Calling it “the most consequential day of deregulation in American history,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin yesterday announced 31 actions he said will “advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and Power the Great American Comeback.”

“By overhauling massive rules on the endangerment finding, the social cost of carbon and similar issues, we are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,” Zeldin wrote in a Wall Street Journal essay published yesterday — the day the actions were announced in some two dozen news releases posted on the EPA’s website. 

He was referring to the EPA’s 2009 scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. The “endangerment finding,” as it is known, serves as the legal basis for most Clean Air Act regulations and as such is “the holy grail” of climate science.

The EPA will roll back or eliminate limits on soot from smokestacks, reconsider multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for various industrial sectors, scrap the “good neighbor rule”  that requires states to address air pollution carried by the wind into neighboring states and eliminate environmental justice areas where the protection of poor and minority communities from air and water pollution are prioritized.

“Today, the Green New Scam ends as the EPA does its part to usher in the Golden Age of American success,” Zeldin said in a short video posted on the EPA website and in the Wall Street Journal essay.

Zeldin’s list of climate and health protections targeted for elimination is “an important reminder of where this administration’s priorities lie,” said Climate Action Campaign’s Director Margie Alt. 

“It would put every American at greater risk from dangerous and deadly pollution while fast tracking a get-richer-quick scheme for big polluters. It prioritizes burning filthy fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal over protecting clean air and clean water. It would ensure the climate disasters we are experiencing now will only get more frequent and more catastrophic.” Alt said. “And it would make big polluter CEOs even richer while saddling the rest of us with shorter life spans, more disease,  and higher costs.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement today that the EPA’s intended action is “a direct threat to the health of New Yorkers and communities across the country.” Hochul said she is directing the State Department of Environmental Conservation to “use its full authority to protect New York’s natural resources and environment, and to block these acts wherever possible.” The state will also aggressively defend its natural resources in court, the governor said.

“The environmental movement began in New York with Republican Governor Theodore Roosevelt, bringing together New Yorkers across the ideological spectrum to ensure that current and future generations would have cleaner air and water,” Hochul said. “I recognize that sacred promise, and Administrator Zeldin — as a New Yorker, and particularly as a Long Islander where the entire region’s economy depends upon water quality — should know that as well.

Indeed, many of the EPA reversals Zeldin announced yesterday would have direct consequences for the eastern Long Island congressional district that sent Zeldin to the House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023. 

Zeldin’s former congressional district — where he was raised and where he and his family still make their home in Shirley — is at the end of an island grappling with the effects of climate change: sea level rise, coastal erosion, and extreme weather events.  

The district also deals with ozone (smog) pollution from vehicle and smokestack emissions migrating east from New York City and points west of the Hudson River. Because of that air pollution, Zeldin’s home turf is in an ozone nonattainment area, defined by the agency Zeldin now leads as a geographic area where ozone pollution consistently exceeds the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Air quality health advisories for ground-level ozone in the area are issued multiple times during the warm weather months each year. 

Ground-level ozone is considered a potent greenhouse gas because it traps heat effectively and contributes to global warming and adversely impacts human health. It triggers asthma attacks, causes difficulty breathing, worsens chronic respiratory illnesses, including COPD, and may exacerbate underlying heart conditions. Children and older adults are most at risk from exposure.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, a Suffolk-based advocacy group, said environmental advocates are still sorting through the barrage of yesterday’s EPA news releases and Zeldin social media posts. The sweeping pronouncements are short on specifics, she said.

How much will that matter, she asked, since Zeldin previously announced he will cut the EPA’s budget by 65%? “If they cut the budget and cut the staff, the policies won’t be enforced. And apparently that’s their goal,” Esposito said.

“The question is, why do they want to destroy the history of clean water, clean air, safe drinking water and protecting species? What is the motivation?” she asked.

“Zeldin said Trump has a mandate to take these actions,” Esposito said. “No one in his former district voted for polluted beaches, toxic water and dirty air, she said. 

Zeldin’s environmental record in Congress was a mixed bag. He stressed his cooperation with Democrats on environmental issues. He co-chaired the bipartisan Long Island Sound Caucus and was a member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions  Caucus. He cosponsored legislation for funding to protect and restore the Long Island Sound and he opposed dredge spoil dumping in the sound.

He was a staunch supporter of President Trump, but broke ranks with the president’s characterization of climate change as a “hoax,” despite established science.

“Climate change is something we need to take seriously,” Zeldin said during an October 2018 League of Women Voters debate with Democratic challenger Perry Gershon. “We need to ensure all our constituents have access to clean air and clean water.”

In late November 2018, after the release of a dire report on the impacts of climate change issued by the federal government, Zeldin said, “The climate is changing, and this report should serve as a call to action for those on both sides of the aisle to work together to address this issue.” Rep. Lee Zeldin said.

“In a district nearly completely surrounded by water, rising sea levels and its impact on the coastal economy, fisheries and tourism is a pressing issue we must address,” he said.

Yet, Zeldin supported many of Trump’s first-term efforts to roll back or rescind environmental regulations the president said interfered with enhancing energy production or were burdensome to industry.  These included lowering vehicle mileage standards intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, replacing the Clean Power Plan, established to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the electricity sector, with the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which provided more lenient guidelines and did not set strict emission performance rates for states. 

Zeldin declined to sign a letter from members of the Climate Solutions Caucus urging Trump not to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, an international accord committed to reducing carbon emissions to combat global warming.

He also voted to repeal the Clean Water Rule, which protects streams that feed the aquifer.

“The Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act, have been immensely successful over the last 30 years,” CCE’s Esposito said.  “They’re there for a reason. They’re there because industries would not clean up their act on their own. These federal laws have been credited with saving thousands of lives, reducing asthma attacks, reducing heart attacks, and reducing premature deaths.”