Zeldin, a 44-year-old lawyer and former Army lieutenant, has no experience in environmental policy. He made his foray into politics through the New York State Senate in 2011, where he served until 2014. That year, he was elected U.S. Representative for the state’s 1st Congressional District, which encompasses much of Long Island.
As a congressman, Zeldin did not serve on any subcommittees overseeing environmental policy. He regularly voted against progressive climate and environmental policies, earning him a lifetime rating of only 14 percent of the League of Conservation Voters, an advocacy group that tracks congressmen’s positions on environmental legislation. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, he voted against an amendment to block the EPA from finalizing a Trump-era soot standard that would expose communities of color to additional air pollution he studies. have linked to the increase in mortality from Covid. The amendment was finally approved.
In 2021, Zeldin voted against a bill That would require public companies to disclose information about the climate risks of their business models. That bill also passed. The following year he supported a failed bill that would have terminated U.S. participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a process that fosters international coordination on climate policy and includes participation in the annual UN climate conference.
In particular, Zeldin voted for of a bill that would require the EPA to set a drinking water standard for PFAS and PFOA, so-called “forever chemicals” that accumulate in the environment and have been linked to a variety of cancers and other serious health problems. Last year, a local news station discovered that 33 of Long Island’s 48 water districts have traces of these chemicals in your drinking water.
In 2022, Zeldin ran for Governor of New York and lost to Hochul.
Zeldin’s appointment marks a departure from current EPA Administrator Michael Regan, whose term will expire when Trump takes office in January. Unlike Zeldin, Regan has a background in environmental science and before being appointed administrator served as secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and worked as an air quality specialist at the EPA. As EPA Administrator, he has overseen the Biden administration’s historic push toward environmental justice, which has included community engagement sessions, strengthening national particulate matter standards, and overhauling regulations for many chemical plants.
It remains to be seen whether and to what extent Regan’s initiatives and regulations will persist over the years of a second Trump administration. Zeldin’s nomination will have to be confirmed with a vote by the Senate, which won a Republican majority in elections earlier this month.
If confirmed, Zeldin will have considerable power to shape the national direction of climate and environmental policy. In addition to supervising compliance with current environmental laws and regulations, it will be responsible for preparing the annual budget of the EPAwhich determines how much funding will be allocated to efforts such as state oversight and air monitoring. A more fossil fuel-leaning administrator could choose to gut these parts of the agency, allowing industry-friendly state agencies, such as the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, to regulate in the dark.
Trump ran on a platform that prioritized minimizing regulatory oversight and maximizing fossil fuel production. Zeldin’s appointment would be key to achieving this.