Senate Must Get Answers From Zeldin About Financial Conflicts And Op-ed Payments

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works must ensure that Lee Zeldin can serve the American public without bias or financial conflicts before considering his nomination for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to testimony submitted by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

The EPA enforces Congress's environmental laws across a wide range of industries, helping to protect the nation's air and water, conserve natural resources, and protect against environmental risk. The EPA administrator's leadership of the agency is integral to protecting the health and well-being of the environment and the public. When businesses or individuals violate environmental laws and regulations, the EPA imposes civil or criminal penalties on violators through a variety of enforcement actions. In this way, EPA activity can have a direct impact on private industry, which in turn has a vested interest in influencing the agency to its benefit.

Since leaving Congress in 2023, Zeldin has been paid thousands of dollars by three public relations firms to author three op-eds related to environmental policy: two op-eds on corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices, and another on New York State's climate goals and fracking policy. The public does not know on behalf of which clients these firms paid Zeldin, but they are likely entities with a vested interest in influencing public opinion and public policy on environmental policy. Clients for the firms that paid Zeldin to write these op-eds include Chevron, the American Petroleum Institute and multiple energy companies.

These payments raise questions about whether Zeldin will act in the best interests of the public, rather than in service to private industry. The Committee on Environment and Public Works must not consider Zeldin's nomination until he discloses to the Committee which clients paid for his op-eds and demonstrates that those payments will not improperly influence his decision making. Further, Zeldin must assure the Committee that he will comply with federal conflict of interest laws, which prohibit government officials from acting on matters in which they or their family members have a financial stake, and that he will recuse himself from matters when legally required.

The Committee must secure such transparency and assurances to properly fulfill its constitutional duty to advise and consent on cabinet nominees, and to demonstrate to the American people that Zeldin is capable of serving the interests of the American people, and not merely his own private interests.