rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/reject-climate-denier-for-epa?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-reject-climate-denier-for-epa' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> TakeItBack.Org https://actionnetwork.org/groups/takeitbackorg https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg In one of his first fox-guarding-the-henhouse picks, President-elect Donald Trump has selected former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin -- who voted against environmental bills 85% of the time -- to head up the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin received the lowest score from the League of Conservation Voters in 2020, with a lifetime score of 14% from the group. He voted against the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law that gave the EPA funding for cleanup of toxic brownfields and for replacing lead pipes connecting homes and buildings to water mains around the country. Zeldin can’t wait to overturn the Biden EPA’s climate regulations, including limits on vehicle emissions, and pollution from power plants and producers of oil and gas. He told Fox he will pull back these supposed “left-wing” regulations and focus instead on “unleashing economic prosperity.” There’s just one problem with this “unleashing”: it’s well established that relaxed carbon emissions standards result in a carbon-filled atmosphere that causes the Earth to retain more heat, with increasing global temperatures. The long-term impact of this “Greenhouse Effect” will be disastrous for the economy as well as the sustainability and diversity of life on Earth. Last year was the warmest year in modern history. Major corporations understand the impact climate change is having and will have on our economy if we don't keep fighting against it: more natural disasters that will cost billions to recover from. A total of 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023 caused losses exceeding $1 billion each, with a total combined cost of $93.1 billion. That’s not chump change. In the three years from 2020 to 2022, there were 60 weather and climate disasters in the U.S. with losses exceeding $1 billion each. From 1980 through August 2023, the total approximate cost of damages from weather and climate disasters in the U.S. comes to $2.6 trillion. One example of how global warming causes economic catastrophe is in the theme park industry. From Hurricane Floyd in 1999 to Milton in 2024, Disney World has closed 10 times due to hurricanes. Theme park consultant Dennis Speigel estimates that hurricane-related closures over these 25 years have cost Disney more than $547 million in inflation-adjusted dollars. “Walt Disney came to Florida because it had such good weather,” Speigel said. “Hurricanes weren't much of a factor back then. It used to be that in the theme park sector we used weather as an excuse if something went wrong with revenue, but now, it’s not a joke.” Meanwhile, Zeldin backs up Trump’s environmental priorities, which he says are focused not so much on ensuring access to clean air and water, as on using the EPA to pursue “energy dominance.” Lee Zeldin’s plans for the EPA will wreck both the environment and the economy. Click ‘Start Writing’ to sign and send a direct message demanding your senators reject Zeldin’s nomination to head the EPA now. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/reject-climate-denier-for-epa