The Senate confirmed former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Jan. 29. Zeldin, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, picked up a handful of Democratic supporters as the Senate approved his nomination on a 56-42 vote. 

Since taking office, Zeldin has implemented elements of Trump’s policy agenda by freezing billions of dollars in funding, closing the EPA museum, announcing the rollback of dozens of regulations, and saying he might fire 65 percent of EPA employees.  

Who is he?

Zeldin, 45, started his career as a lawyer. In 2004, he became the youngest lawyer in the state of New York. After serving in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2007, including a deployment to Iraq, Zeldin worked as an attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He later started his own law firm, where he worked full time until he was elected to the New York Senate in 2010. Zeldin was elected to represent the state’s 1st district in the House of Representatives in 2015, a position he held until 2023. 

Zeldin was part of Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment. 

Follow the money

• Zeldin has received $269,608 from the oil and gas industry throughout his career. He is not an outlier: Even as other industries have shifted slightly towards Democrats, the oil and gas industry is known for its consistent contributions to the Republican Party and candidates. Over the past decade, more than 80 percent of contributions from the oil and gas industry have gone to Republicans. Among the top contributors in the 2023-24 election cycle were Koch Inc., which contributed over $47 million to Republicans and conservative groups, and Crownquest Operating, which contributed $33.9 million. The American Fuel & Petrochem Manufacturers organization spent over $27.6 million on lobbying in 2024. 
• In the 2021-22 election cycle, most of Zeldin’s contributions came from the security and investment industry, which contributed $120,641 to his campaign. Among his top contributors were the First in Freedom PAC, which contributed $15,000, and the Republican Jewish Coalition, from which he received $15,000 through individuals and PACs. 
• Across his state and federal political career, his biggest donations came from individuals and PACs affiliated with the Pro-Israel America PAC ($144,374), the Republican Jewish Coalition ($106,121) and Blackstone Group, an investment firm ($90,753). 
• Under Zeldin, the EPA issued a new requirement: Expenditures of over $50,000 must be approved by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. 

Why does it matter?

• The EPA’s mission statement is “to protect human health and the environment.” As head of the EPA, Zeldin is responsible for the agency’s annual budget and carrying out environmental laws and regulations in the United States. The agency’s budget for fiscal 2025 was nearly $11 billion — a 9 percent decrease from the prior year.
• In February, the EPA froze and terminated two programs worth $20 billion that were already approved under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The money had been meant for nonprofits or other organizations focusing on disadvantaged communities. On March 10, Zeldin announced that he was canceling more than 400 “DEI and Environmental Justice grants” totaling $1.7 billion. Two days later, he announced further regulatory rollbacks in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
• Senate Democrats said that the cancellation of $1.5 billion in grants and programs focusing on environmental justice was illegal since the spending was mandated by law. The grants were awarded by the Biden administration in 2022 and included $500,000 to The Childhood Lead Action Project for a lead poisoning prevention program, $474,000 to Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice for a community air quality system and $1 million to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for a pilot project in communities affected by PFAS contamination in drinking water.
• Zeldin’s bio on the EPA website claims that “he supported key legislation that became historic, bipartisan success stories like the Great American Outdoors Act and Save our Seas Act to clean up plastics from our oceans. He also led the fight for Sea Grant, combated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, voted for the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, and supported clean energy projects on Long Island.” And he supported legislation protecting people from PFAS pollution and banning offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But records show that Zeldin also voted against a number of bills supported by environmentalists. 
• Zeldin currently chairs the Pathway to 2025 program at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative-leaning, pro-Trump think tank, that aims to increase fossil fuel production and reduce fossil fuel regulations. The organization was co-founded by billionaire oil executive Tim Dunn. “It would be ideal if we could get rid of this ‘CO2 as a pollutant’ business,” Dunn said at an AFPI event in 2023. Dunn spent over $35 million in the 2024 election cycle to support conservatives. 

This article is part of a series examining the role political money has played in the careers of President Donald Trump’s nominees for executive branch positions.

This post was originally published on Original Journalism from OpenSecrets News.