Former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) met with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) Monday to discuss Zeldin’s plans for the Environmental Protection Agency, which he was picked to lead by President-Elect Donald Trump.
Capito, who will serve as chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said Zeldin plans to support Trump’s agenda of rolling back regulations and promoting U.S. energy production while protecting public health and the environment.
"Looking forward to collaborating with her to make the EPA work best for the American people!” Zeldin posted on social media. The Senate, now controlled by Republicans, will consider Zeldin’s nomination in early 2025.
“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,” Zeldin wrote.
The bulk of media attention on Trump’s Cabinet selections so far has focused on Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News personality Trump picked for the Department of Defense, and the nomination and withdrawal of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Trump’s initial pick for attorney general. However, the energy picks will be taking charge at a critical time, as renewable energy capacity ramps up, climate worries intensify and power grid infrastructure ages rapidly.
In his first term, Trump first selected a pair of attorneys, first Scott Pruitt, who resigned in 2018 amidst ethics investigations, and then Andrew R. Wheeler. If confirmed, Zeldin will replace Michael S. Regan, President Biden’s choice to head the EPA. In 2020, Regan worked with Duke Energy on coal ash cleanup.
During Trump’s first term, Zeldin ran unsuccessfully for governor of New York and defended Trump during his first impeachment hearings. A veteran of the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Corps and former New York senator, Zeldin served on the House Conservative Climate Caucus and the Climate Solutions Caucus.
Like Trump, Zeldin opposes the Paris Agreement, and as a candidate for N.Y. governor, he pledged to overturn a ban on hydraulic fracturing. Zeldin also voted against Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which invested billions into energy transition infrastructure and research.
Environmental groups reacted to Zeldin’s selection with alarm, with the Sierra Club calling the pick “unqualified” and added this was evidence of Trump’s plan to once again, sell our health, our communities, our jobs, and our future out to corporate polluters.”
The stated mission of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment. Much of the agency’s authority to regulate the electricity sector is derived via the Clean Air Act and its amendments, which over the past decade has been challenged by a conservative-majority Supreme Court.
The EPA’s power plant rule, for example, proposes new carbon pollution standards for coal and natural gas-fired power plants. Several industry groups are suing to stay the enforcement of the rule, which aims to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, fine particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and other air pollutants.
Additionally, the agency announced tougher rules for the neurotoxin mercury emitted from power plant smokestacks and will require safer disposal of toxic wastewater and coal ash, which are byproducts of generating electricity.
The rule, expected to go into effect in 2030, allows power plants to use carbon capture to reduce their emissions while continuing to burn fossil fuels. In addition to the new standards, power plants will have to install continuous monitoring systems for emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants like arsenic, chromium, cobalt and nickel.
EPA power plant rules also state companies should use carbon capture sequestration (CCS) technology at plants that burn fossil fuels. However, there are doubts as to how practical this technology is for widespread use.
