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What Lee Zeldin’s Nomination Means for the EPA

What to expect: deregulation justified as boosts for the economy, and platitudes about the importance of clean air and water.

He regularly voted against progressive climate and environment policies, earning him a lifetime score of just 14 percent from the League of Conservation Voters, an advocacy group that tracks congressmembers’ positions on environmental legislation. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, he voted against an amendment to block the EPA from finalizing a Trump-era soot standard that would expose communities of color to additional air pollution that studies have linked to increased Covid mortality. In addition to overseeing the enforcement of current environmental laws and regulations, he will be tasked with preparing the EPA’s annual budget, which determines how much funding will be allocated toward efforts like state oversight and air monitoring.

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