Lee Zeldin, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has highlighted how federal funds designated for “environmental justice” often fuel an inefficient yet profitable cycle of environmental activism.
During a conversation on The Alex Marlow Show, Zeldin detailed how his agency has curtailed wasteful expenditures, achieving savings that far exceed the EPA’s annual budget.
“We believe in a zero-tolerance policy for waste and abuse,” Zeldin remarked to host Alex Marlow. “Our approach also focuses on doing more with less, and over the past 15 months, we’ve demonstrated that significant savings are achievable at the agency.”
When Zeldin took charge, the EPA’s annual operational budget was approximately $10 billion. He noted, “During my first year in this role, we managed to save $30 billion.”
He further elaborated, “In 2024, the agency’s obligations and expenditures surpassed $60 billion. We achieved savings by canceling grants and contracts, consolidating real estate, enhancing staff efficiencies through a comprehensive agency reorganization, and closing an under-visited EPA museum.”
Zeldin also referenced a discussion with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) during a congressional hearing, which focused on ineffective solar grants supported by the senator, who is a vocal advocate for climate change initiatives.
Zeldin pointed to an exchange with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in a congressional hearing regarding wasteful solar grants the self-proclaimed climate change champion supported.
“We had examples where the grant was going through up to four different passthroughs, where each passthrough entity was getting at least 15% to administer their part of the passthrough,” Zeldin said. “I mean, a lot of this is just inexcusable.”
“The money that gets appropriated in the name of environmental justice to remediate an environmental issue, but then the dollar goes to an activist group to train other activist groups to come to D.C. and advocate for the next dollar to go to them to go out and be activists, like, wait, I thought we were spending this dollar to remediate an environmental issue,” he explained further. “So yeah, it’s about doing more with less, and we have found extraordinary ways to save the taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.”
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Bradley Jaye is Political Editor for – News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
