By MATTHEW DALY, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday confirmed Lee Zeldin to guide the Environmental Safety Company, a key function to assist President Donald Trump fulfill his pledge to roll again main environmental rules, together with these geared toward slowing local weather change and inspiring use of electrical autos.
The vote was 56-42 in Zeldin’s favor.
Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York, is a longtime Trump ally and served on Trump’s protection workforce throughout his first impeachment. He voted in opposition to certifying Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
Zeldin, 44, mentioned throughout his affirmation listening to that he has an ethical accountability to be steward of the surroundings and pledged to assist profession employees who’ve devoted themselves to the company’s mission to guard human well being and the surroundings.
Zeldin repeatedly declined to decide to particular insurance policies, nonetheless, promising as an alternative to not prejudge outcomes earlier than arriving at EPA. When requested by Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska whether or not he would roll again packages that promote electrical automobiles — a program Trump has repeatedly criticized — Zeldin stayed obscure however acknowledged he has heard Republican complaints.
Trump led efforts to dismantle greater than 100 environmental protections throughout his first time period and has promised to take action once more, concentrating on what he falsely labels an electrical automobile “mandate” and “green new scam” accredited by Democrats.
Trump, who has known as local weather change a hoax, has vowed to overturn former President Joe Biden’s greatest local weather accomplishments, together with tailpipe rules for autos and slashed air pollution from energy crops fired by coal and pure gasoline. Trump has already moved to oust profession employees at EPA and different companies, take away scientific advisers and shut an workplace that helps minority communities that disproportionately battle with polluted air and water.
Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island known as Zeldin the mistaken man for the job.
“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,” Whitehouse mentioned in a Senate speech.
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., President-elect Donald Trump’s decide to go the Environmental Safety Company, seems earlier than the Senate Setting and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)
Trump is “under the thumb of the fossil fuel industry,” Whitehouse mentioned, including that the EPA administrator “has to be truthful and factual and support and defend our environment and our safety from climate change.”
He has nothing in opposition to Zeldin personally, Whitehouse added, “but the likelihood of him 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.”
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., mentioned Zeldin will return the EPA to its authentic mission of defending America’s air, water and land — with out “suffocating the economy.”
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., President-elect Donald Trump’s decide to go the Environmental Safety Company, seems earlier than the Senate Setting and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)
Barrasso known as Zeldin “a lifelong public servant” and a seasoned lawyer with a pointy authorized thoughts and over 20 years of navy service.
Zeldin will proceed Trump’s “mission to roll back punishing, political regulations” on the EPA, “cut red tape” and oversee “a new wave of creativity and innovation,” Barrasso mentioned.
“For the last four years, the so-called experts at the Environmental Protection Agency went on a reckless regulatory rampage,” Barrasso mentioned, 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.”
Zeldin “will right the ship and restore balance at the EPA,” Barrasso mentioned, citing doubtless actions to repeal Biden-era guidelines on tailpipe emissions and energy crops, together with eliminating federal subsidies for electrical autos.
Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., President-elect Donald Trump’s decide to go the Environmental Safety Company, seems earlier than the Senate Setting and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)
The League of Conservation Voters, a nationwide environmental advocacy group, has panned Zeldin’s lifetime environmental document, giving him a 14% rating. Like all Republicans on the time, he voted in opposition to the 2022 Inflation Discount Act geared toward boosting renewable vitality and manufacturing and combating local weather change.
Zeldin supported a invoice to scale back dangerous eternally chemical substances, known as PFAS, that may have required the EPA to set limits on substances in ingesting water. He additionally was a number one proponent of the 2020 Nice American Outside Act, which used oil and gasoline royalties to assist the Nationwide Park Service sort out its huge upkeep backlog. He’s additionally supported native conservation efforts on Lengthy Island.
Zeldin mentioned at his Jan. 16 listening to that he desires to collaborate with the non-public sector “to promote common-sense, smart regulation that will allow American innovation to continue to lead the world.”
The EPA underneath his management “will prioritize compliance as much as possible,” Zeldin mentioned. “I believe in the rule of law and I want to work with people to ensure they do their part to protect the environment.”
