Pollution for everyone! Youngkin appoints former coal lobbyist to head up deregulation effort

Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed Executive Order #19 establishing the Office of Regulatory Management, which his office says will fulfill Youngkin’s commitment to reduce 25 percent of Virginia’s regulatory burdens.

Which, in turn, sounds nice, if not also vague.

And then you find out that the new office will be headed up by Andrew Wheeler, the former coal lobbyist and EPA administrator under Donald Trump, where he presided over an unprecedented rollback of lifesaving environmental safeguards.

Oh, boy. That’s where this is going.

“Last year, I pledged to Virginians that we would remove 25 percent of the regulatory requirements in the Commonwealth. In the spirit of this objective, we have created the Office of Regulatory Management, led by Andrew Wheeler, which will create much needed transparency and efficiency in Virginia’s regulatory process to ensure that we have a government that works for the citizens of the Commonwealth,” Youngkin said.

The message sent: free reign for polluters.

“In creating a dedicated office to cut regulations, and tapping a career deregulatory zealot to lead this effort, it’s clear what comes next: a Virginia where polluters benefit and our environment suffers,” said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. “In 2021, Virginia was named our nation’s ‘Top State for Business’ – an honor we’ve earned more times than any other state, and not one we would have garnered if we were a state saddled with unnecessary and burdensome regulations. This is an arbitrary executive branch office tasked with executing an arbitrary campaign promise, and while this effort may make a good Fox News headline, it has very real implications for our economy, our health, and our environment.

“We all want a Virginia where government works, our economy thrives, and Virginians enjoy a high quality of life, but in many ways, a deregulatory agenda takes us in the opposite direction. Dirtier air and water don’t make our state the best state for business, or the best state to call home,” Town said.