Zeldin will appear Thursday before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works for his confirmation hearing to be the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

In his opening statements, Whitehouse had flagged his concerns that Trump intends to pour millions into the pockets of billionaire fossil fuel barons, and that he hoped Zeldin would demonstrate an ability to “follow the science” and economics, as opposed to act as a “rubber stamp for looters and polluters.”