Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin says he is on a mission to “right the wrongs of the previous administration,” reshaping the agency’s role in American life while reversing what he describes as waste, abuse, and suffocating regulation.
In his first 100 days, Zeldin reports, the Trump administration’s EPA has canceled more than $22 billion in grants, closed down programs tied to political allies of the Biden and Obama years, and shifted the agency’s focus toward clean air and water while rejecting what he calls the “false choice” between environmental protection and economic growth.
“We do not have to choose between the two, and the American public demands it,” Zeldin said on Podforce One with Miranda Devine. “We inherited an agency that was choosing to suffocate the economy and regulate industries out of existence. Our mandate is to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time,” according to the former Congressman and state Senator from Shirley.
Zeldin paints a picture of an EPA adrift under President Biden, where even the basics of oversight had withered. When he arrived in January, he said, attendance at EPA headquarters—five buildings covering two city blocks—rarely topped 30 percent on any day of the week. Mondays and Fridays saw just 5 to 8 percent of the staff present.
“COVID-19 remote work rules ended long ago,” said Zeldin, a William Floyd High School graduate. “We needed accountability, oversight, and collaboration. To walk into a massive building and see it nearly empty was unacceptable.”
The agency has since begun consolidating its real estate footprint, shuttering underused space and even closing the EPA Museum, which Zeldin noted drew almost no visitors. “We’ve put so many wheels back on the bus in the first 100 days,” he said.
The centerpiece of Zeldin’s early agenda has been dismantling what he calls a $20 billion “climate slush fund,” money allocated through the Inflation Reduction Act and routed by EPA to outside financial institutions and nonprofit groups. According to Zeldin, the program's design intentionally limited EPA oversight, creating opportunities for waste, conflicts of interest, and what he called “self-dealing.”
“When we overturned a rock, we always found something underneath,” Zeldin said. “Former Obama and Biden officials, Democratic donors, pass-through entities with no experience—billions of dollars were flowing with little accountability.”
One example, Zeldin said, was Power Forward Communities, a nonprofit with ties to Democratic activist Stacey Abrams. It received $2 billion despite, according to internal Biden-era reviewers, not knowing how to create a budget. Top salaries, including $800,000 for the group’s CEO, raised red flags even before spending began.
Another, Appalachian Community Capital, was awarded $500 million in 2023 but had spent only a fraction. The group’s plan to finance 600 zero-emission vehicles and 700 charging stations at eye-popping per-unit costs was flagged as wildly inflated.
“It was Biden EPA officials themselves—career staff, not Trump appointees—who wrote in their reviews that the numbers made no sense,” Zeldin said.
The administrator noted that litigation is underway to recover the money, with a 120-day closeout period now in progress. “We found the gold bars they threw off the Titanic, and we’re bringing them back on board,” Zeldin said.
Much of Zeldin’s battle has been fought in the public arena, where he often clashes with major news outlets skeptical of his claims of abuse. A recent exchange with a New York Times reporter became heated when she asserted there was “no evidence” of waste. Zeldin challenged her on whether she had read a federal judgment on the program. “Turned out she hadn’t,” he recalled.
“The American public is fed up with the BS,” Zeldin said bluntly. “They want people in government to fight for them, not gaslight them into thinking billions of dollars lit on fire is normal. If the facts are on our side, why should we apologize for acting?”
The administrator also took aim at the concept of “environmental justice,” a major focus of the Biden EPA. While Zeldin agrees that disadvantaged communities often bear disproportionate environmental burdens, he argues that funds were too often diverted to activist groups rather than remediation projects.
“In some cases, grants were spent training activists to train more activists,” he said. “Instead of cleaning up pollution, the money created an endless cycle of advocacy. That’s not environmental justice.”
He pointed to a $50 million grant to the Climate Justice Alliance, which links its mission to support for a “free Palestine.” “Ask the average American if that’s how they want climate money spent, and the answer is obvious,” Zeldin said.
Under Zeldin, the EPA is returning to what he calls the “first pillar of power” in President Trump’s comeback: clean air, land, and water for all Americans. He highlighted early actions, including wildfire response in California, water quality standards in Pennsylvania, and removal of contaminated soil from polluted sites.
“On the 100th day of this administration, we put out a press release listing 100 environmental actions already taken,” Zeldin said. “That’s the core mission: tangible improvements that protect people’s health and environment.”
Climate change, while not ignored, no longer dominates the agenda. Zeldin said the Biden and Obama EPAs were “obsessed” with climate policy at the expense of practical protections. “They insisted it was impossible to protect the environment without destroying the economy. We reject that premise entirely.”
Zeldin tied EPA policy to the broader Trump agenda of making America the “AI capital of the world.” Artificial intelligence, he argued, requires enormous amounts of reliable energy—a need that can’t be met by intermittent sources like wind and solar.
“You can’t suffocate baseload power—coal, gas, nuclear—and then pretend wind is a substitute,” he said. “President Trump wants to build new pipelines, expand natural gas, and strengthen nuclear power. We need to keep industries thriving while maintaining environmental protections.”
Zeldin, a New Yorker and 22-year Army veteran, said he sees his role as similar to military service under changing administrations. “Sometimes your candidate wins, sometimes they don’t. But you follow lawful orders and execute the mission. That’s what most of the career staff here understand, too.”
For Zeldin, the fight is personal and political. He embraces the description of himself as one of the “warriors” of the Trump administration, taking on entrenched bureaucrats, political opponents, and skeptical journalists.
“We canceled more than $22 billion in wasteful grants in 100 days,” he said. “Whether it’s $10,000 or $10 billion, every dollar matters. We’re fighting for taxpayers as if each dollar were our own.”
As Zeldin tells it, the battle lines are clear: an EPA that balances environmental protection with economic growth, recovers squandered billions, and prioritizes clean air and water over ideology. “President Trump is the president,” he said. “The American public spoke, and we are here to deliver.”