Overview

Background

Zeldin served 22 years in the military, having deployed to Iraq in 2006 while serving as a paratrooper with the Army's Elite 82nd Airborne Division. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve in May 2025. He also served in the New York State Senate from 2011 to 2014 before being elected to Congress representing New York's 1st District from 2015 to 2023. He has a background in law, becoming in 2004 the youngest attorney at the time in New York State at age 23. After leaving Congress, he ran a crisis management and public relations firm from 2023 to early 2025.

From 2015 to 2023, he represented New York's First District (eastern Long Island) in Congress, where he sat on the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committees. He unsuccessfully ran for New York governor in 2022, losing to Democrat Kathy Hochul. A former member of the bipartisan House Climate Caucus, Zeldin ran a somewhat middle-of-the-road race to try to unseat the popular Democratic governor, which led some observers at the time of his EPA nomination to regard him as a relatively moderate selection. That impression did not survive contact with his record. According to a scorecard by the League of Conservation Voters, as a Congressman, Zeldin supported just 14% of key pieces of environmental legislation, including bills to address PFAS contamination and conservation initiatives for his district in Long Island.

Zeldin has little background in energy or environmental regulations and has expressed mixed views on climate change and environmental policy throughout his political career. Critics noted that of the six most recent EPA administrators, five had some scientific qualifications, and only Scott Pruitt, a 2017 Trump pick, had no science background. Zeldin fits the Pruitt mold: a politically loyal figure assigned to lead an agency whose core mission his administration sought to pare back.

Public Role in the Second Trump Administration

Deregulatory Agenda

Administrator Zeldin announced the EPA's "Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative," aiming to "achieve the agency's mission while energizing the greatness of the American economy," and proposed a broad EPA agenda that seeks deregulation to boost the American economy while simultaneously pursuing the EPA's environmental missions. In practice, the deregulatory side of that equation has dominated. In March 2025, he announced what he called the "largest deregulatory announcement in U.S. history," aiming to cut the EPA's budget by 65%, eliminate its scientific research arm, and grant exemptions to coal and oil power plants.

Zeldin has overseen what he has described as "the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," rolling back environmental regulations including protections for wetlands and endangered species, and pushing to weaken or repeal rules on emissions and pollution. The agency has also cut jobs, dramatically slashed its budget, and dismantled its scientific research arm. These moves have been framed by the administration as reducing what Zeldin has called "invisible taxes" on American businesses and households, but they have drawn sustained fire from environmental organizations and public health advocates.

The Endangerment Finding

The most consequential single action of Zeldin's tenure has been his pursuit of the EPA's 2009 endangerment finding — the foundational regulatory determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare, which has underpinned virtually all federal climate regulation for more than fifteen years. In July 2025, Zeldin announced that the EPA was working to repeal the 2009 endangerment finding. The endangerment finding stated that greenhouse gases are harmful to public health and required EPA to regulate them. It was the bedrock of nearly all federal climate pollution limits. The proposal went through a public comment period, and the matter remains an active regulatory proceeding as of mid-2026.

The EPA has also prioritized rolling back emission rules for cars and trucks, reconsidering two Biden-era vehicle emission rules — one that called for tighter emission restrictions on light- and medium-duty vehicles and one, also called the Clean Trucks Plan, that required cuts to the emissions of nitrogen oxides from heavy-duty engines and vehicles. Both sets of rules apply to vehicles of model year 2027 and later.

Budget Cuts and Institutional Changes

Zeldin's restructuring of the EPA itself has been sweeping. Reports describe plans to cut agency jobs, eliminate the Office of Research and Development, shrink the EPA budget by as much as 65 percent, and roll back foundational climate rules — moves characterized as the largest deregulatory package in agency history. Zeldin defended the budget proposal before Congress in May 2025, arguing that the reductions would force efficiency without compromising the agency's statutory obligations. Critics disputed that framing directly.

In January 2026, the EPA decided it would no longer account for the value of human lives in its analyses of air pollution protections. Thirty-one Senate Democrats launched a formal investigation, noting that the policy contradicts Zeldin's own confirmation testimony and the Clean Air Act's directive to protect public health. Environmental groups have argued that the cumulative effect of the rollbacks could be severe: the Environmental Protection Network, made up of hundreds of former EPA staff and political appointees, estimated that 12 of the 31 rollbacks Zeldin announced in March 2025 could cause nearly 200,000 premature deaths over 25 years, and more than 10,000 asthma attacks every day. The EPA and the administration have disputed these projections.

Trump Alignment and Political Standing

Zeldin's tenure is marked by competing narratives: EPA materials emphasize economic-focused initiatives and nationwide outreach, while watchdogs and reporting cite sweeping rollbacks of climate and regulatory programs and staffing choices that favor industry perspectives. Within the administration, however, Zeldin has remained in good standing. He has been among the more visible cabinet members, appearing alongside Trump at White House announcements and taking a high-profile role in defending the administration's energy and environment agenda publicly. During his confirmation hearing, Zeldin acknowledged climate change as a real issue, advocating for an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy while emphasizing economic growth and energy dominance, a posture that has given him some rhetorical cover even as the agency has pursued policies that critics characterize as a full-scale retreat from climate science.

Recent Developments

Lee Zeldin has been understood to be a leading candidate for Attorney General after President Donald Trump fired Pam Bondi. Trump dismissed Bondi after she faced significant backlash over her department's handling of the Epstein files. In April 2026, Zeldin was reportedly being considered as the next nominee for United States Attorney General. His name surfaced prominently in press accounts, with multiple outlets reporting he topped the president's informal list of candidates. Whether or not that move materializes, the episode underscores both the breadth of his relationship with Trump and the degree to which his EPA tenure has been driven by political loyalty as much as environmental policy.

Through his EPA tenure, Zeldin has focused on limited government and shifting toward reliance on U.S. industries. Meanwhile, legal challenges to some of the agency's major rollbacks remain pending in federal courts. The repeal of the endangerment finding in particular faces significant legal exposure, given that the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA established the statutory foundation for the agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gases — a question that courts may ultimately have to revisit.

Outlook

Zeldin's standing within the administration appears secure, and the broad contours of his EPA agenda — deregulation, budget reduction, and an emphasis on fossil fuel production — are likely to continue regardless of whether he remains at the agency. The more uncertain variable is legal: environmental groups and state attorneys general have challenged multiple rollbacks in court, and the durability of actions like the endangerment finding repeal will depend significantly on judicial outcomes that remain unresolved. Environmental groups have argued that Zeldin's policies favor fossil fuel interests over public health. The administration maintains that the deregulatory push reduces costs and supports American energy independence.

If Zeldin does move to the Justice Department or another post, his successor at EPA would inherit an agency that has been substantially restructured, with its scientific and regulatory capacity significantly reduced. The institutional changes he has made — particularly the dismantling of the Office of Research and Development and the elimination of thousands of staff positions — would be difficult to reverse quickly, meaning his influence on federal environmental policy is likely to persist beyond his tenure at the agency.