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President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency faces his Senate confirmation hearing today. Lee Zeldin is a former Republican congressman from Long Island. He is expected to embrace Trump's campaign promises to roll back environmental regulations. Desiree D'Iorio with WSHU reports from Long Island.
DESIREE D'IORIO, BYLINE: On the day he was nominated, Lee Zeldin told Fox News program "The Story" his role will be to help, quote, "unleash economic prosperity," in part by cutting regulations.
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LEE ZELDIN: We have the opportunity to roll back regulations that are forcing businesses to be able to struggle.
D'IORIO: For Zeldin, those rollbacks are key to boost energy development and American industries.
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ZELDIN: We have the ability to pursue energy dominance, to be able to make the United States the artificial intelligence capital of the world, to bring back American jobs to the auto industry and so much more.
D'IORIO: If he's confirmed, Zeldin will take over the agency tasked with enforcing federal pollution standards. It has also played a big role in climate policy, especially under the Biden administration. Zeldin was an unexpected choice. He's not a nationally known figure on environmental issues. But as a Republican congressman, he backed some measures with direct impacts back home in his coastal district. He represented eastern Long Island from 2015 until 2023. Water quality and tourism are major issues there. He worked to block offshore drilling and clean up Long Island Sound and acknowledged the impacts of climate change.
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ZELDIN: For us, we love our parks. We love our beaches. We care about plans for coastal resiliency. We see the impacts of rising sea levels.
D'IORIO: But Zeldin voted with his party against some major environmental measures. That includes the Inflation Reduction Act, which directed hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy and climate fixes. He became an early and prominent Trump supporter, defending him against impeachment and voting not to certify Joe Biden's 2020 election win. In 2022, he ran unsuccessfully for New York governor, and he campaigned on overturning the state's ban on fracking. In an interview with local TV station Spectrum News, he said fracking technology has advanced.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I want to move on to energy.
ZELDIN: Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're pro-fracking. You're...
ZELDIN: Safe extraction of natural gas is what I call it.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Laughter).
D'IORIO: Zeldin's nomination has been welcomed by the oil and gas industry and other critics who say Biden-era environmental policies are too restrictive. Myron Ebell is a longtime critic of climate action who helped advise the first Trump transition team.
MYRON EBELL: EPA is one of those places that really needs radical restructuring and downsizing.
D'IORIO: Ebell says he's hoping for looser restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas and carbon emissions from cars and trucks.
EBELL: I hope EPA will actually get the heavy-handed government off of the auto industry so that they can start producing the vehicles that people actually want to buy and can afford.
D'IORIO: Some environmental advocates say they're worried Zeldin's perceived loyalty to Trump will undermine the EPA's mission. Jen Duggan is with the Environmental Integrity Project.
JEN DUGGAN: He has an anti-climate and anti-environment voting record as a member of the House of Representatives. And perhaps the most important, Lee Zeldin is a close ally of Trump and the fossil fuel industry.
D'IORIO: Duggan says she's particularly concerned about cuts to the EPA's budget, its scientific research and to programs that help communities deal with pollution and climate change. Senators are expected to question him on those issues and more at today's hearing. Zeldin appears to have enough votes to be confirmed.
For NPR News, I'm Desiree D'Iorio on Long Island.
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