Long Islander Lee Zeldin was thrust into the national spotlight with his nomination by President Donald Trump to be administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Trump said: “I have known Lee Zeldin for a long time, and have watched him handle, brilliantly, some extremely difficult and complex situations. I am very proud to have him in the Trump Administration, where he will quickly prove to be a great contributor.”
However, Zeldin, a former member of Congress representing a district including eastern Long Island, has faced stiff criticism, beginning with his nomination, that has continued.
“Unqualified,” declared Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest environmental organization, upon the Zeldin nomination.
It “lays bare Donald Trump’s intentions to, once again, sell our health, our communities, our jobs and future out to corporate polluters,” he said. “Our lives, our livelihoods, and our collective future cannot afford Lee Zeldin — or anyone who seeks to carry out a mission antithetical to the EPA’s mission.”
The League of Conservation Voters, in a letter to members of the Senate signed by its president, Gene Karpinski, called on it to reject the nomination. Cited was the organization’s “National Environmental Scorecard which details the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation,” on which “Zeldin’s abysmal 14% lifetime score …. [renders] him unqualified for the role.”
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“Trump Picks New EPA Head Guaranteed to Destroy the Environment,” was the headline in The New Republic. The subhead on its article: “This will be a disaster.”
“Meet the ‘great deregulator’ Trump chose to lead EPA,” was the headline of the E&E website of Politico.
The headline of the New York Metropolitan Area news website Hell Gate said: “Lee Zeldin Appointed to Oversee Climate Collapse.” The subhead: “Trump choosing a Long Island lackey as EPA administrator.”
There were some hoorays for the nomination. “Congrats to Representative Zeldin on his nomination to be the 17th EPA administrator,” said Andrew Wheeler, an EPA administrator under Trump in his first term as president. Prior to that, he was a lobbyist for major coal, chemical and uranium companies.
And Elon Musk said of Zeldin’s nomination: “I know he will do a great job tackling the regulatory overreach while protecting our air and water.”
Zeldin has been a close ally of Trump. In 2021, he was among Republican members of the House who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election, which Trump said he won. Also, Zeldin was a leader in defending Trump during Trump’s first impeachment hearings.
With Zeldin in office as EPA administrator, Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club, ran an article speaking of “axing programs and funding intended to address pollution and advance clean energy.”
“At the EPA, there has been an exodus of employees, a freeze on funding disbursement — including funds already authorized by Congress — as well as a dismissal of scientific advisory boards and a removal of climate change references from the agency’s website,” it reads.
In April, Zeldin, a Shirley resident, faced 100 protesters when he came to the Crest Hollow Country Club in Westbury to speak at an event hosted by the Long Island Association.
The demonstration was organized by Food & Water Watch and the Long Island Progressive Coalition. At it, Eric Weltman, New York senior organizer at Food & Water Watch, said “New Yorkers deserve an EPA that protects our health and environment, not one that does the bidding of corporate polluters.”
In May, there was sharp criticism of Zeldin after he announced the EPA was dropping federal limits on four “forever chemicals” in drinking water. The weakening of the rules is “a betrayal of public trust,” charged Adriene Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment based in Farmingdale. It “adds a significant threat to public health,” she said.
Still, Zeldin remains supported by nearly all Republican members of Congress. At a hearing in May of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works at which he appeared, its chair, Senator Shelley Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, opened it by telling Zeldin, “I applaud your aggressive efforts to undo the previous administration’s regulatory overreach.”
But at the same hearing, Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, told Zeldin: “I want to be very specific about the legacy you’re going to leave …. more cancer.”
