Conservatives cherish the environment and are the real conservationists, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said during a Monday appearance on The Alex Marlow Show.
Host and Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow pointed out during the discussion that the entire concept of environmentalism has been largely “hijacked by the cultural Marxist and the woke left.”
“But conservationism, I think really is an inherently conservative concept, and I think we are better stewards of the land than the left in general,” he said, asking Zeldin to speak to that dichotomy between environmentalism and conservationism.
Zeldin agreed and said at the very basic level, most Americans want access to clean air, land, and water. Further, they care about conservation, despite talking points from the left.
“First and foremost, they care about conservation,” Zeldin said, providing an example.
“We saw it with the Great American Outdoors Act when that was passed through Congress. It was bringing together voices from all across the political spectrum in this country in order to conserve land. There are a lot of people out there who are fishermen, who are hunters, and they spend their lives dedicated towards their love of the environment,” he said, explaining, “They cherish it. They want to protect it.”
“This isn’t something that’s new. It’s part of the long rich history of this country. We want to be able to do our part to leave that next generation an environment that’s better than the last,” he continued.
Zeldin said it is essential for federal agencies — in his case, the EPA — to focus on its core mission. That focus is always centered around “protecting human health and the environment,” and it is crucial for federal agencies to remain “cognizant of what Americans say are their top issues and demands, of what they expect from the federal government, so that we’re doing our part.”
“EPA is part of the National Energy Dominance Council. EPA is part of Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy’s [Jr.] Make America Healthy Again commission,” Zeldin continued, emphasizing the need for continued collaborations.
“We can’t all be siloed in our own box,” the former New York congressman explained.
“And then when you talk permitting reform, that’s one of the problems, is that one agency has their lane of permitting reform. It’s a long process, and then you get kicked to some other agency with some other process with different rules in their own constituency, and then that takes a long time, and people are like, ‘Hey, I’ve been in the federal government now for a year and a half. No one has raised this issue as something I need to deal with. Why didn’t you all tell me 15 months ago?’ That’s all part of the permitting reform conversation,” Zeldin explained.
Ultimately, the EPA Administrator said he believes there is “very strong bipartisan support all across America” for their efforts.
“It’s transcending politics, a desire to be able to protect this beautiful land that we call home,” he added.
The Alex Marlow Show, hosted by Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, is a weekday podcast produced by Breitbart News and Salem Podcast Network. You can subscribe to the podcast on YouTube, Rumble, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
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