In a hilarious post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, March 13, Trump Administration Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin slammed CNN for its attempt to mock and fact-check him over a press release from the EPA. In his tweet, Zeldin noted that CNN hadn’t done the basic research to figure out that its fact check was totally incorrect.
At issue was a press release that the EPA released on Wednesday, March 12. In the press release, the EPA commented on what it framed as its “most consequential day of deregulation” ever, and Zeldin, commenting on the matter in a video, said it is taking dozens of actions to ensure it is complying with President Trump’s executive orders.
What got CNN to attack Zeldin, Trump, and the EPA is that the press release on notable steps being taken to empower American growth by deregulating the economy was titled, “Trump EPA Announces OOOO b/c Reconsideration of Biden-Harris Rules Strangling American Energy Producers.” CNN thought that was a typo.
Such is what CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir told CNN host Kaitlan Collins when he appeared on her show, “The Source,” on Thursday, and during that appearance claimed that the EPA was moving far too quickly for its own good, as the press release showed, or so he claimed, that it was making mistakes.
He told Collins, “Today Lee Zeldin put out a video on X, they were putting out press releases with such a flurry, about 31 different actions and rollbacks, that some of them had typos or placeholders at the top. We have one of those there [on screen], ‘Trump EPA announces 000…’- you can see there. It‘s sort of, ‘Shoot first, fill out the press release later.”
Chiming in on X, Zeldin noted that Weir was incorrect, as basic research could and would have shown him, as the supposed zeroes aren’t even zeroes, and were a citation to an EPA regulation. Posting about that, he said, “Another media “fact check” face plant where the fact checker doesn’t have the slightest clue what he’s talking about.”
Continuing, Administrator Zeldin noted, “’OOOO’ b/c is not a typo.” Explaining why it was not a typo, Zeldin noted that it was a reference to a Clean Air Act regulation, saying, “40 CFR Part 60 Subpart OOOO, or Quad O, is a federal reg under the Clean Air Act.” Concluding, he noted that Weird didn’t even get the letter right, writing, “Also, those aren’t zeroes, it’s the letter ‘O’.”
"*" indicates required fields
Watch Weir here:
Explaining the changed regulation in the press release, Administrator Zeldin explained that they are meant to empower the hydrocarbon industry, saying, “Oil and gas standards promulgated by EPA must be rooted in the rule of law, not be used as a weapon to shut down development and manufacturing in the United States.”
He added, “EPA is reconsidering these regulations to ensure they do not prevent America from unleashing energy dominance and continuing our trajectory as a leader in clean energy and emissions reductions. We produce energy better and cleaner than so many other countries around the world, and yet Americans are punished at the end of the day by ideologically driven regulations.”
The EPA, for its part, noted, “This was announced in conjunction with a number of historic actions to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and Power the Great American Comeback. Combined, these announcements represent the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in the history of the United States. While accomplishing EPA’s core mission of protecting the environment, the agency is committed to fulfilling President Trump’s promise to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to states to make their own decisions. ”