EPA Chief Zeldin Promises More AI Use, Staff Cuts to Trim Budget

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Tuesday said he will keep reducing staff where necessary and deploying artificial intelligence to improve the agency’s technical capabilities.

Zeldin also reiterated his earlier pledge to cut at least 65% of the Environmental Protection Agency’s total spending, saying the $63 billion the agency awarded and spent in 2024 is vastly more than it needs to accomplish its core mission.

“We don’t want the extra money and we don’t need it,” Zeldin said in a post on X.

Other cuts will come from ongoing reconsiderations of EPA grant funding and reductions to the agency’s real estate ...