Who: Lee Zeldin
Nominated for: Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
You might know them from: He's a former Republican congressman from New York's Long Island area.
More about Zeldin:
- He was part of the U.S. House of Representatives' Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
- He often voted against environmental legislation in Congress, according to the League of Conservation Voters.
- He pledged to reverse New York's ban on the oil and gas drilling technique known as fracking during an unsuccessful run for governor in 2022.
What does this role do? 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 limiting automobile tailpipe pollution that the EPA expects could boost sales of electric vehicles in the coming years.
"We must ensure we are protecting the environment while also protecting our economy," Zeldin told the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Pressed by Democrats on the issue of climate change, Zeldin acknowledged that carbon-dioxide and methane pollution from fossil fuels is trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere.
"I believe that climate change is real," Zeldin said.
Ed Markey, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, said that in 2016, Zeldin called for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. At the hearing, Zeldin said he supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
"Considering all factors, in an ideal world we would be able to pursue, always, the cleanest, greenest energy sources possible," Zeldin said.
President-elect Donald Trump for years has cast doubt on the scientific consensus that the Earth is getting hotter mainly because of heat-trapping emissions from fossil fuels. And Trump has promised to boost the industry in his second term.
"The threat of climate change hasn't gone away since you said that in 2016," Markey told Zeldin. "And I'm just worried now your change of tone is politics and not the science, which you, apparently, did believe at that time."
Zeldin noted that U.S. climate pollution has fallen over the past two decades. "Unfortunately, there are other countries where it is 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 is clean, safe and healthy," Zeldin added. "Whatever we do every day to achieve this objective, we need to wake up the next day looking for ways to do more."
Sen. John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, praised Zeldin's nomination, saying he helped get Republicans talking about climate change when he was in the U.S. House of Representatives.
"I represented a district where people who were conservative Republicans would be able to unite with people who identify as more liberal Democrats to focus on making our environment better," Zeldin said. "That type of work together, that common ground, is what the American public are desperate for. They are looking for us to be able to find pragmatic, common-sense solutions."
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