Senate Committee Blocks Confirmation of Trump EPA Chief to Serve as Youngkin’s Secretary of Natural Resources; Republicans Planning Consequences

The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee blocked Governor Glenn Youngkin’s nominee for Secretary of Natural Resources, former Trump EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. On Tuesday afternoon, State Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) moved to remove Wheeler’s name from a Senate resolution to confirm the nominees.

“We received a letter from 150 former EPA employees, who suggested that Mr. Wheeler had undermined the work of the EPA and worked against the environmental interests in this country. We think that members of the governor’s cabinet ought to be able to unite us as Virginians, and certainly the secretary of natural resources ought to be one that we have confidence in, in terms of working for the preservation and conservation of our natural resources,” Deeds said.

State Senator Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) replied, “When he served as the administration’s EPA principal, all the things that he’s done, you get $225 million of funding for water reuse projects, protect the Bay, provided $200 million for wastewater infrastructure to keep runoff and sewage from reaching the Bay, provided funding and principal agencies to address agricultural runoff. In 2020, the Bay obtained the lowest anoxic dead zone in 30 years. Under sea water grasses have increased from 34,000 to 100,000 acres. Air emissions decreased seven percent during the last administration, these reductions were pre-COVID through 2019.”

The last time a cabinet nominee was blocked was 2006. Republicans … (Excerpts from the Virginia Star)