Senate Confirms Lee Zeldin to Lead EPA
Senate Confirms Former Congressman Lee Zeldin as Trump's EPA Administrator
LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Former New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday to be the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a 56-42 vote.
During confirmation hearings, Zeldin was questioned about his connections to the oil industry as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and whether it would affect his decisions made as administrator, in particular as it relates to renewable fuels.
Biofuel interest groups said they were encouraged by Zeldin's willingness to work with them and members of Congress to support biofuels.
Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said in a statement that he believes Zeldin will support ethanol and rural American interests.
"As noted during his Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. Zeldin understands that ethanol and other renewable fuels will play an important role in accomplishing the president's energy and environmental objectives," Cooper said.
"We are confident he will support timely and transparent implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard, take steps to facilitate expansion of lower-cost fuel blends like E15, and revisit extreme regulations that force automakers to produce costly electric vehicles that are heavily dependent on foreign raw materials. We are eager to collaborate with Administrator Zeldin and his entire team at EPA to empower greater use of more affordable, cleaner-burning, domestically produced liquid fuels."
Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor said in a statement that Zeldin's confirmation hearing was "encouraging" as he committed to implementing the Trump agenda on biofuels.
"Administrator Zeldin has made it clear that he understands how important American-made biofuels are to President Trump's efforts to unleash American energy dominance," she said.
"He's also committed to advancing year-round E15 and ensuring that America's farmers and biofuel producers have the regulatory certainty under the Renewable Fuel Standard to plan and invest in rural growth."
Skor thanked Zeldin for agreeing to work alongside Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and others on Capitol Hill to deliver a "much-needed boost" to the farm economy and greater fuel savings for hardworking Americans with ethanol.
Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said Zeldin's EPA will have a lot of work to do.
"Big issues await action," Shaw said. "First on the list is ensuring that consumers do not lose access year-round to lower-cost E15. EPA must also move quickly to propose Renewable Fuel Standard blending levels in line with what Congress intended. We encourage administrator Zeldin to fully pursue the important role biofuels can play to secure U.S. energy dominance."
Brett Hartl, government affairs director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said the jury is still out on whether Zeldin will be good for the environment.
"Trump stated that Lee Zeldin would maintain the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet, so we're going to hold him to that promise," Hartl said.
"But let's be clear-eyed that every other person Trump has already deployed to the EPA's pesticide, water and air divisions has a long track record of putting industry profits and polluters above our health and the environment. You can't make America healthy again if you gut every safeguard we depend on."
Read more on DTN: "Zeldin: Oil Industry Has No Influence," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
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