Trump picks former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead U.S. EPA

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday named former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as he continues to build out his future administration with loyal supporters.

Trump, in a statement, said Zeldin, who mounted a failed bid for governor of New York in 2022, would “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.”

Laura Deehan, state director of Environment California, said she was optimistic that Zeldin will work to protect the environment in his new role.

“When Lee Zeldin was in Congress he opposed dumping toxic waste into the Long Island Sound, took action to protect Americans from forever chemicals, and supported permanent conservation funding in the bi-partisan Great American Outdoors Act, which is protecting and updating beautiful parks and green spaces around the country,” she said in a statement.

Zeldin, who left Congress in 2023, was among the Republicans in Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. While in Congress, he did not serve on committees with oversight of environmental policy.

The announcement comes after Trump selected longtime advisor Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, to be the deputy chief of policy in his new administration and named Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as his nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Price writes for the Associated Press. Times staff writer Melody Petersen contributed to this report.