Lee Zeldin must choose Long Islanders over polluters

For years, Long Island families have worried about what’s coming out of their faucets. Toxic PFAS — known as "forever chemicals" — have tainted drinking water supplies across Nassau and Suffolk counties. Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to serious health problems, including cancer, liver damage, and developmental problems in children.

The Environmental Protection Agency, under Administrator Lee Zeldin, had a clear opportunity to address this crisis. Instead, it just took a major step backward. On May 14, the agency announced plans to rescind and reconsider limits on four types of PFAS regulated under landmark Biden-era drinking water protections, weakening the nation’s most significant effort to remove these toxic chemicals from our water. It also delayed enforcement of the remaining limits, for PFOA and PFOS, by two years. Clean water rollbacks are no longer a looming threat. They’re happening right now, under Zeldin’s watch.

For Zeldin, the decision to roll back PFAS limits was his biggest test of leadership on safe water yet — and he failed it. His agency could have defended the strongest-ever federal rules to reduce PFAS in our drinking water, protections communities across Long Island desperately need. Instead of siding with science and public health, Zeldin sided with polluters. Families across this region will pay a heavy price.

This failure comes amid a broader federal assault on clean water. The Trump administration recently released a budget proposal that would slash the country’s main source of federal water infrastructure funding by nearly 90%. It also proposes gutting the EPA’s science and enforcement capacity, leaving Long Island communities with even fewer tools and resources to protect themselves from toxic pollution.

Nowhere are the stakes higher than on Long Island. Newsday recently reported that 19 Long Island water suppliers have detected unregulated PFAS compounds — so-called "short-chain" variants even harder to remove than their predecessors. While many water districts have already raised rates to install treatment systems, these newer contaminants pose a deeper challenge. In 2023, water utilities began testing for 23 additional PFAS compounds, and so far, at least 77 drinking water wells on Long Island have detected levels above the federal minimum reporting thresholds.

Additionally, a separate analysis found that more than 1.3 million New Yorkers could lose vital protections from PFAS if these new rules are rolled back, with Long Island communities among the most at risk.

Zeldin must do three things. First, he must defend the remaining drinking water limits and a rule that would hold polluters financially accountable for PFOA and PFOS contamination in communities. Second, he must reject any carve-outs that shield powerful polluters from accountability. Third, he must support long-term solutions — including fully funding the State Revolving Loan Programs that help water systems upgrade treatment infrastructure.

To truly fix our nation’s water crisis, Congress must act, too, by passing the WATER Act, a commonsense bill that would deliver permanent federal funding to rebuild aging public water systems and ensure safe water for all. Long Island’s congressional delegation must do more to lead the charge.

The science is clear. The need is urgent. And the people of Long Island — Zeldin’s neighbors and former constituents — are watching.

Zeldin wasn’t sent to Washington to protect chemical corporations. He was sent to protect the health and safety of the American people. But right now, he’s showing that his allegiance lies with corporate polluters, not the people he’s supposed to serve.

This guest essay reflects the views of Eric Weltman, New York senior organizer at Food & Water Watch.