Senate’s Scuttling of EPA’s No. 2 Pick Unlikely to Slow Agency

Senate Republicans’ move on Friday to scuttle the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s pick to be the EPA’s second-highest ranking official, Doug Benevento, isn’t likely to have a significant impact on the agency’s day-to-day operations, legal scholars say.

Benevento currently serves as the Environmental Protection Agency’s associate deputy administrator. He was tapped to become the deputy administrator in February.

Very few—if any—duties of a Senate-confirmed deputy administrator can’t also be delegated to Benevento in his role as associate deputy, said Anne Joseph O’Connell, a law professor and political scientist at Stanford University.

Benevento’s current duties include managing the EPA’s 10 ...