An EPA that doesn't live up to its name

The federal government agency in charge of protecting our environment and the people’s health has warped into an entity adrift of that purpose. In the first year of this Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, headed by former Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, failed in its core mission of safeguarding and improving the quality of our air, water and food.

The EPA was founded in December 1970 in response to thousands of communities across the country suffering from polluted streams and air. It has done much good over the decades, like last week’s release of mandatory reviews of five of 20 Long Island Superfund sites that showed they were no longer an immediate risk to people or the environment, although continued monitoring is needed. Results like that, especially because Long Island’s water comes from the aquifer beneath it, demonstrate why the EPA must continue vigorous enforcement.

Yet, those who oppose EPA regulations now have great sway with the Trump administration. They argue the agency stymies businesses, especially efforts by fossil fuel companies to restrict the generation of much-needed electricity.

‘BIGGEST’ DEREGULATIONS

Zeldin’s EPA boasts about being more business-friendly, even at one point touting the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history.” President Donald Trump leads the growing chorus of naysayers who claim the EPA itself is the problem. While cutting excessive and unproductive regulations is always smart, what’s best for our health must always be the agency’s priority.

An Associated Press analysis found that the rules Zeldin seeks to change could prevent 30,000 deaths and save society $275 billion annually if they remain in place. For sure, Zeldin is to be lauded for having an open door and visiting every state to hear firsthand what environmental issues need federal intervention. And he is to be commended for wanting to make the EPA a partner, not a prosecutor, of energy businesses. He frequently meets with energy sector executives. During his confirmation hearing, Zeldin repeatedly emphasized that the federal government can work with businesses to protect the environment. And under his watch, the EPA did make a positive impact, such as accelerating the Tijuana River sewage crisis remediation, a joint project of the U.S. and Mexico.

However, there have been several worrisome cases in the past year in which the EPA favored polluters over the well-being of Americans, such as abandoning rules that oil and gas infrastructure be upgraded to prevent methane leaks. Earlier this month he sided with the coal industry and approved delaying the implementation of new standards which would have limited leaching of arsenic, lead and mercury from coal ash into water. Rolling back endangerment findings for air and water polluters is wrong. This must change.

The EPA adopted a novel “compliance first” doctrine in 2025, which calls for accountability from businesses themselves. The EPA encourages companies to report violators as a way to regulate rather than rely on the government to police the sector. Common sense tells you that’s not the best way to ensure that profits aren’t favored over environmental degradation. After all, the feds don’t encourage self-reporting for immigration violators or drug smugglers.

The EPA boasts of major accomplishments in 2025, posting hundreds of them on its website, like signing action memos and awarding grants. These achievements include hosting informational meetings about the dangers of lead and conducting 6,457 inspections and 3,807 offsite compliance activities. But that really is just the job.

CRITICIZED BY ‘MAHA’ MOMS

Environmental quality isn’t a zero-sum game. A handful of achievements does not give the EPA license to cut regulations that protect Americans. Even Make America Healthy Again activists, the so-called MAHA moms, are fearful that Zeldin is getting too cozy with the chemical industry and will approve the use of new pesticides containing forever chemicals that may be linked to rising cancer rates.

Environmentalists will argue that any regulatory retreat threatens lives. Certainly, stepping back from the EPA’s core mission is deleterious, but protecting our environment is possible without stifling private industry. Instead of overreaching with its overhaul of the rules, the EPA should search for ways to safeguard Americans while allowing the energy economy to thrive.

Regulatory rollbacks, terminating grants for clean energy projects, and slashing the department’s budget by 55% do not engender confidence. Environmental stewardship shouldn’t be a partisan issue, as Zeldin himself once said. Several states, New York included, are realizing that ambitious clean energy goals do come with costs and some are unattainable — for now, at least. It may be too early to demand that every new vehicle is electric and every new building is green. But we can’t lose sight of the goal.

Poisonous air emissions and other hazards demand rigorous EPA oversight. At the same time, we need to heat our homes. It’s a difficult and narrow path, but one the EPA must successfully navigate.

Trusting good-faith gestures from businesses didn’t stop the environment from being polluted, and that same thinking won’t work today. Police ticket speeders to make the roads safer. Deterrence works. Zeldin must enforce existing regulations if he wants his legacy there to be more constructive than destructive.