EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin walked onto the Heartland Institute’s climate summit on Wednesday and did something the radical left can’t tolerate: He told the truth about the climate racket.
He blasted the fear merchants, defended American energy, and made it clear that the days of handing blank checks to climate zealots are over. For the left, which has treated climate alarmism like a religion, to hear that from the EPA administrator has to sting.
For years, the climate crowd has treated every weather event, every policy debate, and every energy decision like a prelude to apocalypse, requiring billions of dollars to stop it. How many times have we heard “We only have X years to prevent” stop some devastating climate event, only for that event never to come to pass?
I’ve lost track.
And Zeldin called it out. He said that mentality has warped U.S. policy and pushed Europe into a mess of higher costs, weaker security, and dangerous dependence on foreign energy sources. That’s what happens when “save the planet” becomes a slogan for self-inflicted economic sabotage.
He also put his finger on the political shift that changed everything. The Trump victory in 2024 ended the era of speculative, expensive, self-harming climate policies getting a free pass from Washington. As Zeldin put it, “Now, if the election didn’t go the same way, in November of 2024, I’m pretty confident that whoever would be in this position instead of me might not have been here [at the conference] this morning.”
That line may seem trivial, but it’s not. It tells you exactly how much these people counted on power, not persuasion. “I’m pretty confident that instead of grants getting canceled to the tune of tens of billions, instead the grift would be continuing,” Zeldin said. And that’s the whole game in one sentence. Billions in wasteful grants, endless alarmism, endless pressure… it was all about stoking fear and empowering those who elect Democrats.
Zeldin went even further, describing how climate policy was captured by elites who decided they alone could define science. “What happened for years and decades in this country is that the elite, the ruling class, the people who had run the agencies, the people who have decided that they are in charge of the science, the politicians, the biggest grifters — there would be a cabal that would decide exactly which model is the chosen model, which methodology is the higher methodology.”
And we all know how that worked out.
That’s the part the media can’t stand. They call these gatherings “climate deniers” because they don’t want the public asking whether the so-called consensus has been used as a political weapon. Which, of course, it has.
And then came the line that will drive the alarmists into full meltdown mode: “It’s controversial that we won’t sign up for the script that the world is imminently about to end.”
LIVE: EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Delivers Remarks At The ICCC https://t.co/h81W63BSCa
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 8, 2026
That is exactly why this speech matters so much. It rejects panic as policy. It chooses science over fear.
Zeldin also pointed to Europe as the cautionary tale. The “sky is falling” crowd pushed leaders there to weaken their own energy systems and security, and now European nations rely far more on foreign energy sources. That dependence is not a virtue signal. It is a vulnerability, especially given how much of their oil passes through global chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz.
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I should point out that there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a good steward of the environment. Conservatives have said that for years. But being a good steward means realism, not panic theater, and it certainly does not mean kneecapping your own economy while pretending the sky is about to fall. Democrats have been pushing that for years, and it doesn’t accomplish anything but lining the pockets of their donors.
The reason Zeldin’s speech matters so much is that he spoke like someone who understands the difference between environmental protection and ideological crusading. He didn’t apologize for American energy. He made it clear that the EPA should follow the law, not invent authority because the latest doomsday script demands it.
And frankly, it was refreshing to hear an EPA administrator say it.
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