WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that he believes climate change is real and a threat but that the agency he is poised to lead is just authorized, not required, to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
Former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin said at his Senate confirmation hearing that a 2007 decision by the Supreme Court did give the agency the statutory authority to regulate the heat-trapping greenhouse gas but clarified that it did not obligate the EPA to take action.
Zeldin did say during the hearing that he does believe climate change is real, a departure from his predecessors leading the EPA during the first Trump administration from 2017 to 2020.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici)
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