EPA chief Lee Zeldin tells climate skeptics to "celebrate vindication"

Politics EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin tells climate skeptics to "celebrate vindication" after law repealed April 8, 2026 / 2:27 PM EDT / AP Add CBS News on Google The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday defended his decision to repeal the legal determination that serves as the basis for federal rules to slow climate change, telling a gathering of climate change skeptics they should "celebrate vindication."EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin made the remarks in the keynote address at a conference hosted by the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that rejects mainstream climate science and what it calls "climate alarmism." Zeldin told the gathering that repeal of the 2009 "endangerment finding" reversed decades of unthinking adherence to liberal politicians and environmental groups about the dangers of climate change."Today is a moment to celebrate. It is a day to celebrate vindication," said Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York who is widely believed to be under consideration for a possible promotion to attorney general, following Pam Bondi's forced departure last week.The EPA earlier this year revoked the endangerment finding, a scientific conclusion that for 16 years was the central basis for regulating planet-warming emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources. The Trump administration argued the finding hurts industry and the economy and claimed the Obama and Biden administrations twisted science to determine that greenhouse gases are a public health risk.Zeldin's prominent appearance at a conference hosted by a group deeply skeptical of the established science around climate change reflected the vast reversal that President Donald Trump's administration has carried out of traditional policies meant to protect the environment. The EPA has rolled back dozens of air and water protections and has said it does not have legal authority to regulate climate change."You were right there on the front lines against ther...