February 27, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 36 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S1533-S1534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Andrew Wheeler

  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I would associate myself with the comments 
of Senator Van Hollen, who I think hit the nail on the head when it 
comes to this overreach by the President.
  I rise in support of the growing calls for action on climate change 
that are echoing in every corner of this Nation.
  The science is overwhelming, the evidence is clear, and unless we 
take immediate action, we will lose our planet as we know it. There is 
nowhere that has more at stake than my home State of New Mexico and the 
Southwest, which are in the bullseye of global warming. Unless we act 
against greenhouse gas pollution, rising temperatures, drought, 
wildfires, deforestation, we will permanently harm our communities.
  Because I believe in climate science and because I believe we 
desperately need to act, I must strongly oppose the confirmation of 
Andrew Wheeler to lead our Nation's Environmental Protection Agency. 
Mr. Wheeler has consistently advocated for measures that would damage 
the environment, hurt public health, and do long-term injury to the 
economy, and his record on climate change and the record of his 
administration are simply disqualifying.
  Mr. Wheeler's nomination is among the worst in a long line of 
backward nominations by this President. For someone who wants to lead 
the EPA--the key word being ``protection''--Mr. Wheeler's priorities 
are upside down.
  Let's be blunt with the American people. Mr. Wheeler was not 
nominated to protect the environment and human health. He was nominated 
to unravel and undo the environmental protections that are now in 
place. He was nominated to stop any new environmental and public health 
protections from being initiated. He was nominated to go easy on those 
who violate existing environmental laws. He was nominated to stand in 
the way of climate science and climate action.

[[Page S1534]]

  So far, by these measures, he has been a great success for a 
President who mocks climate science and who denies that this 
existential threat even exists, but there is no success for the 
American people. Mr. Wheeler's nomination puts the American public at 
great risk, and we should firmly oppose making his appointment 
permanent.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Wheeler's upside-down priorities don't end at 
climate change. In addition to actively resisting climate action, Mr. 
Wheeler is not looking out for the health and well-being of my 
constituents or protecting my State's most precious resource, our 
water. There, like in so many other parts of the country, fire foam 
used by the Air Force has contaminated groundwater with toxic chemicals 
known as PFAS. These chemicals are linked to various cancers, heart 
disease, and other ailments. Groundwater in and around Cannon Air Force 
Base, near Clovis, NM, is contaminated with PFAS.
  This is dairy country. One dairy is actually being put out of 
business because the PFAS is in groundwater and it has contaminated 
this farmer's water wells. The family that owns the dairy and its hard-
working employees have drank water from these wells for years.
  Will a Wheeler EPA put us in this situation? Will they help us out of 
it? During his confirmation hearings, he refused to commit to setting a 
drinking water standard. Then, later, we find out that he had already 
decided not to set standards for these toxic chemicals in December of 
last year. Under bipartisan pressure, he has since backed down and says 
EPA will set a standard--someday. I wouldn't hold my breath. In the 
meantime, millions of Americans and the dairies in eastern New Mexico 
are being hurt.
  Furthermore, Mr. Wheeler is a committed soldier in the long-running 
assault on science that President Trump has championed. One of my 
constituents, Celerah Hewes, wrote this week asking me to vote against 
this nomination. She writes:

       I grew up in Corrales, surrounded by farmland and fresh 
     air. I remember when the Rio Grande was full of water and the 
     ditches in the bosque flowed freely.
       Climate change and drought have forever changed the land I 
     call home and my daughter will not remember a time without 
     severe fire danger and ozone pollution.

  Celerah wants me to vote no because Mr. Wheeler ``is putting our 
children's health and future at risk.''
  According to the 2018 ``Fourth National Climate Assessment,'' we have 
12 years to turn this around for Celerah, her daughter, and the world. 
Soon, the impacts will become irreversible.
  The previous EPA set rules to reduce carbon pollution from 
powerplants by 32 percent by 2030. Mr. Wheeler's new plan will allow 
increased emissions from fossil fuel plants instead.
  He is no better when it comes to even modest standards for methane 
waste from oil and gas operations. Methane is an extremely potent 
greenhouse gas, 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide over the 
initial 20-year period. EPA's prior methane rules would have cut back 
methane pollution in a cost-effective way. Those regulations are out 
the window under Mr. Wheeler and replaced with loose rules, adding 
hundreds of thousands of tons of methane, volatile organic compounds, 
and toxins into the air.
  Climate change is the most significant threat facing our planet. The 
EPA is the Agency that should be leading the charge on tackling this 
threat, but Mr. Wheeler is a former lobbyist for the coal industry. 
Like so many other nominations, the President has again put the fox in 
charge of the henhouse. This time, the consequences could be disastrous 
and irreversible for our country and our planet. If we vote to confirm 
him, there will be little, if any, hope for climate action for the next 
2 years.
  Mr. Wheeler leaves no doubt whose side he is on. His record shows 
that, under his watch, big polluters will get off scot-free.
  Companies that pollute often try to reduce their cost of business and 
increase their profits by dumping that pollution and its costs on 
society as a whole. When environmental officials fail to enforce the 
rules against polluters, bad actors get an unfair advantage. Lax 
environmental enforcement is bad for American businesses that do the 
right thing and bad for taxpayers, who get stuck with the cleanup 
bills.
  Sadly, Mr. Wheeler's EPA is the poster child for lax enforcement. In 
2018, EPA collected the smallest amount of civil penalties against 
polluters since 1994. Inspections are half of what they were in 2010. 
EPA charged the fewest criminal defendants since 1991. It saw a steep 
drop in civil judicial enforcement cases as well. The bad news goes on 
and on.
  So the best that can be said of Mr. Wheeler's record is that he is 
not Scott Pruitt. As far as we know, he has not abused taxpayer funds 
or staff for a variety of luxurious perks or rented his house from a 
lobbyist. But the bar is so low that it is in the Capitol basement.
  Indeed, I believe that the EPA under this President has reached an 
all-time low. There is hardly even any pretense that their goal is to 
safeguard the environment and public health. They are actively damaging 
our environment and actively resisting action on climate change at a 
time when young people and so many others across New Mexico and this 
country are crying out for action. We simply must do better.
  So I will vote no, and I will urge my colleagues to consider the 
consequences of this nomination for their children, grandchildren, and 
beyond, and to vote no as well.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.