1. United States
2. N.C.
3. Letter

Lee Zeldin must be removed as EPA Administrator. Since taking office in January 2025, he has systematically dismantled the agency's core mission to protect public health and the environment. Zeldin repealed the Endangerment Finding last month, eliminating the scientific determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health. He has called climate change a "cult" and falsely claimed fossil fuel emissions don't contribute significantly to air pollution. Under his leadership, the EPA has rolled back national air quality standards for particulate matter, limits on oil and gas wastewater discharges, and regulations on power plant and vehicle emissions. The agency stopped calculating healthcare savings and avoided deaths when evaluating air pollution rules. Most damaging, Zeldin shut down all 10 regional environmental justice offices and fired dozens of employees, abandoning vulnerable communities near polluting industries. He scrapped $20 billion in environmental justice and clean energy grants from the Inflation Reduction Act that were already awarded to finance tens of thousands of projects. 163 environmental and health organizations, including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and Public Citizen, have called for his firing. No EPA administrator in history has so brazenly abandoned the agency's mission. Zeldin has betrayed his sworn duty and the trust placed in him. Remove him immediately.