President-elect Trump’s pick for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, Lee Zeldin, appears poised to be able to carry out the significant level of climate and environmental deregulation Trump has indicated he plans to pursue after a Thursday hearing moved him toward his likely confirmation.
During the confirmation hearing, Zeldin declined to say whether he believed the EPA had a responsibility to regulate climate change under the law.
“It was not a decision of the Supreme Court that if there was a fire in 2025 in California, that if that fire creates a danger to people … then that triggers the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide. There’s just more to that,” Zeldin said.
“It’s pretty simple, it says the EPA is supposed to be the environmental watchdog, and not a fossil fuel lapdog,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) responded.
The tense exchange was about the 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the agency needs to determine whether planet-warming emissions endanger public health, and therefore, whether they need to be regulated.
In 2009, the EPA determined that greenhouse gases endanger the public and therefore did require regulation.
It’s not clear whether Zeldin would seek to revisit that 2009 determination. Asked about the endangerment finding after the hearing, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said “it’s really too early to say” whether it will be revisited.
Zeldin’s comments are not expected to derail his confirmation chances, as four Republicans would need to flip to oppose him.
He was a surprise pick for the EPA administrator role because during his congressional tenure, he was more well known for working on international affairs.
But he has been a major defender of Trump, including during the former president’s first impeachment in 2019.
He is expected to continue defending Trump and carry out the president’s policies — including reducing climate regulations and environmental protections — should he be confirmed.
“I fully expect that your confirmation will be very positive,” Capito said at the end of the hearing. She told reporters she expects to move the nomination forward “as quickly as possible.”
Trump has repeatedly stated that he hopes to reduce climate and other environment-related regulations, including those related to climate-warming emissions from power plants and cars.
During the hearing, Zeldin himself said that climate change is real, but also defended Trump’s past comments calling climate change a “hoax.”
“I believe that climate change is real,” he said, but he added, “as far as President Trump goes, the context that I have heard him speak about it was with a criticism of policies that have been enacted because of climate change.”
“I think that he’s concerned about the economic cost of some policies,” Zeldin added.
“I would respectfully disagree with you,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) replied. “I think he has called it a hoax time and time and time again.”
Trump has repeatedly and incorrectly downplayed the effects of climate change.
During the hearing, Zeldin also said “no one has expressed to me in any setting … of any plans” to move the EPA’s headquarters.
The New York Times reported members of the Trump transition were discussing moving the headquarters out of Washington, D.C. The prior Trump administration moved the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado.
Members of both sides of the aisle also asked Zeldin about toxic “forever chemicals.”
These chemicals have been used in a wide range of products, from nonstick pans to military firefighting foams, and have become widespread in U.S. waterways. They have been linked to a number of health conditions, including several types of cancer.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) asked him about liability questions posed by the EPA’s recent designation of two types of these substances as hazardous. Zeldin did not state a firm position on the issue.
