lobbyists running agencies. this is a problem we had with previous agencies, the clinton, bush and obama agencies, people coming in from wall street trying to regulate wall street, but it is accelerated in the trump administration. plus you have a white house that has zero interest in inforcing the environmental laws. i wouldn t refer to conservationists as activists. i think there are people who believe in conserving our environment and protecting what god created for us. and what this epa is doing, rolling back all the regulations, is pathetic. of course, it s, in large part, because we got coal running the epa. this element of wheeler being a former coal lobbyist, how does it respond to the ethics
committee the president signed his first ten days in office. richard made another falsehood that we re repealing all of obama s environmental regulations. we kept in place the smog act. we can t talk about the issues without acknowledging that in 2015 the obama administration was sued by 29 states on the air act that we re talking about and they lost the case because they didn t consider the cost of that bill as required by section 112 of the clean air act. this is why we are in this place in the first place joseph, let me get one more time here. the question i asked how does the appointment of a former coal lobbyist as a acting epa administration live up to the letter and spirit of the executive order for ethics commitment this president signed? i don t like to see lobbyists coming in and out of the door as much as richard that pointed out this was done by the obama
american cole industry and comes day after a report warning aggressive action is needed now to cut way down on greenhouse gases in the face of global warming. the man who made that announcement, the acting head of the epa made his name in washington lobbying in favor of the coal industry. let me say that again. andrew wheeler former coal lobbyist is now in charge of the government agency whose job it is to protect the environment. cnn s investigative correspondent drew griffin wanted to talk to him about the conflict of interest but getting face time with andrew wheeler is easier said than done. try to ask the acting administrator of the epa a tough question. mr. wheeler. you re more likely to get a stiff shoulder from security than a chance at even a glance of andrew wheeler. take a window question. your security guards won t be bothered by it.
rolling back rules for new coal plants. this is the same andrew wheeler that was a lobbyist for the coal industry. renee marsh is out front. we re putting them back into business. we re going to have clean coal. clean coal. reporter: keeping his campaign promise, the trump administration is trying to make it easier to build new coal power plants. we re rescinding unfair burdens on the energy providers so that new energy technologies can be part of america s future. reporter: acting epa administrator andrew wheeler was a coal lobbyist. his firm represented clients, including murray energy, which bills itself as the largest coal mining company in america. from 2009 until last year, murray energy paid his old firm nearly $3 million. wheeler was cheered on by members and supporters of the coal industry thursday, as he announced a proposal that will benefit his old industry. it s snowball.
washington, and tilt one decision after another decision after another decision. so here s how i see it right now. the trump administration is the most corrupt administration in living memory. this is the moment when people across this country see what s happening. they see donald trump himself what happens? are the saudis shoveling money into his pocket every time they take a floor at the trump hotel? we don t know. we know he didn t divest himself of his businesses. betsy devos used to invest in a lot of for-profit educational outfits. now she maintains three secret family trusts. the head of epa, right, one has to go out on a corruption scandal. the new one who comes in is a coal lobbyist. they have new rulemaking today that jerry brown says is an outrage against humanity,