President Donald Trump has announced plans to nominate Andrew Wheeler, acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency since July, to serve as EPA head on a permanent basis, The New York Times reported Friday.
Wheeler was confirmed by the Senate in April as EPA deputy administrator but took over as interim chief after Scott Pruitt resigned from his post in July.
“Acting administrator, who I tell you is going to be made permanent, he’s done a fantastic job and I want to congratulate him,†Trump said of Wheeler at the White House during a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony.
He previously served as a special assistant at EPA’s pollution prevention and toxics office during President George H. W. Bush’s administration.
Wheeler worked at law firm Faegre Baker Daniels as a counsel and served as past chairman of the National Energy Resource Organization.
He is a former Stennis Fellow who spent six years as chief counsel and majority staff director in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
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