Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency promised Thursday to work with farm-state senators on renewable fuels and clean water issues if confirmed as administrator. But he also faced skepticism from Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee that he would be able to adequately address the growing threat of climate change in the face of opposition from the oil and gas industries.
Zeldin committed repeatedly to follow his and EPA’s “obligations under the law” but also said he would not “prejudge any outcomes of any future processes .. on any issue that any member can bring up here.” That included, as he specified in his testimony, the muddy “waters of the U.S.” issue or EPA’s tailpipe emissions regulations.
At the start and the end of the three-hour-plus hearing, new EPW Chair Shelley Moore Capito said Zeldin was the right man for the position.
Zeldin’s “track record” representing a district on Long Island in the House of Representatives from 2015-2023 “exemplifies his ability to lead with compassion, decisiveness and a clear focus on results,” she said. “He has already shown his dedication to the values that the EPA upholds, and I'm confident will continue to champion these priorities on a national scale.”
“I think you did a magnificent job here,” she told him at the hearing’s end.
Some members of the committee flagged several biofuel issues they want Zeldin to address if confirmed as EPA administrator.
In Congress, Zeldin opposed ethanol usage mandates, cosponsoring bills to repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard and to strip corn ethanol from the RFS.
Ahead of the hearing, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said Zeldin appeared open to changing his perspective on the issue, and in response to a question from Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., he committed to giving businesses the market certainty they need by following RFS deadlines to set Renewable Volume Obligations.
Ricketts criticized the Biden administration for setting RVOs below industry production levels and not meeting the law’s deadlines. Over the summer, the EPA said it likely would not finalize the RVOs for 2026 until the end of this year, far beyond the now-expired Nov. 1, 2024, deadline.
The Nebraska lawmaker also pressed Zeldin on year-round E15, citing failed congressional efforts.
Zeldin said he couldn’t pre-judge the “processes across the board,” but acknowledged the issue is important to Trump and other senators.
“As far as establishing certainty, hopefully this is something that Congress is able to resolve," Zeldin said. "To the extent you are relying on the EPA to establish that certainty, I look forward to being able to do my part and I want to continue to work with you to achieve the outcomes we have discussed."
Moran also discussed bringing the agriculture and aviation sectors together through production of sustainable aviation fuel, but said they need EPA’s help in developing technology and regulations.
On the thorny issue of the meaning of “waters of the U.S.” under the Clean Water Act, which Sen. Kevin Cramer noted has produced “litigation ping pong for a long time,” Zeldin said EPA would comply with the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision limiting the federal government’s jurisdiction over wetlands.
The decision, he said, “was clear and prescriptive” and he promised that EPA would honor it.
Due to ongoing litigation over the Biden administration’s latest attempt at a WOTUS rule in January 2023, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are implementing the definition of WOTUS in accordance with the Biden rule in 24 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Territories.
“In the other 26 states, the agencies are interpreting “waters of the United States” consistent with the pre-2015 regulatory regime and the Sackett decision until further notice,” EPA says on its website.
Cramer suggested EPA engage in further rulemaking, but Zeldin said he could not “prejudge outcomes going in. It's important that corners aren't cut where durability is sacrificed.”
“Laws are written by Congress, and there are cases that have come out from the Supreme Court that provide the EPA with clear guidance on how we must do our job under the law,” he said, apparently referring to last year’s Loper Bright decision, which overturned the Chevron doctrine. That legal doctrine said courts should defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of laws when Congress’s purpose wasn’t clear, so long as the agencies’ interpretations were reasonable.
Zeldin continued, “It is important that when you're going back to your home state and you're speaking to your farmers, that you are able to, with confidence, be able to explain to them that the federal government is doing our part so they can define what waters of the U.S. are without them having to go hire an attorney or someone else pay a lot of money to ensure compliance.”
Zeldin gave a similar answer to Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., telling him “it's incredibly important for the EPA to provide clean to clear and durable guidance as it relates to waters of the U.S.”
The nominee also faced pointed questions from members including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and EPW Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., on climate change.
Asked by Sanders whether he agreed with President-elect Donald Trump’s characterization of climate change as a “hoax,” Zeldin first said “I believe that climate change is real” but then tried to explain that Trump was using the word in the context of criticizing policies that have been enacted to address climate change.
Sanders wasn’t buying it. “This is beyond politics, my friends – this is the future of humanity.”
Whitehouse, too, subjected Zeldin to tough questions about climate change, expressing skepticism he would be able to withstand pressure from the fossil fuel sector that donated to his campaigns.
He also criticized Zeldin’s involvement post-Congress with the America First Policy Institute, where Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also worked.
“I must say, his role at polluter-funded organizations such as the America First Policy Institute and America First Works, his long list of Trump-affiliated consulting clients, and his anti-climate op-eds paid for by dark money organizations do not give me confidence that he will be an honest broker if confirmed to lead EPA,” Whitehouse said.
Zeldin vigorously defended his integrity, as well as his record on the environment.
“There is no dollar large or small that can influence the decisions that I make, who has access to me, and how I am ruling in my obligations under the law.”
In his opening statement, he touted his record as a congressman, when he “worked across party lines to preserve the Long Island Sound and Plum Island” and backed legislation “that became historic, bipartisan success stories like the Great American Outdoors Act, and Senators Sullivan and Whitehouse’s Save our Seas Act to clean up plastics from our oceans.”
He also voted for legislation “combating PFAS in drinking water,” he said.
Markey pleaded with Zeldin to continue distributing billions in Inflation Reduction Act funding and not try to claw back what’s already gone to grantees.
“I just want a presumption of innocence from you in terms of the decisions that were made,” Markey said, adding, “I just want to remind you that 80% of all of those grants have gone to Republican districts.”
“I can only assume, as I sit here, that upon review, that … I will find out about all sorts of funding that went out the door that was following the law as written by Congress,” Zeldin said. “All I'm saying is that I want to have the ability to sit before Chairman Capito … and be able to answer her question on a specific grant that she's spoken out about, or grants that committee members may speak about in the future. I just want to be in a position to account to all of you.”
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