Adam Pack
Contributor
President-elect Donald Trump selected former Republican New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, both individuals confirmed on Monday.
“It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” Zeldin wrote on X announcing his appointment. “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.” (RELATED: Trump Pledges To End Biden’s EV Mandate To Help Consumers, Calls On UAW To Ditch Democrats)
🚨BREAKING: Lee Zeldin has been tapped to lead the EPA under Trump’s incoming administration. pic.twitter.com/nL76eToJKC
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 11, 2024
Zeldin will likely hit the ground running as the Trump administration looks to roll back the Biden EPA’s stringent regulations on gas-powered vehicles and coal and natural gas generation.
“Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies. 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 said in a statement. “I have known Lee Zeldin for a long time, and have watched him handle, brilliantly, some extremely difficult and complex situations. I am very proud to have him in the Trump Administration, where he will quickly prove to be a great contributor!”
Zeldin served four terms in the House and was the Republican candidate in New York’s 2022 gubernatorial contest against Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul. Zeldin came within roughly 7 points of defeating Hochul in a race that was held as a historically strong performance by Zeldin’s campaign.
“I am deeply honored to have been asked by PresidenTrump to serve in his Cabinet. As EPA Administrator, we will restore American energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, make the United States the global leader of Artificial Intelligence advancement, and slash the red tape holding back American workers from upward economic mobility,” Zeldin said in a statement to The New York Post, which first broke the news of Zeldin’s appointment.
Trump has also picked New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
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Move the agency to Fairbanks right after the RIF.
Shemya?
What have got against us Fairbanks residents? I would prefer to abolish it and send it to state control, as each state has different issues and problems are better handled locally than an edict from a distant bureaucracy.
I thought they might know how to educate them on climate and other reality.
Greenland heads will be exploding!
I think autocorrect has made your post insulting to Greenlanders.
I hope he has a very large dustpan and broom.
The EPA could certainly use it!
We know how dirty EVs burn so maybe not allowing them into our cities would be a good start to protect the public.
Zelden is a lawyer and failed politician until his upcoming appointment is approved.
He has no science education and has no science, climate or energy experience or knowledge on the public record.
His job is deregulation which in fact requires legal expertise first and foremost.
With any luck he will recruit top notch advisors who do have that expertise. Roy Spencer, Judith Curry, Ryan Maue,
My initial reaction was negative. But the more I thought it through the more it makes sense.
The main problem with the EPA is the use of junk science for regulations. That starts with CO2 defined as a pollutant but there are many more examples concerning methane and PM 2,5. The EPA leader ought to be a scientist or at least have a science background in the private sector. He will need to hire new EPA people who can refute the junk science that the EPA relies on.
The same junk science supports the 17 states with nut zero regulations that Trump and the EPA can not stop. People in those states currently purchase about 40% of new cars and light trucks. For and GM can not afford to ignore those state regulations. The state regulations benefit Tesla … and Elon Musk is now politically connected to Trump. Does anyone think Musk will recommend any federal policies that hurt Tesla and help GM and Ford?
Have they ever had scientists heading the EPA?
Virtually all of the senior managers of EPA have always been attorneys.
and/or political advocates.
Actually, Congress, EPA, attorneys, and SCOTUS can stop the net zero laws strangling the private sector in blue states and actually harming persons in red states in violation of the Constitution.
Firstly, EPA can rescind its approval of CA’s restrictive pollution regulations. Just a pen and a phone and “poof” they go away … along with all the other blue states that tied their emissions laws to CA.
Secondly, Congress can enact a law (by killing the filibuster) that rescinds the right of states to make their own air pollution law with the simple, already SCOTUS-approved policy that air pollution and its regulation thereof is by definition interstate commerce, and thus exclusively under the control of the Federal government. States only have this power because Congress delegated to EPA the power to decide whether to delegate to the States. EPA can end CA’s exemption immediately, but Congress enacting a law makes it much harder for a new EPA administrator to overrule his/her predecessor.
Plaintiffs can also file lawsuits against the blue states on the same basis, claiming that CA’s restrictive laws hurt their industries which are definitely part of interstate commerce. SCOTUS can and will rule for the red states. But this is a slower, multi year process whereas Congress and EPA can act this year.
The USEPA sets a regulation and then it’s up to the states’ version of the EPA (different states have different names for “EPA”) to come up with a plan to meet it.
(I think the USEPA then has to approve it?)
The 1990 Clean Air Act authorizes (delegates to) EPA to allow states to set more stringent air pollution regulations. That delegation also exists in other Federal environmental laws. But the difference with the CAA is that air pollution cannot be constrained to a single state. Regulating the air in CA also regulates the air in many other states, since air pollution freely moves across state boundaries, and thus is in interstate commerce.
It doesn’t work that way with water pollution, or solid waste or hazardous waste. It’s an important distinction that most definitely makes a difference.
‘For[d] and GM can not afford to ignore those state regulations.’
Oh, yes they can! Trump just needs to remind them (and the UAW) that there are a lot of foreign auto makers who produce great cars that can meet reasonable pollution standards. If the citizens of CA and other blue states want to emulate Cuba, that’s their problem.
Richard, you have some good points about the science and the need to get rid of the CO2 regulations. However, Trump supports this deregulation, so he doesn’t need a scientist in the key role only a good administration/lawyer who can argue the case against the bureaucrats.
Ford and GM can send all of their unsold EVs to those States with Nut Zero regulations and ration the gas and hybrid vehicles in those States.
Then sit back and watch the voter rebellion begin.
I agree with the major flaws in the EPA rule making that you list. But being an academic myself throughout my career and seeing the rot that is central to most academic activities these days, I feel that an outsider with skills at organizational change is critical at this point. one of the key flaws in EPA rule-making is their desire to make rules in the first place, when most of those rules contribute little to environmental health and, in many cases just make things worse.
Trump has made it clear that EV mandates will be removed and that the EPA’s idiotic emissions regulation will be removed.
He will also block cheap EVs, especially from China, using reciprocal tariffs and trade agreements.
People will be allowed to buy whatever car they want, which will be overwhelmingly ICE or hybrids, and the US car industry will prosper.
He has FAR greater knowledge and aptitude than you have ever exhibited. !
By choice, you remain a total non-entity in every field, especially science.
Yet another burst of verbal flatulence in the endless series of low IQ insult comments from the official WUWT climate buffoon, BeNasty.
Poor RG.. Your baseless ego cannot cope with being incapable of supporting your ignorance in science.
Let’s try again..
1… Please provide empirical scientific evidence of warming by atmospheric CO2.
2… Please show the CO2 warming in the UAH atmospheric data.
3… Please state the exact amount of CO2 warming in the last 45 year, giving measured scientific evidence for your answer.
Let’s see your “science”, fool !!
We note yet again that RG runs away like the BLUSTERING COWARD that he is.
The irony is thick this AM.
“failed politician”
You are a twit, RG.
Zelden is a 4 term House Republican.. in New York, of all places.
That is amazing !!
You want to see failure… look in the mirror. !
A majority of EPA’s budget is grant administration—being a scientist isn’t a qualification.
Just shows that to be a budget ripe for massive cuts.
Time to set the EPA back on mission -dealing with genuine pollution (so no “climate” bullshit, no “PM 2.5” junk science, no “Linear No Threshold” assumptions generally for that matter), like completing the “Superfund” site cleanups.
In the US, our outside air is generally cleaner than the air INSIDE people’s homes, so it needs no further regulation.
If I remember correctly, Trump’s first term EPA set up a rule that none of the scientist or people on the group that approved grants could themselves benefit from those grants?
Sort of like you.
So just like most of the idiots in Congress AND the three-letter “agencies” bleating about the imaginary “climate crisis” then.
EPA is a regulatory agency and has been little more since its inception. Science has never been a significant part of it. Nixon used it as a smokescreen to get the Hippies off his back. A legal solution is needed to get it off of ours. Anyway, at this point environmental protection and improving our efficient use of resources is more a question of conservation and engineering than it is of science. We know what pollution is, and what it is not for the most part.
It was a pretty successful political campaign to come so close in Democrat-controlled New York.
He has no science education
Is that any different than current/past appointments?
Hopefully he knows how to request audits of the agency and can read the FOIA law to turn over data and communications that have been withheld and stonewalled in the courts up till now. That goes for a lot of other federal agencies too.
He will need to be a tech expert to pick through all the destroyed computers and hard drives left behind by the Obama/Biden operatives at EPA. Maybe they can come up with backups of the Lois Lerner hard drive from IRS in the process.
“Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies. He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions…”
He’ll need to be with the usual suspects-
‘Big difference’: Army of lawyers declare war against Trump’s biggest campaign pledge
RS is a ultra-leftist hack site… Mouthy emptymess.
He has his hands full. Good luck to him.
Nixon created this agency. Trump should kill it.
Air, water and soil pollution are real issues. Toxic substances, garbage disposal and natural resource development need to be regulated. But it all need to be based on true science.
“But it all need to be based on true science.”
You just countered your argument. Since when do bureaucrats care about “true” science? And what is “true” science? Then there’s the group that says, “The science is settled.” In other words, basing something on “true” science may not be the correct action. They should kill the EPA. If you want clean air and water, then Congress should do their stupid job. And if Congress does stupid things, we can vote them out of office.
Also, there’s CBA: cost benefit analysis. The cleaner the air (or water) the more expensive it gets. At some point the cost outweighs the benefit. The problem with regulators is that they don’t care about costs.
i’ll believe it when i see it
Zelden, once in the job simply needs to call a press conference and utter the following words …‘Co2 is not a pollutant’.…then walk away and get on with it..
I think Lee Zeldin is a good choice for the EPA administrator. He is smart and eloquent and is headed in the right direction according to his initial statements.
Of course, everyone here wants to know what he is going to do to get CO2 off the “Naughty List”.
We wait with great anticipation.
I’m not sure. He thinks climate change is real, so he may not be the best choice.
He thinks climate change is real
If the focus is deregulation, I don’t know that that belief makes much difference.
Just had eye surgery, thought that said Led Zeppelin were going to run the EPA………….
“Dazed and Confused” will be the response of science free EPA zealots returned to the real world of evidence based science and economics.
Might have to actually protect the environment and stop mouthing policies that do no such thing because they have no scientific basis in fact?
“Led Zeppelin” – That was funny! Well played.
What the EPA needs is Steve Koonin back to say what is real and what is not. He knows well enough how the political deceits are created and imposed, as well as the real science you can measure.
I agree, Steve should be a back-up guy for Zeldin, problem solved quicker!
No doubt Mr. Zeldin will bring long needed sanity to the EPA.
I just hope that he is extremely careful with his performance (things like appointments, personal investments, etc.) and does not give the Dems and their whores in the mainstream media the slightest excuse to go after him personally for some kind of claimed malfeasance in office. I still remember how they hounded Ann Gorsuch Burford back in the beginning of the Reagan administration, eventually forcing her to leave over stuff that had nothing to do with policies. Her replacements were never as effective at reining in the EPA’s excesses. No doubt the Dems and media will have a large team of full time investigators furiously working to dig up dirt and hamstring Mr. Zeldin.
The DEMs are going to be on the attack against every Republican and every Republican proposal for the next four years.
Don’t expect the Leftwing Media to be fair. They have a political agenda which requires that they lie about Republicans with every breath.
Why is Trump picking House members? The Republican control of the House is hanging by a thread as it is.
That’s making me a little bit nervous, too.
Trump isn’t stupid so we’ll just have to assume he knows what he is doing. We’ll know soon enough.
Yes, we need all the Republican representatives we can get to neutralize the inevitable of a few Republicans saying “my way, or the highway” and screwing up good legislation because the majority has to go along with the extremist in the party, the budget extremists, and the Isolationist extremists.
We need enough Republican representatives to offset the extremists.
This also applies to the U.S. Senate but it looks like there are enough votes there to offset the screwball thinking of a Lisa Murkowski,
Suddenly the fight between green dogma and practical economics looks like a bunch of imbeciles trying to assault a fortress with overripe fruit and annoying pop songs. There was always going to be a return to reality. Now we may be able to see the beginnings of the renaissance.
Ban the Offshore Wind Turbine FIASCO NOW
Eliminate all subsidies of any kind to all industries, etc., NOW
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Regarding disintegrating rotor blades in Cape Cod, the field test of fully instrumented, 351-ft long, rotor blades on a mast, for AT LEAST one year, in a windy area of the North Sea, is the most important part, which GE executives “omitted”.
.
These rotor blades are about three times as long as airplane wings of a Boeing-747.
Nobody in their sane mind would ever bypass field testing, including torsion testing.
.
What were these GE top executive folks thinking?
How in hell did they get in these top positions?
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Falsifying test records to endanger people, and the environment, and ocean fauna, and fisheries, and tourism? All these are felon offenses.
All involved should be fired and prosecuted for malfeasance, and blacklisted, and never again be allowed to be employed in any industry.
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Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement, BSEE, (what a name for a useless bureau) WANTS TO ESTABLISH FACTS ON THE GROUND (by building wind turbines without rotors) SO PROJECTS WILL BE HARDER TO CANCEL BY SANE PEOPLE IN EARLY 2025
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Utilities paying 15 c/kWh, wholesale (after 50% subsidies), is gross economic insanity, plus all of us:
– paying for grid reinforcement and extension, plus:
– paying for traditional plants counteracting variable output, on a less than minute by minute basis, 24/7/365, plus
– paying for traditional plants providing electricity during low wind, low solar conditions, plus
– paying for expensive hazardous waste landfill
.
The insanity and environmental damage it all is off the charts.
No wonder Europe’s near-zero, real-growth economy is in such big do do
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Europe wants to foist high electricity prices into the US (using the fig-leaf canard of global-warming/climate-change), so the US will be in big do do as well, TO MAINTAIN ITS EXTREMELY ADVANTAGEOUS TRADE BALANCE WITH THE US; money talks.
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Why in hell is a GE, a US company, building several hundred EXPERIMENTAL rotor blades in Quebec, Canada, and have them transported, from Cape Cod to France, on specialized European ships, to a French testing facility?
How low and idiotic can a US company go by screwing US workers out of jobs?
.
Socialist, left wing, incompetent, Democrat, cabal, using feeble BIDEN/joyful HARRIS as their puppets for 4 years, did their Wind thing, and their Open Borders thing, that ended up screwing US viability, and US people, and play into the hands of Europe, the reason the European elites like Biden/Harris so much.
.
What was the traitorous, Socialist, left wing, incompetent, Democrat cabal thinking?
Now you see why the American people finally had to take revenge by voting the cabal idiots out
Now you see why European elites hate Trump, because he puts AMERICA FIRST, UNLIKE TWO-FACED RINOS, LIKE SENATOR COLLINS, etc.