WASHINGTON — On Nov. 11, president-elect Donald Trump announced his plans to appoint former Republican New York Congressman Lee Zeldin as the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“He will ensue 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,” Trump said in his announcement on social platform Truth Social. “He will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance, that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way.”

Native to Suffolk County, NY, Zeldin represented New York’s First Congressional District from 2015 to 2023. He became the youngest attorney in New York at the time when he was 23 years old. Zeldin served active duty in the US Army for four years. Today, he continues his service as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve, marking over two decades in the military.

Zeldin has been a critic of policies under the Biden administration, including Biden’s climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which Zeldin voted against while in office.

“We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI,” Zeldin said in a post on X. “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”