The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former New York congressman Lee Zeldin to be the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
He was confirmed on a 56-42 vote as three Democrats, Mark Kelly of Arizona, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Ruben Gallego of Arizona supporting his nomination. Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) abstained from voting. Both Oklahoma U.S. Senators James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin voted for his confirmation.
Zeldin, considered a surprise nomination for the EPA job, spent nearly 8 years as New York’s 1st Congressional District Representative. He ran for Governor in 2022 and lost by five percentage points.
He is the third EPA administrator to be named by Trump. During his first term in the White House, he chose former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt in 2017 to run the agent. Pruitt didn’t last long and left in 2018 amidst political scandals.
Deputy administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former aide to then-Sen. Jim Inhofe, succeeded him.
Zeldin, an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, has been a strong defender of President Trump. His confirmation drew immediate support from Mike Sommers, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.
“Administrator Lee Zeldin has a proven track record of finding solutions to the nation’s most pressing energy challenges. We look forward to working with him to advance American energy leadership, from developing smart, effective regulations to ensuring consumers—not the government—can choose the vehicles they drive,” he said.
As The Hill reported, some Democratic Senators fiercely opposed his confirmation, including Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.
“We need an … EPA administrator who will take climate change seriously, treat the science honestly, and stand up where necessary to the political pressure that will be coming from the White House … and from the huge fossil fuel forces that propelled him into office,” he said.