Bush tries three environment nominations again

WASHINGTON — The White House has renominated three people for top jobs affecting the environment who previously were blocked in Congress because of their pro-industry views.

If necessary, said industry lobbyists and Republican aides in Congress, Bush intends to skirt the Senate approval process by making recess appointments to put the three nominees in the posts.

All three have ties to industries that face costly Environmental Protection Agency restrictions, and all three previously have bypassed or questioned EPA's scientific process.

They are William Wehrum, who would head the air office of the EPA; Alex Beehler, to be the EPA's inspector general; and Susan Dudley, who would become White House regulations czar.

The White House believes all three nominees "are highly qualified and well versed in their areas," said spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore. She said she "would not speculate" on possible recess appointments.

Although Democrats control Congress and have placed environmental protection high on their agenda, the White House plans for the key regulatory jobs demonstrate that the administration still has plenty of tools at its command.

The president can bypass the Senate when lawmakers are on break and fill key vacancies for the duration of a congressional session.

Wehrum and Beehler were proposed for the same posts last year, but Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., blocked the nominations. Boxer now chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee.

The committee plans hearings on both men in April.

Dudley's nomination stalled in the last congressional session when the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee failed to vote on it. Liberal groups had objected to her candidacy.

Wehrum, a former lawyer for the chemical, utility and auto industries, was counsel to the EPA's air office when controversy erupted over the agency's new standard for power-plant mercury emissions. The mercury rule contained whole paragraphs lifted verbatim from a memo by Latham & Watkins, Wehrum's former law firm, which represented utility companies affected by the rule.