AEA Signs Coalition Letter In Support of Administrator Zeldin

On January 22, 2026, the American Energy Alliance joined with 19 other free-market and consumer choice advocacy organizations in sending a EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, commending him for his stalwart leadership of the agency in 2025. The full text of the letter is available below. The full list of signers is available here.

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Dear Administrator Zeldin:

The undersigned conservative organizations want to commend you for your leadership in 2025 and look forward to working with you in 2026.

In your first year, you faced an incredible challenge to undo the damage from the previous administration. You have been successful in making this happen while simultaneously advancing a proactive agenda that recognizes environmental protection doesn’t require ignoring the rule of law or sound science.

A significant amount of attention has rightly been paid to the EPA’s decision to reconsider the 2009 endangerment finding. You didn’t back down from the scare tactics and handwringing from climate extremists over revisiting the flawed 2009 finding. Instead, the agency proposed a detailed rule outlining the problems with the endangerment finding. It also made an overwhelming case based on numerous legal arguments as to why the EPA doesn’t have statutory authority to promulgate greenhouse gas standards for new motor vehicles.

Your strong leadership goes well beyond the work on the endangerment finding. You led the fight against the Inflation Reduction Act’s abuse of taxpayer dollars, such as through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. In March 2025, you announced 31 deregulatory actions in what you called “the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen.” This was not some mere announcement but a clear blueprint detailing what to expect from the agency. And you are delivering on this ambitious agenda.

The use of sound science is critical across the federal government, especially at the EPA. President Donald Trump has demonstrated his commitment to sound science through his May 2025 executive order “Restoring Gold Standard Science.” The executive order also demonstrates a commitment to properly consider risk. The executive order states “Highly unlikely and overly precautionary assumptions and scenarios should only be relied upon in agency decision-making where required by law or otherwise pertinent to the agency’s action.”

You have also demonstrated this commitment to sound science and proper risk assessment on issues ranging from Clean Air Act regulation to pesticide regulation. In the past, one of the biggest problems at the EPA has been statutory overreach. Another major problem though has been the agency’s use of junk science, unreasonable risk assessments, and the lack of transparency. The EPA under your leadership appears to recognize this problem.

Imposing an air standard that can have severe economic effects or not approving a chemical that can improve the day-to-day lives of Americans can hurt Americans, drive up prices, and restrict freedom. Therefore, it is critical that such an action is only taken when gold standard science has been the foundation of that action.

As we look back though on what you have accomplished, we want you to know that you have exceeded any reasonable expectations we could have had for a strong EPA administrator.

Please also know that we are available to help make 2026 at the EPA even better than 2025.

Sincerely,