Wheeler, former attorney/lobbyist for Murray Energy, now the EPA acting administrator

Yesterday Scott Pruitt resigned from the EPA, leaving his deputy administrator to fill his shoes. Starting next Monday, Andrew Wheeler will be the EPA acting administrator and he has a lot of past experience lobbying on energy issues, especially those to benefit the coal industry. He's represented companies like Xcel Energy, Celanese Corporation, and Energy Fuels Resources.

In light of Wheeler's new position in the agency, I'm updating the venn I produced last month for Murray Energy. You'll remember that Wheeler was an attorney for the company head, Robert Murray. Mr. Murray has been lobbying on his own for a bailout of coal companies, heavily pressuring the Department of Energy, but having an EPA administrator who used to be on his payroll will be a nice cap feather. Wheeler has already arranged a meeting between Murray and Energy Secretary Rick Perry to discuss, according to Bloomberg, various “regulatory actions.”

As deputy administrator of the EPA, Wheeler was recused from several deliberations involving issues he'd previously lobbied for. One might think the current administration might view someone with so much conflict of interest a poor fit for the administrator role, but Trump yesterday praised Wheeler's ability to do the job, describing him as, “a very environmental person.”