How Trump's EPA head has transformed the agency — and sided with polluters
4/29/202645 min
‘New Yorker’ staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert says EPA chief Lee Zeldin has rescinded regulations, cut or eliminated departments and terminated the jobs of many scientists. Trump calls Zeldin "our secret weapon." The Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental journalist spoke with Terry Gross.
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Terry Gross· Host0:19
This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. Scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency are being chased out and departments drastically reduced or eliminated. Efforts at the EPA to slow climate change and reduce pollution are constantly being decreased. The head of the EPA who is behind this change of direction is Lee Zeldin. President Trump has described him as our secret weapon. Zeldin isn't known for the kind of personal drama and big personality that some other members of the Trump administration are, but he's been very successful in carrying out the dramatic changes in Trump's agenda to undo restrictions on companies that are polluters and on the chemicals in the air and water that harm our health and the environment. My guest, Elizabeth Kolbert, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental journalist and a staff writer for The New Yorker. Her article in the current issue is titled Can the EPA Survive Lee Zeldin? She's also the author of the bestseller, The Sixth Extinction. Our interview was recorded yesterday. Elizabeth Kolbert, welcome back to Fresh Air. You start your piece in The New Yorker