Dem says EPA’s Wheeler ‘as extreme’ as Pruitt

WASHINGTON (AP) – A top Senate Democrat is describing President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as “just as extreme” as his predecessor.

Acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler is appearing Wednesday before a Senate committee considering his nomination to head the agency.

Democratic Sen. Tom Carper told Wheeler and other senators that Wheeler’s environmental policies in six months at the agency’s acting head were “just as extreme” as those of Scott Pruitt, who resigned last July amid ethics investigations.

Carper cited rollbacks in car mileage standards and toxic mercury emissions under Wheeler as examples of unsafe deregulation, saying they went beyond what industries themselves wanted.

Wheeler was defending his record at EPA over the chants of environmental protesters who shouted, “Shut down Wheeler.”