The Senate has confirmed Lee Zeldin to head the US Environmental Protection Agency EPA.
The former congressmember arrives with a mandate to pull back Biden-era regulations and boost energy production and key technology sectors.
Lee Zeldin, the former Republican congressmember who leveraged his full-throated defense of President Donald Trump into a position in his inner circle and ultimately his Cabinet, was confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday to be the 17th administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency by a 56-42 vote.
Zeldin has a mandate from Trump to carry out an aggressive deregulatory agenda aimed at boosting domestic energy production and bolstering the increasingly power-hungry data center and artificial intelligence sectors. Zeldin said at his Jan. 16 confirmation hearing:
“We must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy.”
Among the programs the Office of Management and Budget wants reviewed are EPA’s water infrastructure revolving funds, watershed cleanup programs that Zeldin strongly supported while in Congress, and Superfund and brownfields programs.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top EPW Democrat, said on the floor on Wednesday:
“I think, clearly, everybody likes clean air and clean water. My opposition to Lee Zeldin is founded on where he’s likely to be on a different issue: climate change.”
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