The beleaguered head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, has finally lost the president’s confidence and officially resigned today.
Pruitt is currently the subject of nearly two dozen investigations by Congress and federal agencies raising questions about his conduct, spending, management style and especially his perverted version of the meaning of ethics.
Trump tweeted the news, praising Pruitt for doing an “outstanding job,” which has included dismantling many of the environmental protections passed over several decades.
Trump announced that Pruitt would be replaced by Andrew Wheeler, currently a deputy at the EPA. Like Pruitt, Wheeler supports the continued use of fossil fuels, especially coal, and does not support limits on greenhouse gases, which most scientists say cause global warming.
…on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA. I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2018
Sending Pruitt packing back to Oklahoma may relieve a lot of the controversy that has surrounded him for everything from excessive expenditures on security to using his government position to try and get his wife a job.
However, the appointment of Wheeler, a lawyer likely to take a lower profile, is not likely to change Trump’s anti-environmental, anti-renewable energy and pro-business agenda.
The new acting EPA chief's career was built around quietly advancing the interests of the fossil-fuel industry by weakening or delaying federal regulations https://t.co/Et9KZl8fPK
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) July 5, 2018
So the witch is dead but there is a new witch in town.