Who is Lee Zeldin? Six things to know about Trump’s selection for EPA chief

President-elect Trump on Monday announced former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) as his nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Zeldin has a fairly thin track record on environmental policy, but was a vocal congressional ally of Trump’s in the president-elect’s first term. He left Congress for an unsuccessful run for New York governor in 2022.

The nomination was well-received by Zeldin's former New York Republican colleagues, with Rep. Mike Lawler tweeting that Zeldin "will do a phenomenal job ahead a critical agency to ensure we protect our environment while increasing domestic production of energy."

Environmental groups sounded alarm over former President Trump's environmental agenda, such as rolling back regulation and protections, but largely avoided criticizing Zeldin, who had a 14 percent score from the League of Conservation Voters on his congressional voting record.

Here are five things to know about the likely next EPA chief.

Vocal Trump ally in Congress

As a House member between 2017 and 2021, Zeldin was a frequent critic of federal investigations into then-President Trump around his campaign's alleged ties to Russia, and then a key defender during impeachment efforts.

In 2018, he called for a criminal investigation into former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe for allegedly leaking to the press, and also cosponsored a resolution calling for a special counsel to investigate the FBI’s 2016 probe into the Trump campaign.

Zeldin was part of Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial in 2020, related to Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine into opening an investigation into President Biden during the 2020 campaign.

During the initial House impeachment process, an NBC News analysis found that he spoke more than any other congressional Republican in Trump’s defense, with his name appearing in transcripts more than 500 times.

He was also one of 126 Republican House members to sign onto the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

But he voted against the Trump tax bill

Zeldin’s record in the House includes a surprising “no” vote, opposing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the then-President Trump signed in December 2017.

He was one of 13 GOP members and five New York Republicans to oppose the bill, which passed the chamber 227-205, arguing it could lead to a tax increase for his constituents.

“You’re taking more money from a place like New York in order to pay for deeper tax cuts elsewhere,” he said.

Zeldin’s primary objection was the bill’s the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap, which Trump signaled he was open to adjusting or removing at a Long Island event in September of this year.

Gubernatorial run was relatively close

Republican gains were below expectations in the 2022 midterm elections, but New York was a bright spot for the GOP. Wins in the state helped the party secure control of the House.

And while Zeldin lost to incumbent New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) by six points, it was closer than many had expected in the blue state. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), Hochul's predecessor, beat Republican challenger Marc Molinaro by 23 points in the previous election.

As votes were still being counted in 2022 and Hochul declared victory on election night, Zeldin still predicted he would ultimately win. “It’s going to be a little frustrating for members of the media who didn’t ever want us to be in contention here in New York,” he told supporters at the time.

He conceded and congratulated Hochul the next day.

Assaulted on the campaign trail in 2022

Zeldin made national headlines in July 2022, when a man climbed the stage at his campaign and tried to stab him. Zeldin, who was uninjured, pointed to the incident to highlight concerns about crime in the New York area, a central theme of the New York GOP’s midterms pitch.

“Unfortunately, Congressman Zeldin is just the latest New Yorker whose life has been affected by the out of control crime and violence in New York,” Zeldin campaign spokesperson Katie Vincentz said in a statement following the incident.

Zeldin would later speak out following the attempt on Trump's life in July this year, blaming Democrats for their heated rhetoric toward the former president.

"Ultimately, we have to confront, head on, the fact that there is a very extensive effort basically throwing everything that they can against President Trump outside of the ballot box to try to prevent him from taking office," he told Fox News at the Republican National Convention days later. "It's gone too far. It's sick and it needs to end."

Environmental record is comparatively light

What exists of Zeldin's record on the environment is largely in alignment with Trump’s.

He backed Trump’s 2017 exit from the Paris Climate Agreement, telling Bloomberg in 2018 that the U.S. should not reenter the agreement “as it currently stands,” arguing it did not impose enough responsibility on other countries relative to the U.S. “It’s not anywhere close to a level playing field,” he added.

After the U.S. re-entered the agreement under the Biden administration, the second Trump administration is likely to again withdraw from the compact.

He also took aim at the Hochul administration’s climate targets in a July Fox News op-ed. In the article, he ridiculed the state goal of 70 percent renewables by the end of the decade, established under Hochul’s predecessor Andrew Cuomo, as “whimsical,” and noted that as of last summer, the state was on track to only hit 44 percent by 2030.

“Hochul’s administration now wants to push the renewables deadline to 2033. Three additional years won’t get them there either,” he wrote.

Environmental groups keeping their powder dry

Some environmentalist and conservation groups appeared tentative to criticize the selection Monday, despite Zeldin's track record. But they were sharply critical of potential Trump administration policy changes.

Noting that Zeldin identified automotive standards as a priority, Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said repealing current standards “would devastate the industry in a moment of critical transition, threatening jobs, increasing tailpipe pollution that’s wrecking the climate and driving up consumer costs.”

Zeldin “should demonstrate during the confirmation process that he will work to reduce the pollution that's harming our children's health, fueling extreme weather and raising insurance costs,” Environmental Defense Fund Executive Director Amanda Leland said.

“He also should commit to ensuring America continues to be a leader in the clean energy transition and the good-paying jobs it creates – or risk the U.S. falling behind other nations, as it did during Donald Trump’s first term.”

Climate Power, meanwhile, blasted Zeldin for taking $410,000 from the oil and gas industry and for saying in 2014 that he was “not sold yet on the whole argument that we have as serious a problem as other people are” when it comes to climate change.

“Big Oil spent millions of dollars propping up Donald Trump’s campaign—and he’s not wasting any time giving them a good return on their investment,” executive director Lori Lodes said.