Zeldin sets out to shrink EPA and cut regulations
Environmental Protection Administration leader Lee Zeldin speaks last month in East Palestine, Ohio. Credit: Pool/AFP via Getty Images/Rebecca Droke
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has begun to do what President Donald Trump wanted to do in his first term but couldn’t: Shrink the Environmental Protection Agency and cut its regulations on energy and business.
In his first month on the job, Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman, has spoken less about protecting the environment in interviews and on social media than he has about his mission to "unleash energy dominance."
And in the past week, Zeldin announced he would seek to slash EPA spending by 65%, twice the 31% proposed by Trump in his first term and, according to news reports, recommended the repeal of a 2009 landmark EPA finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public health and welfare.
SARRA SOUNDS OFF: The shortage of game officials on LI On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Newsday's Gregg Sarra talks to young people who are turning to game officiating as a new career path.
