President-elect Donald Trump has already begun announcing cabinet position picks along with a plan to supercharge the nomination process and deregulatory agenda with one of his first official hiring decisions going to former Long Island, New York, congressman and 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.
Zeldin, "with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies," wrote Trump in a press release announcing the pick. "He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet."
Zeldin echoed that sentiment, saying in an appearance on Fox News that on "day one and the first 100 days we have the opportunity to roll back regulations that are forcing businesses to struggle."
Presidential cabinet picks must go through a Senate confirmation, which can take weeks or months. Current Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for example, was confirmed two weeks after President Joe Biden's inauguration in 2021. With Republicans to take control of the Senate in January, Trump has floated a plan to fast track his picks with "recess appointments."
Basically, Trump wants the yet-to-be-selected new Senate Majority Leader for the next Congress to call a brief recess period, which would allow Trump to install cabinet heads in an "acting" capacity pending full confirmation.
Zeldin, potentially, could get started at EPA even faster. Zeldin said he was looking "forward to getting straight to work as part of President Trump's Cabinet to unleash U.S .energy dominance, make America the AI capital of the world, bring American auto jobs back home, and so much more."
Lee Zeldin, pictured during his Congressional tenure representing New York
The League of Conservation Voters, an organization that ranks politicians on their record of voting to protect the environment, assesses Zeldin has only voted for pro-environmental legislation 14% of the time.
The current head of the EPA, Michael S. Regan, has spent almost his entire career within the agency, in contrast to Zeldin, who served in the Army, then as an attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey before getting elected to the New York State Senate in 2010. He served as a U.S. Representative for New York from 2015 to 2023.
California Governor Gavin Newsom seemed to take the change in administration quite seriously, issuing on Thursday a proclamation calling for the convening of a legislative Special Session in response to Trump's re-election.
Citing the Trump administration's "track record" on a number of issues -- emissions regulations among them -- Newsom's proclamation noted the possible "undoing (of) clean vehicle policies that are critical to combating climate change and dismantling other long-standing environmental protections for clean air and clean water," Overdrive sister publication CCJ reported.
Trump has already announced plans to prohibit states from banning the sales of gas-powered cars or trucks.
[Related: Trump's impact on EPA, the California Air Resources Board]
Currently, the California Air Resource Board’s Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation needs to receive a Clean Air Act waiver from the EPA, which would allow the ACF to take effect. The ACF sets requirements for purchase of so-called "zero emissions" (ZEV) trucks within the state and requires certain fleets -- namely port drayage operations and “high-priority” fleets with 50 or more trucks -- to purchase and operate ZEV trucks.
If Zeldin takes the helm of the EPA before any waiver is issued, it looks more and more unlikely.
