standards with California and a coalition of 12 other States, including 
my State and the Presiding Officer's State, ``no one wants a 50-State 
deal more than I do.'' That was Mr. Wheeler's promise during his 
nomination hearing in front of the Environment and Public Works 
Committee in January.
  Just weeks later, the headlines told a different story. For months, 
Mr. Wheeler said repeatedly that he shared my goal of striking a deal--
not just my goal, but the goal of many of us here--with the State of 
California and a dozen of other States on fuel economy and greenhouse 
gas emissions standards. Not long after he became Acting Administrator, 
however, Mr. Wheeler signed off on the Trump administration's proposal 
that freezes the standards for the better part of a decade, eliminates 
most of the air conditioning, electric vehicle, and other compliance 
credits that are supported by chemical companies, automobile and parts 
manufacturers, and utilities and preempts California's authority to set 
its own stronger standards.
  What is more, the Trump administration reportedly plans to penalize 
rules that call for a 0.5-percent increase. That is a one-half of 1-
percent increase in the stringency of those standards--one-tenth the 
pace called for in the rules that are already on the books.
  Since that proposal was put forth, the entire automobile industry, 
many Members of Congress, and many other stakeholders have repeatedly 
asked the EPA to forge a compromise that avoids years of costly 
litigation and uncertainty for our automobile industry. So far, that is 
all for naught.
  Just last week, unfortunately and inexplicably, EPA announced, with 
the

[[Page S1511]]

White House and the Department of Transportation, that they decided to 
end their so-called negotiations with the State of California and, 
effectively, with 12 other States. These negotiations were superficial, 
at best, or duplicitous and designed to fail, at worst. Between you and 
me, I don't see how these discussions could have ended or failed 
because they never seriously began in the first place. It is 
outrageous.
  That brings me back to Mr. Wheeler's promise. After his emphatic 
insistence that he wanted to find a 50-State solution for these 
standards, the decision to end them without ever making a serious 
effort to ever reach a compromise sends a clear message that, sadly, 
Mr. Wheeler--at least, in this instance--is unable to keep his word. I 
say that with no joy, but I say it nonetheless.
  A second example of Mr. Wheeler's failure to lead in an appropriate 
way lies in his unreasonable opposition to submitting to the Senate for 
ratification something called a the ``Kigali Amendment'' to the 
Montreal Protocol.
  I mentioned this to one of our colleagues. He said: Talk to me in 
English.
  I reminded him that we used to use something called CFCs. It was a 
refrigerator coolant that was broadly used in this country until we 
found out it had very serious consequences for our ozone layer. 
Science, chemical companies, and chemists came up with a replacement to 
CFCs. We call them HFCs, or hydrofluorocarbons, which are better for 
the ozone. They are still destructive to the greenhouse gas and 
destructive to our planet. Well, guess what. Scientists and chemists 
have, again, come up with a follow-on product to HFCs. It is not 
scientists and chemists in companies in other countries. They are right 
here in America. They have invested in a lot of money to come up with 
this discovery, this invention. They want to sell it. That requires the 
phaseout over time of HFCs.
  We need the Kigali Amendment to be submitted to the Senate for 
ratification in order to open the door for our American companies to 
compete with a new technology that is good for jobs in America and good 
for our planet. Our country could gain 150,000 direct and indirect new 
jobs, and almost $40 billion in annual economic benefits by 2027 
because the safer substitutes to HFCs are made in Texas and Louisiana. 
These are good-paying jobs. These are green manufacturing jobs that 
could help our efforts to address climate change while bolstering our 
country's economy.
  Ratification of this treaty is supported by an extraordinary list of 
stakeholders, including more than a dozen of our Republican colleagues 
here in this Chamber. From the American Chemistry Council to the 
Chamber of Commerce, to FreedomWorks, to the Sierra Club, it seems that 
just about everyone supports ratification of this amendment, as best I 
can tell--everyone, that is, except EPA.
  Under Mr. Wheeler's leadership, EPA also decided it is no longer 
``appropriate and necessary'' to protect babies' brains from mercury 
and air toxic pollution emitted by electric utilities.
  In the eleventh hour before the government shutdown, Mr. Wheeler 
signed a proposal that guts the legal foundation of the mercury and air 
toxics standards, also known as the MATS rule. Using outdated data and 
deciding that some benefits--like reduction in cancer, birth defects, 
and asthma attacks--are no longer important for the Agency to count, 
EPA is now setting a dangerous precedent and putting the mercury and 
air toxics standards rule in legal jeopardy. In fact, EPA has gone so 
far as to request public comment on whether the standards should be 
eliminated altogether.
  Mr. Wheeler says that this action was necessary and that the proposal 
strikes a balance. That is just not true. In fact, the utility industry 
is in full compliance with these standards already, and they have done 
so at a third of the expected costs. That is why every stakeholder--
from coal-fired utilities that comply with the rules to religious 
leaders, to environmental organizations, to the Chamber of Commerce--
urged this administration not to take this step. In fact, utility 
groups and organized labor organizations wrote to EPA saying:

       The industry already has invested significant capital--
     estimated at more than $18 billion--in addition to these 
     operating costs, and states are relying on the operation of 
     these controls for their air quality plans. Therefore, we--

  This being the group that wrote to EPA, including utility groups and 
organized labor groups--

     urge EPA to . . . leave the underlying MATS rule in place and 
     effective.

  Yet Mr. Wheeler has chosen to ignore the chorus of stakeholders who 
all hoped he would chart a more responsible path--on this front, too--
even though utilities are not asking for this action that he is taking 
and the EPA is taking, and the courts are not requiring it.
  Yet, from the stakeholders, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the 
utility industry over here to all of the NGOs and environmental groups 
and health groups over here, everybody says to leave this rule alone. 
It was adopted 7 years ago, and it works. It has worked at half the 
cost or at one-third of the cost. Leave it alone. I just don't get 
this. This is just another example of when Mr. Wheeler has taken a 
recklessly and unnecessary extreme course of action at the EPA.
  Here is another one.
  In May of 2018, after meeting with a victim's mother, Scott Pruitt, 
the former EPA Administrator, announced plans to finalize the Obama 
administration's ban to prohibit consumer and commercial paint 
stripping uses for something called methylene chloride--a hazardous 
chemical that has killed dozens of unsuspecting users in this country 
alone.
  Despite explicit assurances provided to my office and others that the 
EPA would follow through with Mr. Pruitt's promise to protect both 
consumer and commercial users from methylene chloride, under Mr. 
Wheeler's leadership, the EPA sent a final rule restricting only the 
consumer uses of methylene chloride to the White House's Office of 
Management and Budget. There have been 56 accidental exposure deaths 
related to methylene chloride since 1980--56--including properly 
trained workers who have worn protective gear on the job. Yet the EPA, 
under Mr. Wheeler's leadership, has decided to exempt workers from the 
methylene chloride ban.
  A number of people have said to me they think it is unconscionable. I 
think they are right. With Mr. Wheeler at the helm, the EPA cannot even 
manage to ban a chemical that is so harmful to human health that 
stores--and this includes Walmart, Sherwin-Williams, Ace Hardware, Home 
Depot, and others--have already voluntarily taken it off their shelves.
  That is not all. Even the EPA's recently announced PFAS Action Plan, 
which was released with much fanfare 2 weeks ago, did not do much more 
than renounce the same measures announced by Scott Pruitt almost a year 
ago. PFAS is sometimes referred to as forever chemicals. The reason, my 
colleagues, is that they last forever in our environment. It took a 
public outcry to make Mr. Wheeler reverse the Agency's inexplicable 
decision not to set an enforceable drinking water standard for PFAS. At 
his hearing last month, I asked him if he would agree to set a clean 
drinking water standard in 2 years--not in 2 weeks, not in 2 months but 
in 2 years--and he could not do that.
  In short, over the past 7 months as the Acting Administrator, Mr. 
Wheeler has perpetuated and in at least one instance I have cited here 
today has worsened the preexisting inadequacies and failures Scott 
Pruitt left behind. When faced with opportunities to protect human 
health and the environment in ways that also have the support of the 
industries that would be regulated, time and again, Mr. Wheeler has 
failed to act in a way that I believe is responsible and has, instead, 
listened to some of the most extreme voices around him.
  As I have said before and will say again, I am not making some futile 
attempt at changing the hearts and minds about this nominee at the 
eleventh hour. I am not that kind of Senator and never have been, and I 
was not that kind of Governor. I am not grandstanding, trying to get 
any press attention, or the perfect sound bite. I am, however, trying 
to convince some of my colleagues to seize this window of opportunity 
we have now to ensure that Acting Administrator Wheeler reverses course 
and governs responsibly

[[Page S1512]]

at the EPA. That is what I am trying to do. That is what we are trying 
to do.
  As the President's nominee to lead this Agency, under the provisions 
of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, Mr. Wheeler can continue to lead 
the EPA as Acting Administrator until August 7 of this year. He is 
there, and he is going to be there. Rushing to judgment on this 
nomination will close the window of opportunity we have to ensure the 
Acting Administrator reverses course at the EPA and embraces the 
commonsense, bipartisan policies I just laid out--policies which make 
our environment cleaner and safer while they also create jobs and 
strengthen America's economy. I think we all want that. I think that is 
why people sent us here to negotiate those kind of win-win agreements.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in voting no on this nomination so we 
can achieve those win-win situations that are there for the taking.
  I thank the Presiding Officer.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, the Senate is today considering the 
nomination of Andrew Wheeler to serve as the Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency. It is the job of the EPA to protect 
both the environment and human health. This critically important Agency 
needs Senate-confirmed leadership in place.
  President Trump picked the right person to lead this Agency when he 
nominated Andrew Wheeler. Since April of last year, he has served as 
the Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and 
since July of last year, he has served as the Acting Administrator of 
the Agency. I believe Andrew Wheeler has done an outstanding job in 
leading the EPA over the past 7 months.
  During the last administration, the EPA issued punishing regulations 
that would hurt the economy and raise costs on families. Under Acting 
Administrator Wheeler's leadership, the EPA has taken a different 
approach. The Agency is now putting forward proposals that both protect 
our environment and allow the country's economy to flourish.
  Acting Administrator Wheeler has led efforts to issue commonsense 
regulatory proposals. These include the affordable clean energy rule 
and revising the definition of the waters of the United States. Both of 
these proposals show Mr. Wheeler is serious about clean air and clean 
water while they also show he understands there is an important role 
for States and local communities to play. It can't be a top-down, 
Washington-knows-best approach.
  Acting Administrator Wheeler has played a critical role in 
implementing updates to the Toxic Substances Control Act and has taken 
steps to limit people's exposure to dangerous and toxic chemicals. 
These updates are the result of major bipartisan legislation that came 
out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2016.
  Andrew Wheeler is working to limit lead exposure as well. Last 
December, he helped to unveil the Trump administration's multiagency 
effort to reduce the number of children exposed to lead in drinking 
water, in consumer products, and in paint. During his tenure, the EPA 
has also worked to provide greater regulatory certainty to States, to 
Tribes, to communities, and to the industries it regulates.
  Mr. Wheeler is well qualified for the position of EPA Administrator. 
He has spent decades--actually, over 25 years--working in environmental 
policy. He has served as a career employee at the EPA as an 
environmental protection specialist. This experience makes him uniquely 
qualified to serve as the head of the Agency.
  After that time, he spent over a decade here on Capitol Hill. When he 
left the EPA, he came here to work on the Environment and Public Works 
Committee. He served as the staff director of the Senate Environment 
and Public Works' Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee for 6 
years. Then he spent another 6 years working as the Republican staff 
director and chief counsel for the full committee under Chairman Jim 
Inhofe. After his time on the Hill, he also worked as a consultant for 
a variety of energy and environmental clients. He is very well 
qualified, and that is a big reason his nomination has received broad 
support.
  There are 63 agricultural and forestry groups that wrote a letter in 
support of Mr. Wheeler's nomination to be the Administrator: ``It is 
hard to imagine a more qualified individual for the role of EPA 
administrator, and we respectfully request that the committee move to 
confirm his nomination so that he may be considered by the full 
Senate,'' they say, ``at the earliest date possible.''
  Mr. Wheeler has received praise from the United Mine Workers of 
America.
  Cecil Roberts, the union's international president, said the 
following about Mr. Wheeler: ``[H]e will be a reasonable voice within 
the agency, and will recognize the impact on both the workers and 
mining communities that are directly affected as EPA develops future 
emissions regulations.''
  His experience and commitment to sound environmental policies has 
received recognition from the Democrats as well.
  Senator Carper, who is with me on the floor and was the ranking 
member of our committee at one point, said of Mr. Wheeler when he was 
nominated for the Deputy Administrator's role: ``I think having worked 
in the agency, he actually cares about the environment; the air we 
breathe; the water we drink; the planet on which we live.'' I agree.
  It is time to end the needless delays by the Senate Democrats. Andrew 
Wheeler's nomination to serve as the Deputy Administrator was delayed 
for months and had to be reported out of the EPW Committee twice before 
he was confirmed. Now the Senate Democrats are calling to delay the 
process again. These delays only slow down the Agency from meeting its 
objectives of helping communities and protecting the environment.
  The EPA needs a Senate-confirmed Administrator in office. The EPA 
Administrator plays a central role in developing and implementing 
programs that are focused on meeting the EPA's mission of protecting 
human health and the environment. Andrew Wheeler is well qualified to 
lead this Agency and to serve in the President's Cabinet. He is the 
right person to be the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
Agency, and I strongly encourage every Senator to support the 
nomination.