Youngkin pick Wheeler defends EPA record, criticizes media

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler defended his record Tuesday as he made an initial public appearance before Virginia legislators, who will eventually vote on whether to confirm his appointment to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Cabinet.

Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist and U.S. Senate staffer who led the EPA during the latter years of the Trump administration, told a state Senate committee he had not applied for the job of Virginia secretary of natural and historic resources. Rather, he said, Youngkin offered it to him after he took part in a team advising Youngkin's transition and briefed him on challenges facing the Chesapeake Bay.

“The governor believes that with my unique background of having run the EPA and working in a senior leadership position in the U.S. Senate that I know how to access federal funding and assistance to make a difference for the state,” Wheeler told the committee.

Earlier this month, Youngkin announced Wheeler's selection for the job that involves overseeing environmental policy as well as historic and wildlife resources. The news sparked an immediate backlash from the state's leading conservation groups, who have characterized his leadership at the EPA as overly deferential to corporate interests and accused him of downplaying the threats of climate change.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/youngkin-pick-wheeler-defends-epa-record-criticizes-media/ar-AAT8E1R