Andrew R. Wheeler Quotes

Americans have carried the burden of our government’s heavy-handed approach to environmental regulation for far too long – with rural and disadvantaged communities bearing the brunt.

I’m very concerned about the – I want to leave EPA in a better position than in which I found it, when I eventually do leave the agency.

Here at the EPA, the agency will continue to do its best to promote the health and welfare of all Americans.

We should be bolstering American energy independence and American jobs – not making ourselves vulnerable by lining the pockets of foreign energy suppliers.

I did do my undergraduate work in biology.

Getting the older cars off the road improves public safety as well as environment.

EPA takes its Clean Air Act responsibilities seriously and is committed to providing certainty to state and industry partners. We will not use our authority to pick winners and losers in the energy marketplace.

Yes, it’s important to get all plastic out of the waste stream.

I like the outdoors.

I go hiking. I go camping.

I did not reach out to the Pruitt E.P.A. at all. I did not lobby them. That was purposeful.

I think what is effective regulation is one that follows the law and one that will be held up in court.

A cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s agenda has been to promote domestic energy production, create jobs and improve economic growth, and he has directed federal agencies to replace or repeal burdensome and outdated regulations that stand in the way of these objectives.

EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE), would restore the states’ proper role under the Clean Air Act and our system of federalism. Our plan would allow states to establish standards of performance that meet EPA emissions guidelines.

Since the first Earth Day, the EPA has regulated lead out of paint, air, and gasoline. It started fuel-economy testing (and then caught those cheating on them), phased out ozone-depleting aerosols, and removed cancer-causing pesticides from the marketplace.

The critics can’t say that our regulations are making the environment worse, and ‘Oh, it’s getting better, well then it must be somebody else who made it better.’

America is a global leader on clean air progress and carbon dioxide reductions, and we are the envy of the world when it comes to clean water.

Reliable and affordable energy is the foundation of America’s strength. Without it, our prosperity and security can fall outside our control.

When you have a thousand children that die a day from lack of drinking water, that’s a crisis and that’s a crisis that we – we collectively as the world – know how to solve that problem. We know what it takes but we haven’t had the will internationally to solve that problem.

Through our regulatory reforms, the Trump administration is proving that burdensome federal regulations are not necessary to drive environmental progress. What makes our actions effective and durable is our commitment to vigorously enforce them.

I would say that California has been focused on climate change to the detriment of the other environmental programs.

I am an Eagle Scout. I am very proud of that. When I was in college I worked summers in a Boy Scout summer camp. I was a nature conservation director.

I just wish the California officials would focus more on cleaning up the air in their state than trying to look like they’re doing something globally for climate change.

The EPA historically has been an agency where people go to work at the agency and spend their entire career, 30, 40 years at the agency.

When we go, as a first responder, when we go into a community that’s been hit with a hurricane, or some other natural disaster, the first thing we do is try to make sure the electric grid is back up and running in order to provide the drinking water for those communities.

Having started my career at EPA, having worked on the Hill for two different members who didn’t agree on every issue, and then working in the private practice, where I’ve worked on behalf of different clients – I don’t think I’m biased.

I do not consider myself to be a scientist, and I’ve always deferred to career scientists on issues of science.

There is no more important responsibility than protecting human health and the environment. It is a responsibility I take very seriously.

In fact, on the drinking water side, the Green New Deal does not value – at least nowhere in the documents does it value – having reliable electric grid.

The Clean Water Act wasn’t designed to allow states to drag out decisions for years or use their Section 401 authority to veto projects of national significance when the projects wouldn’t impact water quality.

Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, EPA has sought to undo and correct the Obama administration’s failed regulatory decisions, proving that environmental protection and economic prosperity go hand-in-hand.

When President Donald Trump took office, he immediately began a process to remove and replace undue regulatory burdens that stifle American innovation and economic development. At the top of the list was the Obama Administration’s 2015 Waters of the United States rule.

A reliable electric grid is absolutely necessary to provide drinking water. You have to have the electricity.

California cars have no closer link to California climate impacts than do cars on the road in Japan or anywhere else in the world.

Under the Clean Water Act, the federal government has jurisdiction over navigable waters – defined as the ‘waters of the United States.’ Federal regulators and the courts have broadened this definition over time, moving from waters a vessel can navigate to ponds and wetlands as well.

The fact is that the climate changes regularly.

We are importing Russian natural gas which is not produced in an environmentally conscious manner. If the states that are blocking the pipelines were truly concerned about the environment, they would look to where the natural gas would be coming from.

We’re taking climate change seriously. But it’s not the only environmental issue that we face as a planet.

By 2020, Earth Day has become much more than a youth movement.

Certainty, and the innovation that thrives in a climate of certainty, are key to progress.