CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Lee Zeldin’s War on Public Health

“Zeldin’s EPA To Relax Drinking Water Rules” was the headline this week in the daily newspaper Newsday on Long Island, New York—from which Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is from.

The subhead: “Plans to rescind PFAS limits, delay removal deadline.”

The article on two pages began with telling how the EPA is proposing “to rescind federal limits on certain toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water—established two years ago by the Biden administration….The Trump administration plans to roll back restrictions on four types of these chemicals, known as PFAS. Another proposed rule would allow water suppliers to request two more years to comply with limits on two other PFAS compounds, PFOS and PFOA. Water suppliers were initially given until 2029 to meet the standards under the Biden-era plan, but they will now be eligible for an extension to 2031.”

It went on: “PFAS—or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—have been used in thousands of industrial and consumer products, from nonstick plans to artificial turf to fast-food wrappers. There are tens of thousands of PFAS compounds, very few of which are regularly, and they do not easily break down—thus the term ‘forever chemicals.’ They enter groundwater when they are washed down the drains of ordinary households…”

Newsday continued: “Researchers have found long-term exposure to PFAS, even in tiny amounts, increases the risk of prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, developmental problems in infants and children and other health programs.”

It’s difficult to rate who is the worst member of President Trump’s cabinet but, certainly, Zeldin is on the top tier, amid stiff competition.

The New Yorker magazine has just run an article –seven full pages long—which in the magazine is headlined: “Burning Man, Lee Zeldin’s assault on the E.P.A.” and online is headed: “Can The EPA Survive Lee Zeldin.”

A summary paragraph in the piece: “In a little more than a year Zeldin has transformed the E.P.A. from an agency devoted to protecting human health and the environment into one that, more or less openly, sides with polluters. He has packed the E.P.A.’s upper echelons with former industry lobbyists, scrubbed entire databases........

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