Senate confirms former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin to lead Environmental Protection Agency
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WASHINGTON — The Senate voted largely along party lines Wednesday to confirm former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, which he promised lawmakers to make more business friendly.
All 53 Republicans and three Democrats voted for Zeldin to lead the independent agency, which has a $9 billion budget and more than 15,000 employees who are charged with protecting the environment, despite his limited experience in that science-laden field.
Zeldin, of Shirley, who turns 45 Thursday, will lead an agency that President Donald Trump has ordered to streamline regulations for oil drilling. The Trump administration has ousted members of the EPA’s scientific panels while staffing the EPA with oil and business lobbyists.
At his confirmation hearing two weeks ago, Zeldin said he believes in climate change but signaled a shift in priorities from the Biden administration’s agenda, which sought to reduce reliance on oil and gas by limiting drilling and setting ambitious goals for electric vehicle use.
"We can and we must protect our precious environment without suffocating the economy," Zeldin said at his hearing. "A big part of this will require building private sector collaboration to promote common sense, smart regulation."
Before the Senate vote, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) laid out arguments for and against Zeldin’s confirmation.
"As the head of the EPA, Lee will return the agency to its original mission of protecting America's air, water, and land without, as he puts it, ‘suffocating the economy,’" Barrasso said.
"He's not going to impose one-size-fits-all mandates on American consumers and American businesses. Instead, he's going to cut red tape," Barrasso said. "Lee knows that innovation, not government intervention, is the best solution to lower prices, to grow the economy, and to protect our environment."
Whitehouse argued that Zeldin would favor the oil and gas industry, and business generally, over environmental protection.
"President Trump is completely mistaken and under the thumb of the fossil fuel industry, and against that will stand the EPA administrator who has to be truthful and factual and support and defend our environment and our safety from climate change," Whitehouse said.
"I have nothing against Lee Zeldin personally, but the likelihood of him standing against that fossil fuel bulldozer that is coming at him is essentially zero," he said. "This is very much the wrong guy."
Democrats voting for Zeldin’s confirmation included Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego. Two Democrats did not vote.
Fetterman did not explain his vote. Kelly said he voted for Zeldin in committee because he secured a promise from Zeldin to work with him on air pollution permitting and other environmental issues in Arizona.
Zeldin, a longtime Trump supporter, is an attorney and Republican who served four terms representing Long Island's 1st Congressional District before stepping down to unsuccessfully run for New York governor in 2022.
Zeldin had one of the better Republican congressional environmental voting records, according to an analysis of the League of Conservation Voters scorecard, but he still fell far behind Democrats’ support of green legislation and initiatives.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment in Farmingdale, congratulated Zeldin, who she worked with on environmental issues when he was a congressman.
"We are counting on Administrator Zeldin to remember his roots and past votes and to continue to fight climate change and stand strong against efforts to weaken protections for the air we breathe, the water we drink, and our family’s health," Esposito said in a statement.
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