why? perhaps because the question we want to ask wheeler is just how is it possible one of the biggest lobbyists for the nation s biggest coal companies is now leading the environmental protection agency. andrew wheeler was in bed with the coal companies he was in bed with them last year. and now he s in a role where he s regulating them. it makes no sense. reporter: by his own resume, president trump couldn t have found a swampier person to run the epa than wheeler. look at this photo. it s a meeting between energy secretary rick perry who appears to be getting an ear full from bob murray, the ceo of the largest coal mining company in the u.s., who else is in the room? murray energy corporations top lobbyists andrew wheeler. from 2009 until last year, murray energy paid nearly $3 million to wheeler s lobbying
climate change denier on capitol hill. it s a snowball. reporter: oklahoma senator james inhofe. the past hour and a half or so, i ve offered compelling evidence that catastrophic global warming is a hoax. reporter: inhofe is a staunch opponent of environmental regulations. and when in charge of the senate s environment and public works committee, he held hearings challenging climate warming science. at his side, whispering in his ear, helping to direct questioning, lining up witnesses, was wheeler. capitol hill sources with intimate knowledge of his involvement tell cnn wheeler was the top man in charge and a driving force behind his boss climate change denying agenda. five former inhofe staffers now work beside wheeler at epa, including his chief of staff, his principal deputy assistant administrator, his assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance, a senior adviser for policy, and an associate
administrator for policy. all former staffers of the senator who believes climate change is a hoax. the epa is stocked with former inhofe staffers, and this is reflected in the types of policies that you see coming out of epa right now. so, do you think the goal is to just destroy epa flat out? i think that the goal is to undermine climate protections to roll back existing rules and to erode fundamental environmental laws. mr. wheeler in. reporter: what is wheeler s response? just one question? reporter: we re waiting. drew, that means we still do not really have an answer as to why it s okay for a coal industry lobbyist to now run an agency that regulates the coal industry. reporter: certainly not from wheeler himself. he s not answering our questions. but we did hear back from his staff at epa. they wanted to point out a couple of, i would call them finer points, anderson. number one while wheeler was
reporter: elizabeth gore, senior vice president at the environmental defense fund and a senate staffer while wheeler was there says she doesn t believe it. he s a science skeptic. he was calling people who were studying this climate alarmists, shrugging off the risks of carb pollution, calling climate change a hoax. reporter: wheeler before lobbying for big coal spent 14 years as a top aide to the top climate change denier on capitol hill. it s a snowball. reporter: oklahoma senator james inhofe. the past hour and a half or so, i ve offered compelling evidence that catastrophic global warming is a hoax. reporter: inhofe is a staunch opponent of environmental regulations. and when in charge of the senate s environment and public works committee, he held hearings challenging climate warming science. at his side, whispering in his ear, helping to direct questioning, lining up witnesses, was wheeler. capitol hill sources with intimate knowledge of his
actions on the environment, like columbia university s michael gerard, wheeler is a worst-case scenario. wheeler is carrying out the wish list of the industry lobbyists who have wanted to shut down environmental regulations, as he himself was a lobbyist with exactly that objective, but now he s in the driver s seat. reporter: that industry wish list, turns out, is real. shortly after donald trump took office, murray energy, the coal company, delivered an action plan, a recommended agenda of rolling back regulations to get the government off the coal industry s back. you have promised to put america first, and reporter: trump s scandal-ridden initial epa administrator scott pruitt got the ball rolling before he was fired. but it is wheeler, barely five months at the helm of the epa who has done this rollbacks on coal plant emissions, rollbacks on car emissions, proposed rollbacks on methane emissions in oil and gas