WASHINGTON — EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has begun to do what President Donald Trump wanted to do in his first term but couldn’t: Shrink the Environmental Protection Agency and cut its regulations on energy and business.

In his first month on the job, Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman, has spoken less about protecting the environment in interviews and on social media than he has about his mission to "unleash energy dominance."

And in the past week, Zeldin announced he would seek to slash EPA spending by 65%, twice the 31% proposed by Trump in his first term and, according to news reports, recommended the repeal of a 2009 landmark EPA finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public health and welfare. 

On Wednesday on Fox News, Zeldin said, "In 2024 at EPA, there were tens of billions of dollars spent. In 2025, we want that number reduced by tens of billions of dollars."

He praised billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and said, "DOGE, Elon and his team have been fantastic to work with. I have canceled about 30 grants working with them, with $120 million of savings."

But a top priority of Zeldin is to claw back the $20 billion in the Biden administration's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that Democrats passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. He complained on X that "they're trying to make it very hard to recover. We are not going to rest."

National environmental groups have condemned Zeldin’s plans for the EPA.

"Let’s call this what it is: Sabotage of the Environmental Protection Agency and the critical work it performs every day," said Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club.

On Feb. 12, Zeldin announced he would make it a priority to reclaim the $20 billion that Congress approved for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which would be used to make grants and encourage private investment in clean energy projects, many of them in low income communities. 

Last April, during the Biden administration, the EPA at the direction of Congress transferred that money to an account at Citibank and selected eight organizations to receive the funds to spend and spur private investments for climate and clean-energy projects.

In his first volley, Zeldin cited a secretly recorded video by the right-wing group Project Veritas in which an EPA official said the Biden administration was trying to quickly move the funds out of reach before the Trump administration would come in and stop it.

"It truly feels like we’re on the Titanic and we’re throwing, like, gold bars off the edge," the EPA official said in the recording. Former Biden officials deny that claim.

Legal experts told Newsday that the arrangement with Citibank is legitimate and should survive a challenge by the Trump administration because it is a legally established contract that the federal government enters into regularly.

But organizations selected to receive the grants said they cannot access the money because Citibank has frozen the funds. Citibank did not respond to a Newsday query.

And on Friday the Washington Post, citing two people familiar with the matter, reported that FBI agents this week had questioned EPA employees about the grant program, escalating a criminal probe that already caused one veteran prosecutor to resign.

"We are continuing our line-by-line review of agency spending, bringing the total taxpayer dollars saved to more than $171 million since Administrator Zeldin was sworn in one month ago," the EPA press office said in a statement to Newsday. 

Democrats on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works have pushed back on Zeldin’s claims that the Biden administration mishandled the $20 billion green fund.

Last Monday they sent him a letter defending the fund and gave him a Monday deadline  to answer questions about his claims about the legality of the fund, to identify who ordered Citibank to freeze the account and who told him to take this action.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the committee’s ranking member, in a statement to Newsday accused Zeldin of "selling out" public health and environmental protections "to the same polluting industries that bankrolled much of Trump’s campaign."

He added, "Administrator Zeldin testified before Congress that he would respect the science and listen to the experts, but it’s become clear that was a farce. This is not about good governance; this is about rigging the system for polluters."

During his first term, Trump proposed a budget cut each year for the EPA ranging from 25% to 34%, though Congress under both Republican and Democratic majorities generally rejected them and maintained the EPA's funding levels.

He did succeed at repealing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, rolled back emissions standards for vehicles, ended restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas operations. 

House Republicans have long complained about the EPA, and in 2023 proposed cutting EPA's budget by 40%

But in his first month as president this year, he has been more successful with a flurry of executive orders that the Republican-controlled Congress has not challenged, including declaring a national emergency to expedite energy projects that focus on fossils fuels and exclude solar and wind. 

"President Trump, DOGE, and Administrator Zeldin are committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse across all agencies," said White House spokesperson Taylor Rodgers.

When he became EPA administrator, Zeldin issued his top five priorities, leading off with supporting American industry growth and boosting fossil fuel production, and adding finding efficiencies in the agency. 

The EPA press office did not grant a Newsday request for an interview with Zeldin.

Members of Long Island’s delegation to the U.S. House had mixed reactions to Zeldin’s actions in office so far in statements to Newsday.

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) backed Zeldin’s attempt to claw back the $20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund account held by Citibank, and called the allocation of that money to "favored nonprofits — without proper congressional oversight a gross mishandling of funds."

LaLota also said he trusts that Zeldin "will implement significant reductions responsibly."

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) said she looks forward to working with Zeldin on Long Island issues and said he must make cuts to the EPA "responsibly and in full accordance with the law."

But Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), who expressed support for Zeldin when Trump nominated him, criticized both Zeldin’s attempt to seize the $20 billion in grants and his plans to deeply cut the EPA workforce.

"Both these drastic actions would be a reckless rollback of essential environmental protections that benefit all Americans," Suozzi said. "Gutting the EPA won’t save money, it will cost Americans their health, safety, clean air, clean water and the future of their children."

And Long Island environmentalist Adrienne Esposito, of Farmingville, expressed disappointment with Zeldin after initially hoping he would stand up for the environment when Trump tapped him to be EPA administrator.

"If the promise by the president and Lee Zeldin was to fight for clean air and safe water, this is really a giant broken promise," she told Newsday in an interview.

"It clearly seems that Mr. Zeldin is carrying water for the president and abandoning his own personal beliefs and his own legacy," she said.