EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says agency is "going in the right direction" as Long Islanders call for him to do more

The Environmental Protection Agency has come under fire for staff firings, climate and deregulation controversies, but Administrator Lee Zeldin, who is from Long Island, returned to his home turf Friday to spread the word on what is right with the EPA.

Zeldin visited Oyster Bay Harbor, where he toured shellfish restoration projects, part of bipartisan efforts to continue funding to protect Long Island Sound.

"Yes, as far the effort of cleaning up this waterway, I would say that this is a coalition leading the way," Zeldin said.

A growing shellfish hatchery industry, breeding and raising mollusks, is part of marine restoration aquaculture, but many local environmentalists want much more, saying they're concerned about the direction of Zeldin's EPA.

"We need him to now embrace fighting for other environmental and public health issues, such as continuing to fight for safe, clean drinking water, stop PFAS contamination," said Adrienne Esposito, with Citizens Campaign for the Environment.

"What we believe is that instead of the water system having to pay and then passing it off it to the ratepayer, that it should be a polluter pays model," Zeldin said, "where whoever's responsible for putting that PFAS contamination in should be the party that has to pay."

As for cutting the EPA budget by half, Zeldin said it's not unilateral, it's a process that begins with the president and must be approved by Congress.

"We need him to really refocus and reorganize the EPA so we go back to its original mission," Esposito said.

"Do we have some unique challenges? Yeah. Are there still challenges that are faced today? Absolutely," Zeldin said, "but there is so much that's going in the right direction."

Zeldin is a former Republican congressman who represented eastern Long Island from 2015 to 2023. He ran for governor in 2022 and lost to Gov. Kathy Hochul.