Then-Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) arranged the event after Long Island officials and local environmental activists complained that the only federal hearing on the 2018 presidential executive order to allow that oil exploration and drilling had been held in Albany. Legal challenges eventually blocked the drilling.

President-elect Trump on Monday announced former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) as his nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Zeldin has a fairly thin track record on environmental policy but was a vocal congressional ally of Trump’s in the president-elect’s first term.

Despite his pro-environment votes—especially to protect Long Island’s coast—the former New York congressman is expected to be on board with the president-elect’s climate policy. By tapping former New York Representative Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency,