Zeldin, who has a score of just 14% from the League of Conservation Voters on his votes on environmental issues in his 15 years in Congress, is expected to oversee an overhaul of the EPA that will rival anything seen since its foundation in 1970.

An exodus of staff is expected from the agency, with employees already raising fears they will be subject to political interference and that their work to protect Americans from toxic chemicals and planet-heating emissions from cars, trucks and power plants will be torn up.

"Naming an unqualified, anti-American worker who opposes efforts to safeguard our clean air and water lays bare Donald Trump's intentions to, once again, sell our health, our communities, our jobs, and our future out to corporate polluters," Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, said of Zeldin's nomination.

"Our lives, our livelihoods, and our collective future cannot afford Lee Zeldin " or anyone who seeks to carry out a mission antithetical to the EPA's mission."

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Go out and hug a tree while you still can.