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JUDY WOODRUFF: Like most 
government agencies, 
the Environmental 
Protection Agency has been

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affected by the shutdown.

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Today, the acting chief of the 
EPA, Andrew Wheeler, faced a 
confirmation hearing in the

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Senate on his nomination to be 
the agency's permanent head.

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Wheeler took over the agency 
this summer, after Scott 
Pruitt resigned amid multiple

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investigations.

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Before he joined the Trump 
administration, Wheeler lobbied 
on behalf of coal industry,

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and critics say that creates 
ethical problems as well.

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As acting chief, he's delivered 
on a promise of deregulation 
that the president campaigned

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on and is strongly 
welcomed by many business 
and farming voices.

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Wheeler oversaw rollbacks 
on car fuel standards, 
mercury emissions 
standards and federal water

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rules.

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He has also downplayed the 
overwhelming scientific 
consensus on the threat 
of climate change.

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Today, Senator Bernie 
Sanders zeroed in on that.

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SEN.

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BERNIE SANDERS (I), Vermont: Do 
you agree with the scientific 
community that climate

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change is a global crisis 
that must be addressed 
in an aggressive way?

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ANDREW WHEELER, Acting EPA 
Administrator: I believe that 
climate change is a global

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issue that must be 
addressed globally.

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No one country can...

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SEN.

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BERNIE SANDERS: That 
wasn't my question, sir.

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Do you agree with the 
scientific community?

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ANDREW WHEELER: I wouldn't call 
it the greatest crisis, no, sir.

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I consider it a huge issue that 
has to be addressed globally.

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SEN.

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BERNIE SANDERS: Well, 
you are -- I found it 
interesting, Mr. Wheeler.

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You are the nominee to be 
head of the Environmental 
Protection Agency.

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You, just in your opening 
statement, didn't mention 
the word climate change.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: During Wheeler's 
hearing, the government 
shutdown came up several times.

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We talked to two reporters 
today who specialize 
in the environment who 
are focused on that

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issue.

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Coral Davenport of The New 
York Times has been covering 
how inspections of chemical

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factories and many other 
industrial sites are 
not happening right now.

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CORAL DAVENPORT, The New 
York Times: Typically, 
these inspectors, these 
EPA, engineers and

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scientists, would be going to 
places like power plants, oil 
refineries, chemical facilities,

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chemical manufacturers.

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And they would be 
looking for things like, 
are these facilities 
complying with the law?

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Are they keeping their 
emission levels in 
accordance with the law?

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Do they have any 
broken equipment?

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Do they have hazardous material 
on site that's supposed to 
be taken out and dealt with?

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Are they dumping toxic or 
hazardous chemicals into nearby 
rivers and streams, which could

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be much cheaper and easier 
way of getting rid of things?

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None of this is being 
overseen right now.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, not all of 
these potential violations are 
dangerous, but Davenport told

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us there are far more 
than the public realizes.

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CORAL DAVENPORT: I talked to 
a furloughed EPA worker who 
oversees these inspections.

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And she said that every 
inspection she has 
ever done, she finds 
some kind of violation,

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maybe not an extremely hazardous 
violation, but always some 
kind of violation, always

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something that 
could be dangerous.

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So, with the shutdown now 
going into a few weeks, this is 
hundreds and hundreds of these

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inspections around the country 
that are not happening, and 
facility owners that know that,

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for the foreseeable 
future, these inspectors 
will not be on site.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Coral Davenport 
also told us that most 
companies wouldn't seek to take

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advantage of this gap 
in inspections, but 
the risks remain real.

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CORAL DAVENPORT: More than 
90 percent of industries 
are pretty good actors.

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They don't want 
to break the law.

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They don't want to be fined.

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A lot of times, these 
violations of pollution 
rules are unintentional.

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A site might have a piece of 
equipment that's broken that 
a company might not know about

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that could be leaching hazardous 
material, hazardous waste.

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And so the inspectors I 
talk to say, this is putting 
communities absolutely at risk

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of being exposed to potentially 
toxic, hazardous chemicals or 
waste from industrial sites.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: The inspections 
are not the only concern.

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Ellen Knickmeyer of the 
Associated Press has 
been reporting on the 
stoppage of longtime

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work and cleanup at Superfund 
toxic waste sites nationwide.

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Here's some of what she told us.

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®MDNMLLEN KNICKMEYER, 
Associated Press: There 
are hundreds of sites 
around the country

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that include some of the most 
contaminated sites in the U.S.

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They could be old mines.

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They could be old factories, 
places that are contaminated 
by chemicals or radiation or

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some other threat.

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Normally, federal workers would 
be helping with the cleanup 
of Superfund sites all around

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the country.

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And that's not happening 
with the shutdown.

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The people we talked, including 
former EPA Superfund officials, 
they said if the shutdown

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was one or two weeks, it's 
not that big of a problem.

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But, as time goes on, and as the 
risk of some kind of flood or 
rain or something that causes

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problems increases, then the 
risk of something going wrong 
for the public living around the

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sites increases.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: The 
AP's Ellen Knickmeyer.

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And we will continue to 
watch all these concerns 
in the days to come.