The Senate Committee on Environmental & Public Works had a 11-10 party-line vote to advance the nomination of Andrew Wheeler to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The action now clears Wheeler for a vote on the full Senate floor.

Wheeler has served as deputy administrator of EPA since April 2018, when the Senate confirmed his nomination with bipartisan support. He currently serves as acting EPA administrator following the resignation of his predecessor Scott Pruitt last summer.

Senate EPW Committee chairman John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) urged his colleagues to support Wheeler’s nomination and noted in his opening remarks that just last week, 63 agricultural and forestry groups wrote in support of Wheeler’s nomination to be the administrator.

They said, “It is hard to imagine a more qualified individual for the role of EPA administrator, and we respectfully request that the committee move to confirm his nomination so that he may be considered by the full Senate at the earliest date possible,” Barrasso told the full committee.

“Mr. Wheeler has done an outstanding job leading the Environmental Protection Agency these past six months,” Barrasso added.

After the vote, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Assn. (IRFA) sent a letter to Wheeler signed by hundreds of 2019 Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit attendees asking him to take immediate action to approve year-round E15 use and restore congressional intent to the Renewable Fuel Standard's (RFS) small refinery exemption process.

Related:INSIDE WASHINGTON: Wheeler defends RFS actions, WOTUS rule

“As this nomination process moves forward, IRFA is thankful to [Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa)] for her steadfast oversight of acting administrator Wheeler’s tenure, including impressing upon him the importance of meeting President [Donald] Trump’s June 1 deadline to approve year-round E15 and the absolute need to restore sanity to the process for small refinery exemptions to the RFS,” IRFA executive director Monte Shaw said. “While today’s vote gets Wheeler one step closer to becoming the official EPA administrator, we need to see immediate action on the E15 rule and more clarity on potential changes to the RFS exemption process before we could encourage support for his final Senate vote.”