President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday that he will appoint former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin (R) to run the Environmental Protection Agency. With Zeldin at the helm, the EPA will likely drop its climate alarmist outlook, maintain meaningful environmental standards, and get out of the way of American innovation.
"Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies," Trump said in a statement. "He 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, including the cleanest air and water on the planet."
Trump noted further that Zeldin will "set new standards on environmental review and maintenance that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way."
Zeldin, who came within seven points of winning the 2022 New York gubernatorial race, noted, "It is 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."
'This administration is leaving a truly unprecedented legacy.'
As EPA administrator, Zeldin will be positioned to help execute Trump's Agenda47, which calls for the end to "all Joe Biden policies that distort energy markets, limit consumer choice, and drive up costs on consumers, including insane wind subsidies, and DoE and EPA regulations that prevent Americans from buying incandescent lightbulbs, gas stoves, quality dishwashers and shower heads, and much more."
Trump has vowed to work to ensure America has the lowest energy cost of any industrial nation, to terminate President Joe Biden's electric vehicle mandate, and to resume focusing on concrete environmental issues as opposed to the abstract threat of anthropogenic climate change.
Zeldin has a record to beat: In Trump's first term, the Republican administration axed nearly 100 regulations, primarily at the EPA, and dropped climate alarmism like a bad habit, going so far as to scrap the agency's web page on climate change — enraging climate activists and other leftists.
"This is a very aggressive attempt to rewrite our laws and reinterpret the meaning of environmental protections," Hana Vizcarra, a staff attorney at Harvard's Environmental and Energy Law Program, told the New York times after Trump's first term. "This administration is leaving a truly unprecedented legacy."
Zeldin, poised to help Trump undo another Democratic administration's handiwork, told Fox News Monday, "One of the biggest issues for so many Americans was the economy, and the president was talking about unleashing economic prosperity. Through the EPA, we have the ability to pursue energy dominance, to be able to make the United States the artificial intelligence capital of the world, to bring back American jobs to the auto industry, and so much more."
Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, the activist outfit that launched over 300 lawsuits against the first Trump administration in hopes of preventing it from executing the people's will, said in a statement Monday, "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."
Jealous and other alarmists tend to gloss over the former congressman's long-standing support for various conservation efforts.
Politico noted that Zeldin has supported geographical watershed programs, including cleanup in the Great Lakes, as well as clamping down on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as "forever chemicals." Zeldin also co-sponsored the Carbon Capture Improvement Act to advance carbon capture technology.
Myron Ebell, who led Trump's EPA transition team in 2016, told E&ENews, "I think he has all the ability and political savvy to be a great deregulator."
"I think he's capable of mastering the technical side of it, but he also will be a great advocate in public for what they’re trying to do," added Ebell.
Former Trump EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler congratulated Zeldin, suggesting, "He will do a great job tackling the regulatory overreach while protecting our air and water."
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tweeted, "Lee Zeldin is a swamp drainer! Perfect choice for EPA."
In the first 100 days, Zeldin indicated the EPA will "advance America First policies" and roll back "regulations that the left wing of this country have been advocating through regulatory power that ends up causing businesses to go in the wrong direction."
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The electric vehicle mandate may be running out of juice.
On September 20, House Democrats and Republicans joined forces to overturn a Biden administration rule setting tougher emissions standards for car manufacturers starting in 2027.
'The federal government has no authority and no right to mandate what type of car or truck Americans can purchase for their everyday lives.'
Although the rule does not explicitly impose an electric vehicle mandate, it is expected to force manufacturers to electrify their fleets in order to comply.
The joint resolution nullifying the rule passed in a 215-191 vote.
Eight Democrats — Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Texas, Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, and Mary Sattler Peltola of Alaska — broke ranks to vote for the resolution.
One Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzgerald of Pennsylvania, voted against the measure.
Ahead of the vote, the White House announced its opposition to the resolution, contending that it would prompt uncertainty in the U.S. auto market and supply chains and cede the electric vehicle and battery markets to China.
The Biden administration policy statement said: “Passage of H.J. Res. 136 would also artificially constrain consumer vehicle choice, weaken U.S. manufacturing and energy security, and harm public health.”
The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition echoed the administration’s view.
The new standards, the group said, are both “reasonable” and “widely supported across the board by everyone from vehicle manufacturers to union workers.”
The American Energy Alliance, on the other hand, celebrated the vote against these standards as a victory for consumers.
“Americans deserve the freedom of choice to make their own informed decisions about their transportation options. I commend the House on their passage of this resolution today and look forward to seeing it on the Senate calendar soon,” AEA President Thomas Pyle said in a statement.
The measure will now head to the Senate for a vote.
Democrats control the upper chamber by a razor-thin majority (51-49) thanks to several independent members who choose to caucus with the party.
One of those members, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia (I), has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s energy policies — particularly on electric vehicles. In a statement, he said:
The federal government has no authority and no right to mandate what type of car or truck Americans can purchase for their everyday lives. ... This reckless and ill-informed rule will impose what is effectively an EV mandate without ensuring the security of our supply chains from nations like China and without a realistic transition plan that addresses our domestic infrastructure needs.
Manchin is expected to be a key swing vote for Republicans in ensuring their resolution passes.
President Joe Biden, however, has promised to veto the measure if it makes it to his desk.
Nothing appears on your plate appears without agriculture. The next USDA secretary will navigate complex issues to keep the food system sustainable.
Biden's EPA is giving $4.3 billion in taxpayer-funded grants for an assortment of climate boondoggles around the country.
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