Democrats criticize Trump’s choice to lead EPA on climate change: NPR

WHO: Lee Zeldin

Nominated for: Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

You may know them from: He is a former Republican congressman from the Long Island, New York area.

Learn more about Zeldin:

• He was part of the Climate Solutions Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives, a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
• He has often voted against environmental legislation in Congress, according to the League of Conservation Voters.
• He pledged to overturn New York state’s ban on the oil and gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing during an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2022.

What is this role for? Advises on climate and environmental issues and enforces environmental laws.

Here’s what happened at the hearing

Zeldin declined to say how the Trump administration might try to change or roll back environmental regulations, including a rule restricting automobile exhaust pipes pollution that the EPA says could boost electric vehicle sales in coming years.

“We need to make sure we protect the environment while protecting our economy,” Zeldin told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Pressed by Democrats on the issue of climate change, Zeldin acknowledged that carbon dioxide and methane pollution from fossil fuels traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.

“I believe climate change is real,” Zeldin said.

Ed Markey, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, said that in 2016, Zeldin called for the United States to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. At the hearing, Zeldin said he supports an energy strategy that incorporates all of the above.

“Taking all factors into account, in an ideal world we would always be able to pursue the cleanest and greenest energy sources possible,” Zeldin said.

President-elect Donald Trump has for years cast doubt on the scientific consensus that the Earth is warming primarily because of heat emissions from fossil fuels. And Trump has promised to boost the industry during his second term.

“The threat of climate change has not gone away since you said that in 2016,” Markey told Zeldin. “And I’m just worried now that your change in tone is political and not scientific, which you apparently believed at that time.”

Zeldin noted that the United States climate pollution has decreased over the last two decades. “Unfortunately, there are other countries where it’s not going in the same direction,” he said.

“And I will say that we will never have done enough to ensure that our water and our air are clean, safe and healthy,” Zeldin added. “Whatever we do each day to achieve this goal, we must wake up the next day to look for ways to do more.”

Sen. John Curtis, a Utah Republican, praised Zeldin’s nomination, saying he helped Republicans talk about climate change when he was in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“I represented a district where conservative Republicans could unite with those who identify as more liberal Democrats to focus on improving our environment,” Zeldin said. “This type of working together, this common ground, is what the American public desperately needs. They expect us to be able to find pragmatic, common-sense solutions.”