President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday that he is tapping former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.) to head the Environmental Protection Agency in his upcoming administration.
In a statement, Trump pointed to Zeldin's legal background, something that is sure to come in handy at the Environmental Protection Agency, which is poised to be ground zero for Trump's energy agenda. Trump campaigned on dismantling environmental regulations from the Biden-Harris administration that targeted gas-powered cars, manufacturing plants, and fossil fuel-fired power plants.
As such, the agency will be subject to a potential onslaught of lawsuits from climate activist groups desperate to preserve the Biden-Harris administration's agenda. The Sierra Club, for example, promised to be a "force of nature" fighting the incoming administration's agenda after Trump's victory last week.
"Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies," Trump said. "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," he continued.
Zeldin was a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus and the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus while in Congress. At the same time, Zeldin established himself as a reliable supporter of legislation curbing stringent environmental regulations and boosting domestic energy production while in Congress. The League of Conservation Voters, a left-wing environmental activist organization, gave the New York Republican a lifetime score of just 14 percent.
Zeldin—and every other congressional Republican—voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats' behemoth climate spending package that President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022. That law created massive "environmental justice" and green energy programs at the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin now has the opportunity to dismantle those programs and claw back federal funds that have not yet been disbursed.
In 2022, Zeldin won the Republican nomination for New York governor, but ultimately came up short in his bid to defeat incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D.), losing 46.8 percent to 53.2 percent in the deep-blue state. During the campaign, he vowed to reverse the state's ban on fracking, something he said cost jobs, harmed the state's energy independence, and had significant economic consequences.
"Jobs can be created, we can generate revenue, we can drive down taxes," Zeldin told reporters in July 2022, Spectrum News 1 reported at the time. "There's a huge benefit for the state to reverse that safe extraction of natural gas ban that we have."
Prior to being elected to the House, Zeldin served in the New York State Senate. He served in the United States Army between 2003 and 2007, and has since served in the Army Reserve.
Zeldin earned his law degree from Albany Law School in 2003.
He was recently named the chairman of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute's China Policy Initiative.
"It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator," Zeldin said on Monday. "We will restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water."