Does the next president really want to torpedo the work of the critical agency?

Former Republican congressman Lee Zeldin has been selected by US President-elect Donald Trump as the future head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the 47th president, the Republican congressman will “unleash the power of the American economy” through “immediate deregulation decisions.”

Lee Zeldin, 44, wrote on social media platform X that he was “honored” to join Trump’s cabinet. He promised to “restore US energy dominance, revitalize the auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US a world leader in artificial intelligence.” At the same time it is committed to “protecting access to clean air and clean water”.

In the US Congress, the rhetoric and behavior of the next head of the EPA has been “very critical and hostile” to the US agency’s regulatory authority on climate issues, Barry Rabe, a professor of environment and public policy at the University of Michigan, told DW. During his congressional term, Zeldin challenged “almost all of the Joe Biden administration’s major interpretations of the Clean Air Act,” a 1963 law to limit and control air pollution, the American professor points out.

As president, Trump undermined the agency’s work

In 2022 Lee Zeldin sponsored an amendment to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, voted to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, and opposed investment in conservation and restoration of American wildlife.

“Zeldin is very flexible and not afraid of decisions,” Barry Rabe estimates, adding that Donald Trump wants around him seasoned politicians who know how to conflict, who are devoted to him and who are on TV. During the election campaign, Donald Trump proposed moving parts of federal authorities out of the US capital. According to reports, the president-elect’s team is now discussing moving the EPA headquarters out of Washington as well.

Nicole Cantello, president of AFGE Local 704, a union representing about 1,000 EPA workers, said: “Already in Trump’s first term, his administration has systematically and knowingly undermined the EPA’s mission to protect Americans from toxic pollution. The ERA’s leadership at the time removed references to climate change from the agency’s website, systematically prevented our staff from doing thorough scientific research, and removed our ability to take action against polluters.”

Is Zeldin selling out to polluters?

Under the Trump presidency, the agency was no longer able to guarantee Americans access to clean water and clean air, Nicole Cantello points out, adding that the EPA was no longer the agency with the most potential to fight climate change. “Our union’s message to Mr. Zeldin is: we are watching him. We call on him to set a good example and distance himself from Trump’s EPA policy so far.”

Ben Jelous, executive director of the US environmental organization Sierra Club, called Lee Zeldin “unfit” and accused him of selling out to polluters: “Our lives, our work lives and our shared future cannot stand a Lee Zeldin or anyone who intends to to carry out a mission contrary to EPA’s role.”

Editor: Stefanos Georgakopoulos