Attorney, politician, and former Army Intelligence Officer Lee Zeldin, the new US EPA director (Environmental Protection Agency) under Trump, plans to revoke the legal basis for tackling climate change, which would effectively halt current standards on vehicle emissions and industrial pollution. 

He wants to cancel the scientific recognition of six harmful gases, including carbon dioxide and methane. In other words, he refuses to accept the scientific reality that climate change is detrimental to human health.

In the meantime, his employees have signed a petition asking their boss to stop lying… In a letter signed by over 300 EPA employees, there is a call for the “chief saboteur”, as Zeldin is called, to “stop lying”, accusing him of politically distorting scientific facts, misrepresenting EPA’s history and mission, and undermining climate and environmental protections.

Who is Lee Zeldin?

Lee Michael Zeldin was born in New York in 1980. He grew up in Suffolk County, New York, where he graduated from William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, New York.

Zeldin graduated from the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY) and then Albany Law School. At just 23 years old, Lee Zeldin was sworn into the New York State Bar, making him the youngest attorney in the state.

Lee Zeldin spent four years on Active Duty with the U.S. Army. In the summer of 2006, he deployed to Iraq with an infantry battalion of fellow paratroopers in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In 2010, Lee Zeldin was elected to the New York State Senate. Following four years in the State Senate, Lee Zeldin was elected to Congress in 2014, where he served eight years on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and six years on the House Financial Services Committee.

A close ally of President Trump, Zeldin prominently defended Donald Trump during his first impeachment hearings concerning the Trump-Ukraine scandal.

Since January 29, 2025, Congressman Zeldin has been serving as the 17th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What does Zeldin propose?

Now Zeldin has launched a plan to rescind the 2009 ‘Endangerment Finding’, which classified six greenhouse gases—including CO₂ and methane—as threats to public health. This regulatory foundation empowered the EPA to curb climate pollution from vehicles, power plants, and other key sources under the Clean Air Act.

The Endangerment Finding, which Zeldin seeks to eliminate, was rooted in decades of scientific consensus and reinforced by legal precedent, including a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

It focused specifically on carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), nitrous oxide (N2O), and perfluourocarbons (PFCs, now more commonly known as PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’), all of which cause climate change and harm humans. We know this to be the case.

‘Hidden taxes’

Zeldin called the proposal “the largest deregulatory action in US history,” and said rescinding it would save $54 billion annually, ending what he deemed “hidden taxes” on Americans.

On the conservative Ruthless podcast, Zeldin criticized the scientific foundations of the original finding, arguing the Obama-Biden EPA exaggerated harm and violated precedent.

In the meantime, scientists and critics are alarmed by Zeldin’s moves. They warn that stripping this finding risks dismantling dozens of key regulations governing vehicle emissions, power plants, industrial pollution, and other environmental protections. They also predict widespread health impacts and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

‘Declaration of Dissent’

Major environmental groups have already pledged legal action, arguing the EPA would be abandoning established science and shirking its responsibility to protect public welfare.

Even the EPA’s employees protested. Late June, almost 300 EPA employees signed a public ‘Declaration of Dissent’ opposing Zeldin’s leadership. The letter, later backed by over 620 signatures, also had support from more than 20 Nobel laureates.

Together, they criticize the EPA under Zeldin’s administration for ignoring scientific consensus, undermining environmental justice, and creating a culture of fear.

Employees emphasize their concern that findings from the Biden era—such as health risks associated with greenhouse gases—are being dismissed or ridiculed through misleading rhetoric, which affects both policy and public trust.

Oil buddies…

What Zeldin announced and what he wants to do is to roll back fuel efficiency standards, making the cars you drive more dangerous for you, but more importantly for his greedy oil buddies, more expensive to run, so more profitable for them.

However, the Clean Air Act still requires the EPA to regulate air pollutants, which the six pollutants listed above still are, regardless of whether Zeldin closes his eyes and puts his fingers in his ears.