Andrew Wheeler, who was second in charge in the EPA, will be temporarily taking over Pruitt's position, and will likely become the next EPA administrator. He is expected to become the acting administrator as of Monday. Even if his post is just temporary, and even if it takes until next year for a permanent administrator to be confirmed, it will not delay any actions of the EPA, because he will have the authority to run the EPA while a new administer is vetted.
His four years working at the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton earned him a reputation as a person capable of pursuing Trump’s agenda without hitting the legal snares that slowed down some of Pruitt’s decisions in court.
Andrew Wheeler is a climate change-denier. Environmentalists may scream that that means that he is a denier of science, but other people will scream that the scientists in charge of studying climate change repeatedly fudge and change their data to conform to what they feel the data should be, especially when it repeatedly fails to back their computer projections. That is just the absolute reverse of the definition of a scientist, which by definition uses the scientific method where, if the data disproves your hypothesis, you go with the data, and follow it, rather than changing the data to fit your preconceived views.
Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp has previously stated, “I believe he’ll be open to working on issues [] in a pragmatic and fair way."
He would also allow Pebble's permitting to be done in a fair way, using science, instead of fudged fake statements.
Another potential pick to replace Pruitt is William Wehrum, the assistant administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, who also rejects climate science and who questions the clean air mercury standards. He wants to make sure that the levels of mercury that can harm humans are actually taken into account when setting admissible levels, which is reasonable, and needs to be done.
