Trump selects Lee Zeldin to lead EPA

President-elect Trump has selected former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, putting a second New Yorker and loyalist into his forming Cabinet.

“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected former Congressman from New York, Lee Zeldin, will be appointed to serve as The Administrator of The United States Environmental Protective Agency (EPA),” Trump said in a statement. 

“Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies,” Trump added.

Zeldin would be expected to look to roll back regulations on the environment as part of the Trump administration, something the president signaled in his statement.

He said Zeldin 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.”

Zeldin said Monday in a post on the social platform X that it’s “an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator.” 

“We will restore US 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,” he added.

In an interview with Fox News, Zeldin said that in the first 100 days, the Trump administration would “roll back regulations that are forcing businesses to be able to struggle.”

He did not specify which regulations he would target, though he said that Trump “was rattling off 15, 20 different priorities.”

In 2014, Zeldin reportedly said about climate change, “I’m not sold yet on the whole argument that we have as serious a problem as other people are.”

However, he was a member of the Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.

Yet he’s not considered an environmentalist: Zeldin has a lifetime score of 14 percent from the League of Conservation Voters, which rates politicians based on how often they make pro-environment votes.

Zeldin, 44, served in Congress between 2015 and 2023. He was one of Trump’s chief defenders during the former president’s first impeachment in 2019. 

Zeldin did not seek reelection in 2022, instead challenging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) for her seat.

While he lost the race by about 6 percentage points, he outperformed Republicans in past elections in the solidly blue state.

He joins Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as the second New Yorker so far in Trump’s new Cabinet. Stefanik is set to become U.S. representative to the United Nations.

Both positions are subject to Senate confirmation.

In its statement announcing that he would lead the EPA, the Trump campaign said that Zeldin’s “strong performance at the top of the ticket helped Republicans flip multiple suburban House districts in New York, resulting in the Republican Party’s majority in the House of Representative.”

Last year, Zeldin launched a political action committee that aimed to support Republican candidates in their outreach to young voters, voters of color and Jewish voters, constituencies that have historically been more supportive of Democrats.

While in Congress, Zeldin served on the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees — each of which have limited influence on environment policy.

Nevertheless, the Sierra Club, an influential environmental advocacy organization, criticized his appointment because of policy and called him”unqualified.”

“Naming an unqualified, anti-American worker who opposes efforts to safeguard our clean air and water lays bare Donald Trump’s intentions to, once again, sell our health, our communities, our jobs, and our future out to corporate polluters,” said a written statement from Ben Jealous, the group’s executive director.

Updated at 5:20 p.m. EST