Trump’s EPA nominee stays vague on plans as senators press him on climate views WSOC TV [Video]

Lee Zeldin said Americans deserve a clean environment “without suffocating the economy” during his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a department likely to play a central role in President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to slash federal regulations and promote oil and gas development.

“The American people elected President Trump last November in part due to serious concerns about upward economic mobility,” Zeldin said. “A big part of this will require building private sector collaboration to promote common sense, smart regulation.”

It was a mostly friendly hearing that occasionally grew pointed when Democrats questioned Zeldin about climate change asking what, if anything, Zeldin thinks should be done about a problem that has worsened floods and raised sea levels but that Trump has dismissed.

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, for example, asked about basic climate science, including what impact carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have on the atmosphere.

“I don’t sit before you as a scientist,” Zeldin …