"New EPA administrator Lee Zeldin’s pillars pledge to help auto industry and have no mention of the climate crisis"
"A new and starkly different vision for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been outlined by the Trump administration – one that involves mass staff cuts, an influx of industry lobbyists and, unusually, the promotion of artificial intelligence as a key agency priority.
A set of five “pillars” issued by new EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, to guide the agency, set up under President Richard Nixon in 1970 to protect US public health and the environment, does include one referencing “clean land, air and water for every American”.
But the other four priorities move into areas beyond the traditional mission of the EPA, such as bolstering “American energy dominance”, a pledge to speed up the approvals of new projects such as oil and gas drilling, a focus on ensuring “a great comeback of the auto industry” and a promise to “make the United States the Artificial Intelligence capital of the world”.
The new set of priorities come amid tumult at the EPA, where more than 1,000 members of staff have been told they face being immediately fired. Career staff who oversee the enforcement of pollution laws and hazardous waste cleanup have already been reportedly demoted, with Donald Trump stacking the agency with a new cohort of former industry lobbyists who have spent their careers attacking protections covering everything from water quality to greenhouse gas emissions to toxic chemicals."
Oliver Milman and Dharna Noor report for the Guardian February 6, 2025.
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