The Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections voted 9-6 Tuesday to remove Andrew Wheeler from SJ 84, a resolution to confirm Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s cabinet-level appointments.
Wheeler has been nominated by the Republican governor to serve as the Commonwealth’s next Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources.
Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, headed of the Environmental Protection Agency under Donald Trump, where he presided over an unprecedented reversal of environmental laws and regulations.
“Andrew Wheeler is unfit to lead Virginia’s environmental agencies,” said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. “Today, Senators in the Privileges and Elections Committee made the right call by removing him from consideration. We hope the Youngkin administration can find a replacement secretary who actually has a demonstrable record of caring about environmental protection, not working to undermine safeguards that protect clean air, clean water, and our health.”
Not so fast, there. It’s likely that Republicans in the Senate will figure out a way to add Wheeler’s name back to SJ 84 before a floor vote on Youngkin’s slate of Cabinet nominees.
Democrats have a 21-19 majority in the State Senate. If even one peels off to support Wheeler as part of the slate, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, a Republican, would be able to break the tie and confirm him as part of the slate.
Work still to do.
Story by Chris Graham
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