The nomination of Andrew Wheeler, who ran the Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald J. Trump, is in the middle of a rare confirmation battle.
The Democrats said they would try to block Mr. Wheeler from taking charge of the programs that he opposed as the E.P.A. administrator.
Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who will be sworn in on January 15, announced on Wednesday that Mr. Wheeler would be the natural resources secretary.
Democrats retain a 21-to-19 majority in the State Senate despite Republicans taking control of the House of Delegates. If every Senate Democrat voted against Mr. Wheeler, they would be able to block his confirmation.
It would be one of the few times in recent history that a governor's pick had been upended in a state where polite politics have long been the norm.
Democratic lawmakers said Mr. Wheeler had worked as a coal lobbyist and was involved in reversing federal protections against air and water pollution.
Scott A. Surovell is a Democratic state senator from Northern Virginia. I can't think of a nominee in the last 20 years that has had as much controversy as this guy has.
The vice chairman of the Senate Democratic caucus said he was unsure if there were enough votes to defeat Mr. Wheeler's nomination. He said he had been getting text messages from his colleagues who were surprised by Mr. Youngkin's choice.
If Youngkin continues to insist on his nomination, there is a chance that he could be rejected.
Mr. Wheeler did not reply to the email. A spokesman for Mr. Youngkin wouldn't comment.
Mr. Youngkin said that Virginia needs a diverse energy portfolio in place to fuel its economic growth, continued preservation of its natural resources, and a plan to tackle rising sea. My vision is for Andrew and Michael to find new ways to use our natural resources to provide Virginia with a stable, dependable, and growing power supply that will meet Virginia's power demands without passing the costs on to the consumer.
Glenn Youngkin will be sworn in as governor on January 15.
Mr. Wheeler testified against the plan to tax disposable plastic bags at the board of supervisors in Fairfax County, Va.
The legislative and political director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club said that the appointment of Wheeler was dangerous and reckless. Mr. Kish said that the group had never done anything like this before for a state-level nominee.
Card 1 of 3.
Despite opposition to his policies, Mr. Wheeler briefly was a salve at a time of great angst at the E.P.A. Mr. Wheeler worked in the Senate for over a decade and was considered a technocrat who did not seek the spotlight and focused on his bosses' agendas.
Michael Catanzaro, an energy lobbyist and partner with the consulting firm CGCN Group who worked in the Trump administration, said that he was confident that he would be a very steady hand.
Is he going to implement the policies the governor wants? Mr. Catanzaro said yes. The environmental community is not going to like that, but they should at least have some respect for Andy and his decades of experience in working on energy and environmental issues.
Mr. Youngkin wants to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Virginia's first full cycle of carbon auctions yielded about $228 million in revenue, which was designated for flood protection and clean energy programs in low-income areas.
Legal experts were unsure if Mr. Youngkin could withdraw Virginia from the initiative.
The 2020 Clean Economy Act was passed by the legislature and commits Virginia to transitioning the electric grid to 100 percent carbon-free power by the year 2050. Democratic lawmakers said they were worried that Mr. Wheeler would try to slow down or weaken implementation.
The architect of the Clean Economy Act, Senator McClellan, is worried that he will stall the bill and undermine it. She said that the law led to Virginia being ranked 5th in the nation in the growth of solar power.
Ms. McClellan said she was not sure if Mr. Wheeler could overcome her concerns.
The last time the Virginia General Assembly rejected a nomination was in 2006 when Republicans objected to the nomination of Daniel LeBlanc to be secretary of the commonwealth, according to Cale Jaffe, director of the Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law.
He said that it is rare for the General Assembly to object to a governor's cabinet picks.
