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Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, was in Woodbury on Friday, speaking with local leaders at a Long Island Association breakfast at the Crest Hollow Country Club.

The discussion focused on the environment, innovation, the economy and governing.

“The core mission of the EPA is protecting human health and the environment,” Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman, said.

As EPA chief, his focus, he said, includes “clean air, land and water for all Americans. The president speaks about it. Democrats speak about it. It doesn’t matter whether you’re conservative, moderate, liberal, Republican, Democrat, independent, especially here on Long Island.”

Zeldin’s visit came nearly a month after he announced a series of actions to roll back landmark environmental regulations, including rules on pollution from coal-fired power plants, climate change and electric vehicles. This follows Zeldin’s announced commitment to cut 65 percent of the EPA budget. And among the proposed deregulations are a clean water law that provides federal protections for rivers, streams and wetlands.

About 100 protesters gathered outside the Crest Hollow, according to published reports, raising concerns about the environment, including forever chemicals, or PFAS, in drinking water.

Inside the Crest Hollow, Zeldin called for more research on PFAS.

“Researching this is important, and that’s going to be the way forward,” he said.

As for the EPA budget, he said he was working with the Department of Government Efficiency to determine the “right number of employees.” And he said, the EPA would “fulfill” its “statutory obligations.”

Nodding to Long Island’s research institutions, Zeldin highlighted Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University and others.

“There’s been a lot of advancements in sources of energy in innovation, in ways to be able to tap into our own sources in a way that is best for the environment,” he said. “We should continue to do that.”

And, he said, “we should be continuing to innovate going forward to make sure that we continue to be more environmentally friendly. However, different companies make decisions. This is a moment in time for companies and industries to articulate how you care about the environment. To self-police within your own industry. If there’s a bad actor who is ruining it for everybody, say something to them. If you’re a good steward of the environment, let it be known. If you’re taking measures inside of your company on your own initiative to be able to do your business model in a way that’s better for the environment, that’s very good, you are not just helping your company, you’re helping your environment, you’re helping your industry.”

He added that “there is a moment in time right now for industries to be able to send a very strong message to the public as to how you care as much as you do about the environment. It actually shouldn’t be a wedge issue.”

Zeldin said he is a “proponent of building more pipelines.”

He also addressed offshore wind, a sector in which LIA President and CEO Matt Cohen said Long Island is “positioned to be a leader” in the nation and is “an economic generator here, and has created many jobs.” Zeldin said that the “president has made it crystal clear to his cabinet and to the public that he is not approving new wind permits right now.”

Zeldin noted that one area of focus is “making America the AI capital of the world.”

He noted that after Grumman left the region, “the brain power was still here on Long Island.

“You see it when you’re at one of these labs,” he added. “We can’t allow this move towards America being the AI capital of the world, and Long Island being left out of it, left behind.”

Such initiative, he told the leaders in the room, requires “all of you to have your own meetings and subcommittees and figure out where investments are and where opportunities are.”

He added that “if you want Long Island to be the tip of the sphere of the future of AI and other opportunities, that you see coming in the next few years, have a meeting next week where you’re huddling up and you’re brainstorming all the opportunities because it’s a lot of jobs and it’s going to be a lot of money for Long Islanders.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.