Senate Confirms Lee Zeldin as EPA Administrator

The U.S. Senate announced its confirmation of Lee Zeldin as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin, who served on President Trump’s legal defense team during his first impeachment, was nominated by the President to lead the EPA.

Zeldin previously served in the New York State Senate from 2011-2014 and later represented New York’s 1st Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 2015-2023. He is now in 22^nd year of military service and serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve.

During his confirmation hearing, Zeldin said that once confirmed he will “foster a collaborative culture within the agency, supporting career staff who have dedicated themselves to this mission. I strongly believe we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of our environment for generations to come.”

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we will take great strides to defend every American’s access to clean air, clean water, and clean land,” Zeldin said in an EPA press release. “We will maintain and expand the gold standard of environmental stewardship and conservation that President Trump set forth in his first administration while also prioritizing economic prosperity.”

During his eight years in Congress, Zeldin worked across party lines to preserve the Long Island Sound and Plum Island. He supported key legislation that became historic success stories like the Great American Outdoors Act and Save our Seas Act to clean up plastics from the oceans. He also led the fight for Sea Grant, combated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, voted for the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, and supported clean energy projects on Long Island.

Senators Divided Over Zeldin’s Confirmation at Hearing

Although Zeldin has led numerous projects aimed at protecting the environment, many expressed their disapproval of the EPA Administrator during his confirmation hearing.

“We need an EPA administrator who will take climate change seriously, treat the science honestly and stand up where necessary to the political pressure that will be coming from the White House, where we have a president who actually thinks (climate change) is a hoax, and from the huge fossil fuel forces that propelled him into office with enormous amounts of political money and who now think they own the place,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said in a Senate speech. “The likelihood of [Zeldin] standing against that fossil fuel bulldozer that is coming at him is essentially zero. And in that context, this is very much the wrong guy.”

Whitehouse’s opinion falls in contrast to Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming who believes that Zeldin will “restore balance at the EPA.” “For the last four years, the so-called experts at the Environmental Protection Agency went on a reckless regulatory rampage,’’ Barrasso said, referring to the Biden administration. “They saddled American families and businesses with higher costs and heavy-handed restrictions. They bowed to climate extremism and ignored common sense,” Barrasso said.

Zeldin announced during his hearing that he wants to promote smart regulations that will allow American innovation to continue. He also said that he will aim to prioritize compliance as much as possible as he believes in the rule of law and [wants] to work with people to ensure they do their part to protect the environment.”