EPA Chief Lee Zeldin unleashed: He Blasts NY Green Energy Laws As 'Delusional' And A 'Catastrophe'

Zeldin is a no nonsense guy focused on bringing energy sanity back to New York State and the rest of the country.

With the understated title of EPA Administrator, which is not a Cabinet-level position, Lee Zeldin is accomplishing more than some of President Trump’s Cabinet-level appointments. In an interview with the New York Post Sunday evening, April 20, 2025, Zeldin slammed New York’s Climate Act, advanced by Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York Democrats, as “delusional” and a “left-wing recipe for an energy and economic catastrophe.”

Zeldin’s comments come after the Trump administration halted the Empire Wind Power project off the New York-New Jersey coast, a setback to the State’s effort to meet the unachievable mission reduction mandates under its much-criticized green energy laws. Not mincing words, Zelden, who is a New York resident and represented New York's 1st congressional district in the US House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023, told The Post,”

New York’s lofty climate goals don’t come equipped with any feasible plan to actually achieve them. The consequence is that the people who can least afford the economic pain are the ones who get targeted and harmed the most.

My Substack post on April 20, 2025, highlighted that in 2014, New York State foolishly banned hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, which underlies New York State and other states, depriving New York residents of the world's most prolific natural gas deposits. Choosing not to develop the natural gas resources under New York was an act of pure madness, as highlighted by Lee Zeldin, who said:

New York foolishly banned the “safe extraction” of natural gas, gas hookups on new building construction, and gas stoves, while pushing to eliminate the sale of gas-powered vehicles, and blocking new pipeline construction.

This is a left-wing recipe for an energy and economic catastrophe. The idea that we can replace baseload forms of power with intermittent power like wind is simply delusional. (emphasis added)

Under the New York Climate Act, the State must reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030 and have 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040. The State must also generate 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035, 6,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2025, and 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030.

John Howard, former interim chairman of the Public Service Commission, noted that all of these goals are impossible to achieve, saying it is time to go back to the drawing board:

We can flap our arms. It doesn’t mean we’re going to fly. Let’s face reality. The circumstances have changed. Let’s figure out what we’re going to do.

To complicate things further, Howard noted that the favorable tax credits for renewable energy, which promote solar and wind power, might be slashed or eliminated in the next budget approved by President Trump and the Republican-run Congress.

Zeldin said the Trump administration is demanding a more balanced energy and environmental approach, and New York must get with the program:

The Trump EPA understands that we can and must protect the environment and grow the economy. We are focused on protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback.

My Take

New York politicians have been living in energy and environmental la-la land for decades, as evidenced by counterintuitive policies, such as:

• their refusal to develop the Marcellus Shale, one of the most prolific natural gas shales in the world;

• stopping all natural gas pipelines that would bring natural gas from other parts of the Marcellus Shale and other natural gas fields into New York, and not allowing natural gas pipelines to pass through the State, which has forced New England utilities to burn fuel oil;

• establishing the New York Climate Act’s unachievable targets of a 40% emissions reduction by 2030 and 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040 after shuttering the Indian Point nuclear plant in 2021, which provided 25% of New York City’s electricity with zero carbon emissions.

The extent of their self-created energy catastrophe is clear. New York is in serious trouble, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is warning the New York leadership that President Trump will not allow them to continue their self-destructive mission. President Trump and Lee Zeldin will soon be bailing out New York, whether they like it or not. It will be interesting to see how much of a fight they put up to escape the mess they created.

These moves are also a shot across the bow of other states, including California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota, which have also enacted unachievable carbon reduction goals and other destructive energy policies that are not aligned with reality or President Trump’s energy plans.

Grab some popcorn. It’s going to be interesting to watch the Trump/Zeldin duo in action.

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