President-elect Donald Trump tapped New York Republican Lee Zeldin Monday to be his new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, further signaling his intention to oppose government action to address climate change.
Zeldin, who served as a United States Representative from 2015 to 2023 and ran against Gov. Kathy Hochul in the 2022 New York gubernatorial election, is being touted by Trump for policies that will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses.” Trump also promises that Zeldin will protect the environment.
“We will restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the U.S. the global leader of AI,” Zeldin said in his statement accepting the job, later adding he will also protect "access to clean air and water."
Zeldin has a 14 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters, with the organization finding he opposed 51 out of 53 climate change bills on which he voted from 2015 to 2023. Because Zeldin represented a Long Island district, he has supported conservation measures that focus on Long Island coastlines. At the same time, he opposed clean water legislation at least 12 times and clean air legislation at least six times.
Prior to the selection of Zeldin, scientists analyzing Trump’s rhetoric, policy proposals and record expressed alarm at the prospect of his returning to power.
“As I stated before the election, a second Trump term, which includes implementation of Project 2025, is the end of climate action as we know it, this decade,” University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Dr. Michael E. Mann told Salon at the time, alluding to Trump’s policy guide that includes a goal of gutting the EPA. “And if Trump dismantles our democracy, as many fear will be the case, and the world’s greatest power, the U.S., becomes — in essence — a petrostate, it’s game over for climate action full stop for the foreseeable future, unless the rest of the world unites and takes bold action, including potentially the most punitive possible sanctions against the United States.”
