Lee Zeldin, the former New York congressman President-elect Donald Trump chose to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, is a perplexing choice, says UCLA environmental law expert Ann Carlson. In fact, all of Trump's Cabinet picks so far appear to favor loyalty over expertise or experience, former Biden appointee Carlson says. As she continues watching to see who will run other climate-related agencies, Carlson analyzes how the choice of Zeldin could actually impede Trump's climate agenda — and considers the "shocking" appointment of Matt Gaetz. Says Carlson:
- "The oddest thing about Trump appointing Zeldin to oversee the EPA is that he doesn't have any experience with the bureaucracy or the industries that the EPA regulates. That's the opposite of the first Trump administration, when Trump's two picks were a coal-industry lobbyist and a former attorney general who led Republican state lawsuits against strong environmental regulations."
- "In these Cabinet appointments, loyalty seems to be a bigger priority than experience or expertise. As far as I can tell, anyone who has expressed any concern over any of Trump's policies, or the January 6 attack, or Trump himself, are disqualified from serving. That takes away a lot of potential talent that might be deployed to enact Trump's agenda."
- "Rolling back President Biden's climate rules, as Trump has promised, cannot be done with just a snap of the fingers. There are laws and procedures that have to be followed. The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases because the EPA has found that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. You can't just refuse to regulate. And you have to follow legal processes to repeal and replace regulations: You have to give notice to the public and time for public comment, present evidence justifying the changes, complete a cost-benefit analysis — things that are cumbersome and complex. Having an administrator with no experience with environmental issues is risky."
- "The first Trump administration found out that you can't just have your way without following law or process. Nearly 85% of their efforts to roll back environmental regulations were struck down in court."
- "The selection of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general is shocking. The Department of Justice enforces the law and also defends the administration in court, so it has a strong role to play in defending any Trump administration climate policies in court and in adopting rules and regulations that are legally defensible. Gaetz has virtually no experience as a practicing lawyer, no experiencing running an organization and appears to have been chosen as AG to exact retribution on the Department of Justice."
- "I'll be watching who gets appointed to the EPA's sub-Cabinet level positions — the EPA's deputy administrator, the general counsel, the head of the air office, and so on, all of which require Senate confirmation. They're not as high-profile as the administrator, but they're important to carrying out the agenda. Maybe those below-Cabinet-level officials will have the experience and expertise that Zeldin lacks."
Media can quote from Carlson's comments, or reach out to check interview availability for her or other UCLA climate experts. Carlson is watching for who will be appointed to other agencies with impacts on climate policy and regulation, including the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior. She and her colleagues are also tracking the broad ways a Trump administration will impact climate policy and the ways that California is "Trump-proofing."
Carlson is the Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law and the faculty director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law. Carlson is a leading scholar climate change law and policy, and she helped set federal fuel economy standards as President Biden's acting administrator and chief counsel for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
