To address an issue that’s causing pain for voters across the political spectrum — rising gas prices — the Trump administration sent one of its most trusted foot soldiers to San Antonio this week.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin spoke to local business leaders at the San Antonio Greater Chamber on Friday, reassuring them that prices driven up by the war in Iran will be alleviated by cuts to a Biden-era climate policy his agency announced earlier this week.
Since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in response to U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, domestic gas prices jumped about 30%.
Attempts to reopen the passage where much of the world’s oil supply must pass with a ceasefire agreement have so far fallen short of the administration’s expectations, and the White House is now pivoting to other solutions.
The EPA says its recent changes to the Biden-Harris Administration’s 2024 Clean Air Act will save the oil and gas industry $208 million per year in compliance costs — in theory, helping them lower gasoline prices for American families.
Zeldin sought to reassure reporters Friday that such policy revisions were made with 13 months of investigation into the potential environmental ramifications, not as a knee-jerk reaction to rising gas prices.
“We’re very confident that we reached a decision that both protects the environment and grows the economy, striking that balance,” Zeldin told reporters Friday.
But he hopes the administration’s broader deregulation strategy will bring Americans some relief on energy costs — which continue to rise as the U.S.’s exit strategy in Iran appears increasingly hazy.
“This is a very important moment, not just for a few weeks in the life of the world, but for anyone who’s been paying attention to this conflict [in Iran] for the last half a century,” said Zeldin, who spent 22 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, and defended the President’s approach.
“There has not been freedom of navigation [in the Strait of Hormuz] without a terrorist threat over the course of these decades.”
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The former New Yorker congressman was once among the Republican Party’s moderates when it comes to environmental issues, unseating a Democrat to win his seat in 2014 and joining a then-growing bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.
To many, his pivot since taking over the EPA has been quite stunning, overseeing efforts to ax environmental regulations, defund climate and environmental studies, and fill the agency’s leadership with industry lobbyists and lawyers.
In a cabinet whose members have earned the President much criticism, however, the 46-year-old has been seen as a steady hand.
“He’s on the short list [to replace Attorney General Pam Bondi] and I can see why,” said Katie Ferrier, a senior policy adviser at the Greater Chamber who participated in Friday’s roundtable discussion. “He’s very well-spoken, he’s quick on his feet, and he’s a problem-solver.”
Zeldin said Friday that he’s been traversing the country seeking feedback from local business leaders about how his agency can better serve them, and meeting with reporters to assure the public that help is coming.
San Antonio was his only stop in Texas on this trip, and the wonky policy guru toured a Boeing facility, a regional EPA chemical safety office, and the H2Oaks water storage facility owned by San Antonio Water System (SAWS), which he praised as an “exceptional operation.”
SAWS CEO Robert R. Puente was among the small group of local industry leaders who got a private meeting with Zeldin at the Greater Chamber’s downtown headquarters on Friday.
Others seen leaving the meeting included Gary Raba, chief growth officer at Raba Kistner, Inc., and Howard Energy Partners executive T.J. Campbell.
Chamber leaders stressed the unusual nature of the visit from such a high-ranking White House official. Zeldin’s staff asked them to organize it, they said, and local energy production leaders were “jazzed about how he could get in the weeds with them,” according to Ferrier.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Zeldin said the San Antonians bent his ear about air pollution coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, and if the EPA could reconsider the stricter regulations that’s helped trigger, as it recently did for Phoenix.
“[We’re going] to make sure that San Antonio isn’t punished for what has nothing, nothing to do with America,” he said. “We’re going to continue that conversation coming out of today’s meeting, and I’m glad that they raised it.”
He also showed off the Fiesta medals he was given while in San Antonio and alluded to his plans to visit USAA, where he said he’s long purchased his own insurance.
Asked about the potential Attorney General opening, Zeldin brushed it off, saying he’s been too deep in the world of environmental regulations to worry about it.
“I enjoy what I do as Administrator of the EPA. It’s what occupies my mind all day, and it’s what keeping me keeps me up at night — thinking about what wins we could deliver,” he said.
