Terry Gross

And this was a subject of debate Monday at the House Appropriations Committee meeting hearing between the Democratic ranking member of the committee and EPA head Lee Zeldin.

So Zeldin was saying the Clean Air Act doesn't mention climate change.

Would you explain the significance of what he's saying and the validity of the argument he's making?

They beat the Trump administration.

Well, we need to take a short break here, so I'm going to reintroduce you.

My guest is Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental journalist Elizabeth Colbert.

Her article on the current issue of The New Yorker is titled, Can the EPA Survive Lee Zeldin?

We'll be right back.

This is Fresh Air.

So before we get back to Lee Zeldin, I want to ask you of something that's happening on a parallel track.

The independent board that oversees the National Science Foundation was basically terminated.

So what does the National Science Foundation do and what was the board's role in doing it?

I don't know if you could speak to this or not, because this isn't really like your beat.

But is there something transactional going on here between the Trump administration and lobbyists for companies that are polluters?

I want to ask you about the MAHA moms, the Make America Healthy Again moms.

And they were considered to be Trump allies in part because many of the MAHA moms are anti-vax.

And Trump and some members of his administration, most notably RFK Jr., have been or remain anti-vaxxers.

However, they have gotten pretty upset about some of Lee Zeldin's actions at the Environmental Protection Agency because he is not regulating some chemicals that are known to harm children.

So tell us more about what's making the Maha Moms upset.

So the war with Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz has shown us some of the dangers of depending on fossil fuels.