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WASHINGTON – Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) today announced his opposition to President Bush’s nomination of William Wehrum to be Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Lieberman, a senior member of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works (EPW), expressed concerns that Wehrum’s long record of undermining the Clean Air Act as a senior official in EPA’s Air office would continue in his new job.
“With Earth Day approaching, it is critical for our government to send a clear message that we are going to do more to preserve and protect this good earth that God created for us for generations to come,” Lieberman said. “Unfortunately, President Bush’s nomination of William Wehrum to be Assistant Administrator of EPA does not send that message. In fact, it sends a troubling message that we would be regressing in our efforts to clean up our planet. As a senior EPA official, Mr. Wehrum has been a driving force behind a series of ill-conceived policies that threaten to prolong and even increase the high levels of air pollution that Americans are forced to breathe. In the hearing on his nomination, Mr. Wehrum expressed no regrets and appears eager to continue advancing an agenda that I find wrongheaded and destructive. After a lengthy review of Mr. Wehrum’s record and his vision for our environment, I have concluded he is the wrong choice for this job and will vote against his nomination, and I will urge my colleagues to do the same.”
Wehrum was deeply involved in developing the so-called “Clean Air Mercury Rule” that EPA issued on March 15, 2005. That rule rescinded the agency’s prior commitment to mandate that, within three years, coal-fired power plants control their toxic mercury air pollution to the maximum extent achievable. In addition, Wehrum has been an enthusiastic advocate of a multi-pollutant power-plant bill that fails to address carbon dioxide pollution. He has also helped to craft a recently-issued EPA interpretation of the Clean Air Act that makes it easier for companies building new coal-fired power plants to avoid using technology that sequesters carbon dioxide waste so that it can be placed into permanent storage.
Lieberman played a major role in shaping the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which established new controls for smog, acid rain and air toxics. As chairman of the Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee during the 103rd Congress, he worked hard to oversee, and ensure rigorous, implementation of the Act. Lieberman is also an original cosponsor of the Clean Power Act, which would mandate significant cuts in power plant pollution that threatens human health and the climate and is the coauthor of the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act, which would reduce climate pollution across all segments of the economy. He has been a leader in fighting Bush administration efforts to weaken the Clean Air Act and cut funding for key air quality programs. Lieberman received an award as a clean air champion from the Sierra Club in recognition of his work on the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. In 2003, Lieberman led the opposition to EPA’s attempts to ram through rule changes that would undermine the Clean Air Act. to EPA’s attempts to ram through rule changes that would undermine the Clean Air Act.
A vote on Wehrum’s nomination is scheduled to take place in the EPW Committee on April 26.
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