Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared on the website of Food & Water Action (our affiliated organization) at an earlier date.

In Trump’s vision of the future, corporations have free rein to sacrifice our public health and environment for profit. Now, he has selected cabinet picks to turn his vision into reality.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of Agriculture (USDA) are critical to creating and enforcing policies toward clean water, safe food, and a livable climate. But Trump has nominated corporate cronies and climate skeptics, some very underqualified, to these essential agencies. 

This week, the Senate has begun confirmation hearings to evaluate Trump’s cabinet picks. Senators may cast their final votes on these picks soon after Inauguration Day on January 20. But until then, we’re pushing Senators to reject these disastrous nominees for the EPA, USDA, and DOE.

Lee Zeldin Would Deregulate for Corporations’ Benefit

The EPA sets and enforces regulations vital to protecting our environment, health, and climate. 

From toxics like lead and PFAS “forever chemicals,” to factory farm pollution, to smokestack emissions, the EPA’s work touches our lives every day. Now, Trump is planning to install a loyalist and fossil fuel advocate, Lee Zeldin, at its helm. 

Zeldin’s long history in New York politics sheds a lot of light on how he might act as EPA administrator. In 2022, Zeldin ran for governor promising to repeal New York’s fracking ban. On the campaign trail, he touted inaccurate claims about the industry’s economic and jobs impact. 

From 2015 to 2023, he represented New York’s District 1 in Congress; during those years, Zeldin pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. His voting record in Congress solidifies his allegiances — he voted to cut EPA’s budget by $2 billion, in support of Trump’s withdrawal from Paris, and against an EPA methane rule to reduce pollution from fossil fuel operations.

Zeldin does have some good votes on record, like those in support of bills to address our PFAS pollution crisis. But his most telling vote came in 2020 — he voted against certifying the election results to keep Trump in the White House. 

When it comes to the EPA, it’s clear Zeldin will just serve as another “yes man” to carry out Trump’s disastrous anti-science, pro-polluter agenda. Upon announcing his choice for EPA, Trump proclaimed that Zeldin would “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses.”

The EPA is supposed to keep us safe from pollution. Under Zeldin, corporations will get top billing.

Brooke Rollins Brings Loyalty to Trump to the USDA

The USDA has a sprawling portfolio of policies under its authority. That includes meat safety inspections, support for farmers, conservation programs, anti-hunger programs like SNAP (formerly food stamps), and more. 

Through these policies, the USDA has massive leverage in shaping our food system. It can help support small family farmers, and it can incentivize sustainable farming practices and affordable, healthy food. Conversely, the agency can (and does) boost corporate agribusiness over farmers and families.

Despite USDA’s massive, complex purview, Trump has nominated a complete newcomer to food and agricultural policy to lead the agency. Brooke Rollins is a Trump loyalist who served in his first administration. During Biden’s presidency, Rollins co-founded and led a nonprofit dedicated to boosting Trump’s economic policies.

As part of Trump 2.0, we can expect Rollins to carry out the President’s agenda. Last term, this included loosening regulations on food and worker safety in meatpacking plants. The administration also endangered workers by allowing these plants to remain open at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on corporations’ lies about meat shortages.

With Rollins at the head of the USDA, food and agriculture policy would become even friendlier to Big Ag, and families and farmers would suffer the consequences.

Chris Wright Would Champion Fossil Fuels at the Department of Energy

At a time of skyrocketing energy prices and climate change-fueled disasters, a transition to 100% renewables has never been more dire. The past few years have shown us that renewables are cheaper and more reliable, on top of being worlds better for our health and climate. 

The DOE is instrumental in this transition, given its research, loan, and permitting responsibilities for all sorts of energy projects. Its purpose is to “foster a secure and reliable energy system that is environmentally and economically sustainable.” But Trump’s pick for DOE Secretary, Chris Wright, flies in the face of that mission.

Wright comes to the nomination with zero government experience but a long history with fossil fuels. He has been CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking company, since 2011. Almost two decades prior, he founded a company whose technology helped fracking go mainstream. 

To make matters worse, Wright is a climate skeptic. Last year, he proclaimed that “there is no climate crisis.” And notably, he donated more than $200,000 to support Trump’s 2024 campaign.

As Energy Secretary, Wright will be part of Trump’s new “National Energy Council,” which Trump proclaims will work toward U.S. “energy dominance” by boosting fossil fuels and cutting regulations. 

To that end, one of Wright’s first moves as head of DOE would likely be reversing Biden’s pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure. In December, a new DOE report laid out LNG exports’ high costs. The industry’s growth will lead to higher energy prices for families and planet-endangering levels of climate pollution. 

Cabinet Confirmations Are a Chance to Throw a Wrench in the Trump Machine

As Trump returns to the White House, we’re seizing every opportunity possible to fight his agenda. That starts with his cabinet picks, who will have immense power over the nation’s policy and regulations. 

If we don’t stop them, these cabinet nominees will make our world more expensive, more dangerous and precarious, and more unequal. They will open the door to even more corporate power and corporate greed, sacrificing our health and environment in the process. But we have the opportunity to block them — and to continue throwing a wrench in Trump’s agenda whenever possible in the years ahead. 

We’ve faced a Trump administration before, and together we were able to stop some of its most outrageous environmental schemes. We know how to beat Trump, and together we will do so again.