Audubon President Reacts to Confirmation of Andrew Wheeler, “I Hope He Remembers Who He Works for…Our Children and Grandchildren.”

“This is like asking a fox to guard the hen house. An EPA Administrator’s job is to safeguard America’s health but Andrew Wheeler has spent his career trying to keep the EPA from doing that job,” said David Yarnold, President and CEO of National Audubon Society (@david_yarnold).

“Wheeler works for a president who never met a regulation he liked, and Wheeler has embraced an extremist agenda to roll back rules that keep air and water clean under the pretense they are costly. But that is a myth and a false choice advanced by industry and its fake think tanks. The truth is, a clean environment makes for a healthy economy. Just ask any business owner near the toxic algae bloom killing tourism on Florida’s Gulf Coast, or the California employers who had to pay for 3 million sick days caused by poor air quality, or the 86 million Americans who contributed $76 billion to the economy in 2016 out looking at our beautiful wildlife,” said Yarnold.

“EPA’s administrator should operate on the shared value that clean air and water are basic American rights, owed to families wherever they live, including coal country. He must also accept that rising seas and stronger storms are a consequence of a changing climate. Americans understand that the changing climate is a threat, and they want their government to do more. It is becoming more and more urgent to preserve the places that birds and people need to thrive and to protect the forests, wetlands and prairies that are our legacy. I hope that Andrew Wheeler remembers who he works for when he officially takes the helm at EPA—our children and grandchildren,” Yarnold added.  

In its scientific investigation of birds and climate change, Audubon found that more than half of all birds in the U.S and Canada are likely to lose 50 percent or more of their current ranges by 2080 unless the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming are significantly reduced. The web based version of the study, which allows for searching by state and species and viewing change over time, is available at http://climate.audubon.org/.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Wheeler to head the EPA in a 52-47 vote on February 28, 2019.

The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon’s vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.