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Dear John,
Is it really any surprise that Donald Trump has chosen former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?
Zeldin has shown the requisite hostility toward the environment. As a Congress member, he opposed environmental legislation 85% of the time, and in 2020 he received the lowest score from the League of Conservation Voters, with a lifetime score of just 14%.
Zeldin voted against Biden’s 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, including EPA funding for cleaning up toxic brownfields and replacing dangerous lead pipes nationwide. Now, he’s planning to dismantle the Biden administration’s climate regulations, including limits on vehicle emissions and pollution from power plants and oil and gas producers.
He told Fox News he plans to roll back these “left-wing” policies as a means of “unleashing economic prosperity.” But this supposed “prosperity” comes at a cost. Releasing more carbon into the atmosphere exacerbates the greenhouse effect, trapping heat and driving up global temperatures. The long-term consequences will devastate the environment and the global economy.
Last year was the hottest on record since tracking began in 1850. This is a terrible time to make a bad situation worse.
Lee Zeldin’s agenda will wreak havoc on both the environment and the economy. Tell your senators to reject his nomination as head of the EPA.
Major corporations understand the impact climate change is having and will have on our economy if we don't keep fighting against it: more natural disasters that will cost billions to recover from. In 2023 alone, the U.S. endured 28 weather and climate disasters that caused over $1 billion in damages each, for a staggering total of $93.1 billion.
Over the past three years, there have been 60 such disasters. Since 1980, the cumulative cost of these events comes to $2.6 trillion.
Disney knows the economic costs of global warming, as they have had to shut down Disney World ten times between Hurricanes Floyd in 1999 and Milton in 2024. These closures cost Disney an estimated $547 million (adjusted for inflation). Theme park consultant Dennis Speigel notes the irony: “Walt Disney came to Florida because it had such good weather. Hurricanes weren’t much of a factor back then. Now, it’s no joke.”
Meanwhile, Zeldin’s priorities align squarely with Trump’s agenda of “energy dominance,” shifting the EPA’s mission from protecting clean air and water to advancing fossil fuel interests.
Tell your senators: The EPA’s mission is environmental protection, not serving as a vehicle for fossil fuel profits. Lee Zeldin is the wrong choice to lead the agency.
Thank you for standing up for a sustainable future.
- DFA AF Team
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