Since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in response to U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, domestic gas prices jumped about 30%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Attempts to reopen the passage where much of the world\u2019s oil supply must pass with a ceasefire agreement have so far fallen short of the administration\u2019s expectations<\/a>, and the White House is now pivoting to other solutions.<\/p>\n The EPA says its recent changes<\/a> to the Biden-Harris Administration\u2019s 2024 Clean Air Act will save the oil and gas industry $208 million per year in compliance costs \u2014 in theory, helping them lower gasoline prices for American families.<\/p>\n Zeldin sought to reassure reporters Friday that such policy revisions were made with 13 months of investigation into the potential environmental ramifications, not as a knee-jerk reaction to rising gas prices.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very confident that we reached a decision that both protects the environment and grows the economy, striking that balance,\u201d Zeldin told reporters Friday. <\/p>\n But he hopes the administration\u2019s broader deregulation strategy will bring Americans some relief on energy costs \u2014 which continue to rise<\/a> as the U.S.\u2019s exit strategy in Iran appears increasingly hazy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very important moment, not just for a few weeks in the life of the world, but for anyone who\u2019s been paying attention to this conflict [in Iran] for the last half a century,\u201d said Zeldin, who spent 22 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, and defended the President\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has not been freedom of navigation [in the Strait of Hormuz] without a terrorist threat over the course of these decades.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u2018short list\u2019 for Attorney General<\/p>\n The former New Yorker congressman was once among the Republican Party\u2019s moderates when it comes to environmental issues, unseating a Democrat<\/a> to win his seat in 2014 and joining a then-growing bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus<\/a>.<\/p>\n To many, his pivot since taking over the EPA has been quite stunning<\/a>, overseeing efforts to ax environmental regulations<\/a>, defund climate and environmental studies, and fill the agency\u2019s leadership with industry lobbyists and lawyers.<\/p>\n In a cabinet whose members have earned the President much criticism<\/a>, however, the 46-year-old has been seen as a steady hand.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s on the short list<\/a> [to replace Attorney General Pam Bondi] and I can see why,\u201d said Katie Ferrier, a senior policy adviser at the Greater Chamber who participated in Friday\u2019s roundtable discussion. \u201cHe\u2019s very well-spoken, he\u2019s quick on his feet, and he\u2019s a problem-solver.\u201d<\/p>\n Zeldin said Friday that he\u2019s been traversing the country seeking feedback from local business leaders about how his agency can better serve them, and meeting with reporters to assure the public that help is coming.<\/p>\n San Antonio was his only stop in Texas on this trip, and the wonky policy guru toured a Boeing facility, a regional EPA chemical safety office, and the H2Oaks<\/a> water storage facility owned by San Antonio Water System (SAWS), which he praised as an \u201cexceptional operation.\u201d<\/p>\n SAWS CEO Robert R. Puente was among the small group of local industry leaders who got a private meeting with Zeldin at the Greater Chamber\u2019s downtown headquarters on Friday.<\/p>\n Others seen leaving the meeting included Gary Raba, chief growth officer at Raba Kistner, Inc., and Howard Energy Partners executive T.J. Campbell.<\/p>\n Chamber leaders stressed the unusual nature of the visit from such a high-ranking White House official. Zeldin\u2019s staff asked them to organize it, they said, and local energy production leaders were \u201cjazzed about how he could get in the weeds with them,\u201d according to Ferrier.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters afterwards, Zeldin said the San Antonians bent his ear about air pollution coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, and if the EPA could reconsider the stricter regulations that\u2019s helped trigger<\/a>, as it recently did for Phoenix<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201c[We\u2019re going] to make sure that San Antonio isn\u2019t punished for what has nothing, nothing to do with America,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue that conversation coming out of today\u2019s meeting, and I\u2019m glad that they raised it.\u201d<\/p>\n He also showed off the Fiesta medals he was given while in San Antonio and alluded to his plans to visit USAA, where he said he\u2019s long purchased his own insurance.<\/p>\n Asked about the potential Attorney General opening, Zeldin brushed it off, saying he\u2019s been too deep in the world of environmental regulations to worry about it. <\/p>\n \u201cI enjoy what I do as Administrator of the EPA. It\u2019s what occupies my mind all day, and it\u2019s what keeping me keeps me up at night \u2014 thinking about what wins we could deliver,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To address an issue that\u2019s causing pain for voters across the political spectrum \u2014 rising gas prices \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2327,25561,497,1544,94088,82,94089,84,83,1153],"class_list":{"0":"post-247398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-epa","10":"tag-gas","11":"tag-gas-prices","12":"tag-lee-zeldin","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-san-antonio-greater-chamber","15":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","16":"tag-san-antonio-news","17":"tag-trump-administration"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Lee_Zeldin_EPA_Chamber_of_Commerce_4.10.2026_Diego_Medel-1.jpg\")
Lee Zeldin, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, leaves a meeting with the Greater San Antonio Chamber on April 10, 2026. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n