WATCH: Sen. Lummis asks Zeldin if he’d follow the science or the law as EPA chief

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. questioned Lee Zeldin, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of the Environmental Protection Agency, in a confirmation hearing Thursday held by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Lummis asked Zeldin whether it would be his job as EPA administrator to “follow the science or follow the law.”

Zeldin responded that his “first obligation” would be to follow the law.

Lummis followed up by then asking whether Zeldin considered it his goal to have clean air or to eliminate specific fuels.

“The reason why a regulation might be in place is the end state of wanting to have the cleanest, safest, healthiest air, drinking water, that is the goal, the end state of all the conversations that we might have and any regulations that might get passed and any laws that might get passed by Congress,” Zeldin said. “What brings us all together should be the ultimate goal of having clean air and clean water.”

Zeldin is a former congressman from New York. He left Congress in January 2023 and was among the Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. In his time in the House, he did not serve on committees that oversaw environmental policy.

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