The Big Story 

Environment watchers faced a split screen on Thursday as President-elect Trump's picks to lead the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency both faced confirmation hearings. 

© Greg Nash

The Burgum hearing:

• Burgum sat for a largely cordial hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. 
  
  

• Burgum acknowledged during an exchange with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) that climate change is a “global phenomenon.”
  
  

• King also asked Burgum to intercede with Trump on the issue of wind power, a frequent Trump target and the possible subject of an early executive order. Burgum responded that he would “certainly be taking a look at all of those and if it makes sense, and they’re already law, they’ll continue.”
  
  

• The wildfires that have ravaged Southern California loomed large over the hearings. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) mentioned them in his opening remarks, while Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) asked Burgum whether he would commit to mobilizing the department for disaster aid regardless of where it occurred, to which Burgum responded “absolutely.”

The Zeldin hearing:

• Zeldin also appears to be on the path to confirmation, to lead the EPA, where he appears poised to be able to carry out the significant level of climate and environmental deregulation Trump has indicated he plans to pursue.
  
  
• During the confirmation hearing, Zeldin declined to say whether he believed the EPA had a responsibility to regulate climate change under the law. “It was not a decision of the Supreme Court that if there was a fire in 2025 in California, that if that fire creates a danger to people … then that triggers the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide. There’s just more to that,” Zeldin said. 
  
  
• Zeldin himself said that climate change is real, but also defended Trump’s past comments calling climate change a “hoax.”
  
  
• Zeldin also said “no one has expressed to me in any setting … of any plans” to move the EPA’s headquarters out of Washington, which The New York Times has reported was under discussion by the transition team. 

Read more about Burgum and about Zeldin.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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• Hydroelectric Dams on Oregon’s Willamette River Kill Salmon. Congress Says It’s Time to Consider Shutting Them Down. (ProPublica)

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