“Wheeler’s claim that climate change ranks high on the list of what keeps him awake at night could only be true if he’s referring to his tireless efforts to come up with new ways to make the crisis demonstrably worse.”
Andrew Wheeler is the current acting EPA Administrator. Wheeler is also the current Vice President of the Washington Coal Club and a former coal lobbyist for Murray Energy. We’ve got a real fox in the henhouse situation here, folks. Scott Priutt was bad, but at least he was sloppy enough to misappropriate funds for personal trips and expenses. Wheeler started his career in policy work with the EPA and won three organizational bronze medals between 1993 and 1994.
This dude learned the system and then went on to try and game it as legal staff for two senators for the next decade or so before coal lobbying. He holds a law degree and an undergraduate major in biology so he’s smart enough to reason the Truth of global warming. The only personal motivation this guy might have to continue to vehemently deny the effects of climate change is money. Cold hard cash is the main difference between policy work for environmental interests versus big oil and coal. And you can bet your bottom dollar that he’s getting kickbacks under the table or will leverage his position for the benefit of his investments or something shady.
Wheeler made headlines in March after an interview with CBS, in which he denied the imminence of climate change on modern life, claiming no big effect until 50 or even 75 years out. This statement directly opposed a 1,500 page climate assessment from the EPA itself, published in late April, that concludes that the effects of global warming are being felt now. The Sierra Club did not skip a beat, publishing another press briefing and filing an official, legally-binding request for documentation from the EPA regarding empirical support for Andrew Wheeler’s estimations.
I saw an artist draw a wolf beneath the skin of a lamb this past week on the west sidewalk of Broadway between 110th and 111th. I’m reminded of Andrew Wheeler every time I walk by.
https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2019/01/sierra-club-statement-wheeler-nothing-more-scott-pruitt-new-coat-lead-paint
https://web.archive.org/web/20171105173211/https://www.faegrebd.com/andrew-wheeler
https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2019/04/sierra-club-demands-basis-for-wheeler-s-claim-most-climate-consequences-are
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/22/politics/sierra-club-climate-change-scn/index.html