Lee Zeldin picked to run EPA under Donald Trump: Who is he and a look at his record on environmental issues?

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has announced that former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin will lead the Environmental Protection Agency in the new administration. Zeldin represented New York’s 1st District, encompassing East Long Island, from 2015 to 2023. In 2022, he ran for governor of New York but lost to Democrat Kathy Hochul. The former Congressman has strongly supported Donald Trump for many years and highlighted this endorsement during his gubernatorial campaign.

Although he will head the country’s leading environmental organization, his educational background is in political science and law. After college, he joined the United States Army and served from 2003 to 2007. Before heading to Washington DC, Zeldin was elected to the New York State Senate beginning in 2011. Before entering politics, he was an attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and then, a year later, he opened his law firm.

Zeldin announced as EPA Administrator

In a social media post acknowledging his nomination, Zeldin described serving in the cabinet as “an honor” and said he was ready to work with the administration on its objectives “while protecting access to clean air and water.”

Since the GOP doubts human activity’s impacts on the environment, it tends to focus its talking points on areas where there is little debate: clean air and water. The party would like to delink water and air quality from climate change, but that dance becomes complicated quickly.

In a debate with Gov. Hochul during the 2022 gubernatorial race, Zeldin said New York should “reverse the state’s ban on the safe extraction of natural gas” and that he would approve new pipeline applications if elected. He was never asked a direct question on if believed climate change was human caused.

In Congress, much of Zeldin’s work on environmental issues centered on fisheries and reforming the laws that govern the industry. He also co-sponsored a bill that would have ensured that “50% of all federal revenues from the development of oil, gas, coal, or alternative or renewable energy on federal lands and waters” be allocated towards a fund “used for priority deferred maintenance projects,” that have yet to be completed by the National Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Education. Zeldin was one of over 230 co-sponsors, most of whom were Democrats.