Zeldin shutters multimillion-dollar Biden EPA museum that 'scarcely' saw visitors

The EPA museum opened in May 2024 within the William Jefferson Clinton federal building, which is home to the EPA's headquarters and sits just blocks from the White House. A smaller EPA exhibit previously was showcased in a neighboring federal building ahead of the construction and opening of the National Environmental Museum and Education Center in 2024. 

"From Love Canal and the founding of EPA more than 50 years ago to the historic funding of our Investing in America agenda, our new museum chronicles our nation's work to protect public health and the environment - a movement that has transcended political and geographic divides," Biden-era EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the museum last year.

 "Our work with state, local and Tribal partners has changed people's lives, it has restored our connection with the environment and our planet, and it will ensure that future generations will continue to have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and clean land to live, work and play on," he continued. 

Zeldin's EPA said the museum did not spotlight bipartisan achievements and efforts protecting Americans' health and the environment, but instead, "the Biden administration chose to curate the museum with a massive gap of recognition between 2014 and January 20, 2021."

A breakdown of estimated annual costs to operate the museum, which was provided to Fox Digital, shows taxpayers were expected to foot the bill for an estimated: $123,766.29 in annual cleaning and landscaping costs, $37,899 for audio and visual maintenance, $54,292.99 in annual "artifact storage" costs, $8,900 for "Magnetometer maintenance," $46,000 for X-ray maintenance, an estimated $123,000 in utility costs, and $207,326 in annual costs to fund two security guards for the museum during operating hours. 

The total annual operating costs totaled just more than $600,000. 

The Functional Government Initiative, a government watchdog focused on broadening the public's awareness of government officials and decisions, celebrated Zeldin's announcement as a win for taxpayers as funds will return to it intended use for the agency: protecting the environment. 

 Rod Law, Functional Government Initiative's communications director, said in comment to Fox News Digital Monday. "There is something ironic about the EPA wasting money on a museum about itself when it is supposed to be focused on toxic waste." 

The New York Times previewed in February that the museum's fate hung in the balance as the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency went through various federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud, and mismanagement.

Zeldin, a staunch Trump ally, has been on a cost-cutting mission at the agency since he was sworn-in back in January.

Zeldin has uncovered and cut $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean-energy projects; put the Biden administration's Clean Power Plan 2.0, which cracked down on power plants, on the chopping block; and terminated hundreds of employees amid the Trump administration's mission to trim and streamline the federal government of overspending.