Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency will determine the future of President Joe Biden’s climate legacy.
Trump’s pick to lead it, Lee Zeldin, did not give much insight into what that future will be at his confirmation hearing Thursday — one that was often interrupted by climate protesters screaming outside the hearing room.
Zeldin, who has no experience in climate regulation beyond his time in Congress, repeatedly said that he intends to collaborate with Congress and will prioritize “clean air and clean water.” Despite pointed questions from senators, he remained vague on which Biden-era rules and programs he would aim to cut or change, although he did reference abiding by recent Supreme Court decisions that limit the EPA’s power.
He spoke like the lawyer he is, saying that he was refusing to provide detailed answers about what he might do with the agency’s regulations because he is not allowed to “pre-judge” a rule, and he was trying to avoid jeopardizing future EPA decisions. Changes to EPA rules could be challenged in court based on his statements at the hearing.
Republican and Democratic senators made clear that they expect big change to come. Their questions covered rules governing power plant emissions, solar programs for lower-income people, lead pipe replacement, methane, ethanol and other so-called “renewable fuels,” long-lasting chemicals called PFAS and an obscure but important rule for farmers and real estate developers known as “waters of the United States.”
While secretary of energy nominee Chris Wright’s Wednesday hearing was mostly friendly and generally covered bipartisan topics like nuclear power, Zeldin’s hearing was much more contentious along party lines. This reflects the fact that the Department of Energy is largely responsible for popular investments in technology and “carrot”-like incentives, while the EPA administers the “stick” portion of the Biden administration’s climate agenda.
During the first Trump administration, the EPA was transformed by the administration’s deregulatory agenda and challenges to climate science. Agency scientists quit amid pressure from the administration. Many Obama-era environmental regulations were rolled back, and the work of several EPA programs was slowed or delayed.
Zeldin alluded to that time in his opening remarks, saying he would “foster a collaborative culture within the agency, supporting career staff who have dedicated themselves” and calling the agency’s scientists “talented.”
But he did not provide detailed answers to questions from Democrats about the science of climate change. He acknowledged climate change is real, but when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked about ocean acidity and the specific consequences of global warming, Zeldin repeatedly said he would defer to “the scientists.” He was asked if he still believes that it is important to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and responded: “In an ideal world, we would be able to pursue always the cleanest, greenest energy sources.”
He also said he is “researching and reading” information about microplastics.
The new chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, made it clear what her priority as the committee’s leader will be: electric grid reliability and electricity affordability. In her opening statement and then in her questions to the nominee, she repeatedly referenced the latest report from the nation’s grid reliability monitor, which has forecast increasing chances of blackouts over the next decade.
“The reliability risk is due to the projected retirement of dispatchable power plants, compiled with a 15% increase in electricity demand over the next decade. Critically, this demand cannot be met solely with intermittent energy generation,” Capito said, criticizing the Biden administration’s emphasis on renewable energy sources.
Zeldin did not provide details about what he would do to address this, but the EPA is in charge of the Clean Power Plan, a Biden administration rule structured to increase the speed of retirement of coal and gas-fired power plants. Representatives for the oil and electricity industries, Republicans in Congress and Trump have all pledged to do what they can to undo this plan, and the EPA under Zeldin could immediately begin the process of rolling back this rule.
—
Anna Kramer is a reporter at NOTUS.