EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Heads to Capitol Hill to Try and Defend the Most Pro-Pollution Presidency in Modern History
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While Lee Zeldin tries to spin Trump’s reckless, regressive agenda, Americans are paying billions more at the pump and breathing dirtier air
Washington, DC – Today, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will testify about Trump’s proposed budget in front of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. In his appearance before the Committee, Zeldin is expected to defend Trump’s devastating cuts to his own agency. Earlier this year, on Zeldin’s watch, Trump revoked the pollution endangerment finding. Despite heading the *Environmental Protection* Agency, Zeldin co-signed an action that functionally absolves the federal government of its responsibility to protect our public lands and keep our air and water clean.
Here are just a few of the other things in Trump’s unhinged budget that Lee Zeldin needs to answer for. Trump’s budget:
- Slashes EPA’s budget in half;
- Ends nearly all grant programs that go to state agencies for implementing national pollution protections;
- Guts funding for airshed grants from $67.8 million to $36.2 million. These grants pay for pollution reduction projects in areas with lower air quality;
- Calls for the elimination of the Chemical Safety Board, which oversees the investigation of chemical accidents.
Climate Power Senior Advisor Alex Witt issued the following statement: “Lee Zeldin is going up to Congress to defend a budget that basically guts the EPA he’s supposed to be running, cutting it in half and pulling support away from states that need it. At the same time, he backed moves to roll back the endangerment finding, walking away from the government’s responsibility to protect people from climate pollution. That means worse air quality, longer and more intense allergy seasons, and more asthma and other health problems for millions of Americans.”