Like the EPA administrators from Trump's first term—former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler and "fossil fuel puppet" Scott Pruitt —Zeldin is expected to pursue the Republican's plan to "drill, baby, drill," despite the devastating consequences for the global climate.

Then-Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) arranged the event after Long Island officials and local environmental activists complained that the only federal hearing on the 2018 presidential executive order to allow that oil exploration and drilling had been held in Albany. Legal challenges eventually blocked the drilling.

Inside Climate News reporter Marianne Lavelle writes that New York Representative Lee Zeldin brings a moderate face to a radical game plan.