Andrew Wheeler, Who Continued Environmental Rollbacks, Is Confirmed to Lead E.P.A. – The New York Times

“Everyone was polite, that was a welcomed change,” she said. “But there was no difference in policy.”

The White House announced last week that the E.P.A. and the Department of Transportation had ended talks with California over its clean-air waiver. The move signaled that the administration is closer to finalizing its rule to roll back tailpipe emissions standards that were put in place under President Barack Obama and will quite likely try to revoke California’s ability to set its own pollution rules.

“I have to say that I don’t find him materially different than Scott Pruitt in his policies or the mission that he has taken on,” Ms. Nichols said. “The only difference really is that he is more polished and more professional to deal with.”

On climate change, Mr. Wheeler also has taken a calibrated tone that contrasts with his policies.

Unlike Mr. Pruitt who went on television to say carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to global warming and rising global temperatures might be good for humanity, Mr. Wheeler told a Senate confirmation panel in January that “climate change is real.” He rated his level of concern about climate change, on a scale of 1 to 10, at an eight or nine.

But, two weeks later, he appointed John Christy, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, who has testified that the earth will benefit from more planet-warming emissions, to an influential E.P.A. scientific advisory board.

And asked whether he intended to work with Congress to finalize a ban on chlorpyrifos — an insecticide associated with developmental delays and cognitive impairments in children that Mr. Pruitt, acting against the advice of the E.P.A.’s own chemical safety experts, chose not to remove from use — Mr. Wheeler assured lawmakers in a written statement that the agency was “committed to fully evaluating this pesticide using the best available science.”

Yet the agency under Mr. Wheeler’s leadership had already challenged a decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordering the E.P.A. to ban the pesticide. This month, the court ruled in favor of the challenge and ordered a new hearing in the case.