Overview

Lee Michael Zeldin is an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Representative from New York's 1st Congressional District from 2015 to 2023. He was appointed by President Trump as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in 2025. As a congressman; Zeldin voted to object to the certification of the 2020 presidential election results on January 6; 2021; supporting challenges to electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of New York in 2022 against Kathy Hochul. As EPA Administrator; Zeldin has pursued an aggressive deregulatory agenda aligned with Trump's "energy dominance" priorities. He has moved to weaken or roll back Obama-era climate regulations; including fuel efficiency standards and methane emission rules for oil and gas operations. Environmental groups have criticized his approach as prioritizing fossil fuel industry interests over public health and environmental protection. Zeldin has stated his goal is to "make the EPA great again" while reducing what he characterizes as regulatory overreach. His confirmation was controversial given his limited environmental policy background and his record of voting against environmental legislation in Congress. During his time in the House; Zeldin received significant campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry and voted against the Inflation Reduction Act; which contained the largest climate investment in U.S. history.

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