Former East End Congressman Lee Zeldin is confirmed as EPA administrator

The appointment of former Rep. Lee Zeldin as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was confirmed by the Senate yesterday in a largely party-line vote, 56-42.

Zeldin won support by every Republican senator and three Democrats, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Sen. Ruben Gallego and Sen. Mark Kelly, both of Arizona. Two Democratic senators, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, did not vote. 

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works on Jan. 16, Zeldin pledged to “enthusiastically uphold the EPA’s mission” and vowed to support career staff who have dedicated themselves to the agency’s mission, which Zeldin said is “to protect human health and the environment.”

“We must do everything in our power to harness the greatness of American innovation with the greatness of American conservation and environmental stewardship. We must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy,” Zeldin told the committee during his hearing.

Zeldin, 45, a Republican of Shirley, represented New York’s First Congressional District from 2015 to 2023. He did not seek re-election to a fourth term and instead ran for governor of New York in 2022. He lost to Gov. Kathy Hochul, but came within six points of the Democrat, closer than other Republicans running for governor in New York in recent history.

He is a longtime ardent supporter of President Donald Trump. In a November statement announcing Zeldin’s nomination to head the EPA, Trump said Zeldin “has been a true fighter for America First policies.”

“He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet. He will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way,” Trump said.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which conducted the confirmation hearing, expressed doubts that Zeldin would remain independent of the president. 

As EPA administrator, Zeldin will lead an agency that the president has already staffed up with appointees who have served as lawyers and lobbyists for the oil and chemical industries, The New York Times reported on Saturday. 

Among them are, according to the report: David Fotouhi, deputy administrator, a lawyer who recently challenged a ban on asbestos; Alex Dominguez, a former oil lobbyist who will work on automobile emissions; and Aaron Szabo, a lobbyist for both the oil and chemical industries who is expected to be the top air pollution regulator. Fotouhi’s appointment as deputy administrator requires Senate confirmation.

“The division of E.P.A. that evaluates the safety of new chemicals now includes Nancy Beck, a longtime chemical-industry lobbyist, and Lynn Ann Dekleva, who has been working for the American Chemistry Council, a trade group,” the Times reported.

On Jan. 21, the Trump administration withdrew a draft rule the EPA sent to the White House in June that would have reduced allowable discharges of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).  Known as “forever chemicals,” which the EPA has determined to be harmful substances linked to deadly cancers, impacts to the liver and heart, and immune and developmental damage to infants and children.

At the same time as the draft rule was withdrawn, Trump signed an executive order freezing  all new federal regulations, pending review.

While in Congress, Zeldin voted for a bill to require the EPA to set limits on toxic man-made chemicals known as PFAS in drinking water, which the EPA did under the Biden administration.

Committee member Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) questioned Zeldin about the potential for Zeldin to be influenced by the fossil fuel industry, citing thousands of dollars Zeldin was paid since leaving Congress in 2023 by public relations firms, for writing op-eds on corporate environmental, social and government practices. Merkley said he was concerned about paid influencers and asked Zeldin to disclose specific payments for specific op-eds and asked for copies of the text.

Zeldin told Merkley he had already submitted that additional information to the committee.

The PR firms that paid Zeldin for the op-eds represent clients such the American Petroleum Institute and energy companies. The public financial disclosure report required by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics for executive branch personnel does not require disclosure of the PR firms’ clients that funded Zeldin’s fees. 

Zeldin’s disclosure report said since leaving Congress, he earned $100,500 in fees paid by the PR firms for op-eds he authored that appeared in Newsday, the New York Post, Newsweek, The Washington Times, the Washington Examiner, Real Clear Policy, and FoxNews.com. Two op-eds he received fees for were not published, according to the disclosure report.

Zeldin also disclosed $124,714 in business income since January 2023 through his consulting firm, LMZ Consulting. He also earned $775,000 in salary from Zeldin Strategies, a strategy, crisis management and public relations consulting firm he founded and serves as CEO, as well as $1 million to $5 million in dividends from the firm. 

Zeldin also earned over $80,000 in honoraria and speaking fees since leaving Congress, as well as fees for the rental of a media studio he owns and rented to Fox News and Nexstar Media Group, according to his disclosure report. 

During his confirmation hearing, Zeldin said he is and will remain independent and committed to protecting the environment, which he said his record in Congress demonstrates. 

While representing the eastern Long Island congressional district, Zeldin supported many of Trump’s first-term efforts to roll back or rescind environmental regulations the president said interfered with enhancing energy production or were burdensome to industry.  These included lowering vehicle mileage standards intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, replacing the Clean Power Plan, established to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the electricity sector, with the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which provided more lenient guidelines and did not set strict emission performance rates for states. 

Zeldin was a member of the House Climate Solution Caucus, but declined to sign a letter from members of the caucus urging Trump not to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, an international accord committed to reducing carbon emissions to combat global warming.

He voted to repeal the Clean Water Rule, which protects streams that feed the aquifer.

However, Zeldin broke ranks with Trump by opposing the administration’s plan to allow offshore oil and gas exploration in nearly all U.S. territorial waters, except within a 25-nautical mile coastal buffer.  The Biden administration later implemented bans on offshore oil and gas leases, blocking drilling in most U.S. coastal waters. 

On his first day in office this month, Trump revoked the leasing bans and declared a national emergency to allow the administration to fast-track federal permits for fossil fuel infrastructure. He also rolled back restrictions on drilling for oil and gas in Alaska. 

Also on Jan. 20, Trump signed an order overturning auto emission standards.

“We can and we must protect our precious environment without suffocating the economy,” Zeldin said during the confirmation hearing.  That will require “building private sector collaboration to promote common sense, smart regulation that will allow American innovation to continue to lead the world,” Zeldin said. 

He pledged that the EPA, under his leadership, “will prioritize compliance as much as possible.” 

“I believe in the rule of law, and I want to work with people to ensure they do their part to protect our environment,” Zeldin said.