President-elect Donald Trump has named former First Congressional District Representative Lee Zeldin as his choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Mr. Zeldin served in Congress from 2105 to 2022. One of President Trump's closest allies, he voted against certification of President Biden's 2020 election. He was one of only four members of the New York delegation to do so. Another, Representative Elise Stefanik of the upstate district that includes Plattsburgh and Lake Placid, was announced as Mr. Trump's first pick for his cabinet on Monday. He will nominate her to become United States ambassador to the United Nations.
In confirming the news about Mr. Zeldin, President Trump lauded his longtime ally as "a true fighter for American First policies."
Posting on X, Mr. Zeldin wrote, "It is an honor to join President Trump's Cabinet as EPA Administrator. 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."
The president-elect, in a statement Monday afternoon, wrote that Mr. 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. He will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance, that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way."
Mr. Zeldin ran unsuccessfully for New York governor in 2022. Although he lost the race, it was by a narrower margin than expected in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1. Early last year, Mr. Zeldin launched the Leadership America Needs Political Action Committee, whose mission is to back G.O.P. candidates "who are committed to advancing Lee Zeldin’s efforts to grow the diverse coalition of first-time Republican voters” who supported him in the governor's race.
The news of that he will serve in the cabinet was celebrated by Republicans on Long Island especially. In congratulating him, the Suffolk County Republican Committee called Mr. Zeldin "Suffolk's 'Favorite Son.' "
"We're very excited that Lee will be serving in the administration," Manny Vilar, the East Hampton Town Republican Committee chairman, said Tuesday morning. "He brings an incredible depth of understanding of our environmental needs as well as our conservation needs."
Environmental groups, however, have decried the choice. The League of Conservation Voters has given Mr. Zeldin a lifetime rating of 14 percent on its National Environmental Scorecard. Mr. Zeldin "voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, clean water and clean air protections, and methane pollution safeguards," the league posted on its Facebook page Monday.
Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, minced no words in panning the pick. "Naming an unqualified, anti-American worker who opposes efforts to safeguard our clean air and water lays bare Donald Trump’s intentions to, once again, sell our health, our communities, our jobs, and our future out to corporate polluters," Mr. Jealous said in a statement posted on the Sierra Club website. "Our lives, our livelihoods, and our collective future cannot afford Lee Zeldin – or anyone who seeks to carry out a mission antithetical to the EPA's mission."
Mr. Vilar said he was not surprised by the criticism, and drew a distinction between environmental groups, like the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, and conservationists. "Environmentalism is protecting the environment from people, conservation is conserving the environment for people," Mr. Vilar said. "One thinks you . . . are a threat to the environment, the other thinks the environment needs to be protected so that you can enjoy the environment and utilize the resources it has. "
Environmentalists have, he said, "coopted the environmental conservation name, but they follow a very different ideology." He pointed out that two Republican presidents — Richard Nixon, who created the E.P.A., and Teddy Roosevelt — were among the most conservation-minded presidents ever.
Mr. Zeldin "will be the right person to bring the E.P.A. back to its core mission when it was originally created by the Nixon administration," Mr. Vilar said.
