WASHINGTON -- Former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin denied that he will favor industry over the environment and declared he thinks climate change is real as he faced questions Thursday on his nomination to be the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Trump's EPA administrator-nominee took at-times pointed questions from several liberal Democratic senators during his confirmation hearing Thursday.

I believe that climate change is real," Lee Zeldin told senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee. He added that environmental policies should not hamper economic growth.

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, appears before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Former New York Republican Congressman and Republican nominee for governor Lee Zeldin testified at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday. President-elect Trump has nominated Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. In his opening remarks, Zeldin expressed a commitment to protecting the economy and leaving the world a better place.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Justice and Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent will sit for Senate confirmation hearings Thursday morning.

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.

Zeldin will appear Thursday before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works for his confirmation hearing to be the next administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.