President-elect Donald Trump has named former New York Republican congressman Lee Zeldin as his choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
In a statement announcing the pick Monday, Trump 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, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.”
Zeldin represented New York’s 1st District on eastern Long Island from 2015 to 2023. He ran for governor in 2022, giving now-Gov. Kathy Hochul a run for her money before losing a close race, 53% to 47%.
The description of Zeldin in the Trump transition statement said Zeldin's "strong performance" in the gubernatorial race "helped Republicans flip multiple suburban House districts in New York, resulting in the Republican Party’s majority in the House of Representatives."
On X, Zeldin said it would be "an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator. We will restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the U.S. the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water."
In 2017, Zeldin cosponsored a pair of bills attacking the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. One bill would have repealed the RFS. The other would have stripped corn ethanol from the RFS. The lead sponsor of the both bills was then-Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. Neither measure went anywhere.
Zeldin was a member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus and the Conservative Climate Caucus, a group of GOP members.
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Zeldin, who has a lifetime 14% score from the League of Conservation Voters, in 2022 voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, which included a sweeping package of tax incentives and funding for clean energy, biofuels and farm conservation practices.
Zeldin is an attorney who served four years in the Army as a military intelligence officer, prosecutor, and military magistrate. “In 2006, he deployed to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom,” the Trump transition statement said. “Today, he continues his service as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, marking over two decades in the military.”
The EPA administrator position requires Senate confirmation, but Trump wants the option to fill positions in his administration through recess appointments that would not be subject to a full Senate vote.
Trump also has filled a key position on immigration policy. Tom Homan, a former Border Patrol agent who served as acting administrator of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the first Trump administration, will serve as border czar.
He told Fox and Friends on Monday that ICE would resume raiding work sites to carry out Trump's plan for mass deportations of illegal immigrants. "Worksite operations have to happen. Here's why. ... Where do we find most victims of sex trafficking? Enforced labor trafficking? At work sites," he said.
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