The Former Lobbyists Making Key Decisions at the E.P.A.
The Environmental Protection Agency has hired numerous former lobbyists and industry insiders who now work on chemical regulation, emission limits and other rules.
E.P.A. headquarters in Washington.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times
By Hiroko Tabuchi
Oct. 21, 2025, 3:28 p.m. ET
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It’s been a busy year at the Environmental Protection Agency. Especially for former lobbyists.
Over the past year, I’ve been covering how the Trump administration has been staffing the E.P.A. with appointees who previously lobbied or litigated on behalf of industries.
My latest article is about Kyle Kunkler, who was previously the top lobbyist for America’s soybean industry, and is known for advocating for the continued use of a contentious weedkiller called dicamba. He is now in charge of pesticides policy at the E.P.A.
Dicamba is one of the most widely used weed-killing chemicals on the market, but it has been twice restricted by a federal court, in part because it tends to drift into neighboring fields, damaging crops or threatening wildlife and trees.
Weeks after Kunkler arrived at the E.P.A., the agency proposed rolling back several restrictions on dicamba’s use. Critics say the E.P.A.’s proposal aligns closely with recommendations from Kunkler’s former employer, the American Soybean Association.
Revolving door concerns
Kunkler is one of a number of former industry insiders who have been hired by the E.P.A. Others include:- Nancy Beck, a former executive for the American Chemistry Council, is now in a senior role within an E.P.A. division that evaluates chemical safety and approves new chemicals.
- Lynn Dekleva, also a former lobbyist with the American Chemistry Council and who fought formaldehyde regulations, now helps lead that E.P.A. chemical safety office.
- Steven Cook, a former chemical industry lawyer, now has a senior role at the agency and is pushing to repeal a “forever chemical” cleanup rule, potentially shifting billions of dollars in costs to taxpayers.
And Trump’s nominee to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, David Keeling, previously resisted mandating air-conditioning for delivery truck drivers when he was a health and safety executive at UPS, raising concerns about his commitment to a proposed federal rule that would protect workers from heat.
The list goes on. David Fotouhi, a Harvard-educated lawyer who challenged an asbestos ban and represented polluters against the E.P.A., is now the deputy administrator of the E.P.A., serving as the second-in-command to Lee Zeldin.
Alex Dominguez, a former oil lobbyist and veteran of the first Trump administration’s efforts to weaken tailpipe pollution limits, who worked as a petroleum lobbyist between administrations, is now deputy assistant administrator at the E.P.A. and focuses on automobile emissions.
And Aaron Szabo, a lobbyist for the oil and chemical industries including the American Chemistry Council, now leads the E.P.A. office tasked with protecting the public from air pollution.
(I’ve also written about President Trump’s Forest Service nominee, Michael Boren, who had repeatedly clashed with that agency, including for building an airstrip on protected land.)
Of course, the revolving door between government and industry jobs isn’t new, and has happened under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Brigit Hirsch, a spokeswoman for the E.P.A., defended Kunkler’s appointment and the agency’s decision-making. “Like all political appointees, Mr. Kunkler consulted with agency career ethics officials to resolve any potential conflicts of interest,” she said.
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Updated
Oct. 21, 2025, 1:28 p.m. ET3 hours agoAnd people with experience in both realms can bring valuable industry expertise to the agency, James V. Aidala, who headed E.P.A.’s chemical safety office under President Bill Clinton and is now a consultant at Bergeson & Campbell, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm, told me. That’s particularly true for an industry like agriculture.
Industry executives have frequently complained, sometimes correctly, that government employees often don’t have enough knowledge of America’s vast agricultural system, Aidala said.
But what’s the correct balance? Not this, Lori Ann Burd, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental nonprofit, told me for my piece, which focused on E.P.A.’s office that regulates chemicals and pesticides.
“It’s incredible,” she said, “the entire leadership of that office comes directly from industry.”
An aerial view of a Google data center on a hazy day in Santiago, Chile.Credit...Marcos Zegers for The New York Times
From Mexico to Ireland, fury mounts over a global A.I. frenzyThe United States has been at the nexus of a data center boom, as OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others invest hundreds of billions of dollars to build giant computing sites in the name of advancing artificial intelligence. But the companies have also exported the construction frenzy abroad, with less scrutiny.
Nearly 60 percent of the 1,244 largest data centers in the world were outside the United States as of the end of June, according to an analysis by Synergy Research Group. Data centers, the Times found, have contributed to disruptions in more than a dozen countries, including:- In Ireland, data centers consume more than 20 percent of the country’s electricity.
- In Chile, precious aquifers are in danger of depletion.
- In South Africa, where blackouts have long been routine, data centers are further taxing the national grid.
- Similar concerns have surfaced in Brazil, Britain, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore and Spain
— Paul Mozur, Adam Satariano and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
Read more.
Quote of the day
“In the end, we risk becoming just an artificial intelligence warehouse for the world.
”That’s from Rodrigo Vallejos, a local activist in Chile, a country that has courted data center providers and has become a vivid example of managing the trade-offs of the A.I. race.
Vallejos shared a video with the Times of Quilicura, a community on the outskirts of Santiago, which is beside a wetland. It was once lush with marshlands and lagoons, but after a data center moved in nearby, much of it is dry, even in the rainy season.
Read more from Paul Mozur on Chile’s conflicted relationship with the boom in data centers and A.I.
Ask NYT Climate
Do heat pumps work when it gets really cold? Heat pumps are climate-friendly in two big ways: First, they don’t burn fossil fuels. And second, they’re very efficient. They can generate more heat with less energy than traditional methods like furnaces and boilers. And all that adds up to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
But there’s a persistent belief that they don’t work when it gets really, really cold outside.
Lower emissions are great. But will a heat pump keep you warm on the coldest nights? We asked the experts. — Sofia Quaglia
Read more.
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More climate news from around the web:- The Washington Post reports on a new study that, for the first time, calculates thecarbon footprint, or “hoofprint,” of eating meat in every town and city in the country.
Hiroko Tabuchi covers pollution and the environment for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York.
See more on: U.S. Politics, American Chemistry Council, Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Donald Trum
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