At his confirmation hearing Thursday, EPA Administrator-designate Lee Zeldin suggested he would rein in a weaponized—literally weaponized—bureaucracy at the EPA. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held the hearing for Zeldin, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be the EPA administrator.  During the hearing, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, relayed instances during the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden of armed EPA officials conducting raids of local miners and auto mechanics’ shops in Alaska, only to find no violations of the Clean Water Act they were looking for. “I believe in the Second Amendment. I don’t believe in an armed bureaucracy. The EPA is a SWAT team,” the Alaska lawmaker said. “Do you believe the EPA should even have armed agents?” Sullivan asked, adding: “Can I get your commitment to focus on compliance, civil compliance, as opposed to kicking in doors, assault rifles, helicopters? It’s crazy. It’s really outrageous, and it happens under Democrats.” Zeldin, a former U.S. House member who ran for New York governor in 2022, responded, “Senator, it is outrageous.” “It led me, as someone who is going through this transition, to be asking questions: How did that even get authorized? Who signed off on that? What are the standards that need to be met in order to even say ‘yes’ to an operation like that?” Zeldin said.   Sullivan noted that one of the auto mechanic shops was owned by eight men who were state National Guard members and “great Alaskans.” He asked again whether EPA officials should even have firearms.  “Senator, if something requires an enforcement action on a prosecutorial front that is working with the Department of Justice, Congress has enacted laws where enforcement is part of the effort on the compliance front, there are people and entities owning property where there is mitigation that needs to happen, where they want to work with the government to mitigate that situation on their property, we should be working with them to make that happen,” Zeldin said.  In sharing details of the events in Alaska, Sullivan said such matters didn’t happen during the Trump administration.  “The Obama administration, what they do is, they come in with giant, heavily armed agents, body armor, helicopters. It’s shocking,” the Alaskan said. “We had a raid on some plaster miners in a place called Chicken, Alaska, under President Obama. Over 30 armed agents, body armor, to do what? To do with compliance with the Clean Water Act. They didn’t find one violation. They scared the hell out of the miners.” That was restarted under Biden, Sullivan said.  “Not to be outdone, the Biden administration has done these raids on small mechanic shops in Alaska. They bring up EPA agents from all over the country—armed agents, kicking in doors in mechanic shops in Alaska,” he said.    During the hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with Democrats, suggested the need for the EPA to cooperate with China.  “I know it’s fashionable to be beating up on China. It’s good politics. They are now the major carbon polluter in the world. We have historically had that role. We are now No. 2. We’re not going to solve this crisis without working with China. Are you prepared to work with China to lower carbon emissions?” They are now the major carbon polluter in the world. We have historically had that role. We are now No. 2. We’re not going to solve this crisis without working with China. Are you prepared to work with China to lower carbon emissions?”  Zeldin responded that China is an adversary.  “Senator, on many different issues, it is important not to just be working with nations that we are the strongest aligned with, but to also be in communication and engaged in dialogue with countries that might be competitors and also our greatest adversaries. Right now, China is an adversary in many respects,” Zeldin said.  The post What Zeldin Plans to Do About a Literally Weaponized EPA appeared first on The Daily Signal.