Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has closed the museum that Michael Regan, the EPA administrator in the Biden administration, opened in 2024 with great pride. 

The National Environmental Museum and Education Center was opened at EPA’s headquarters in Washington. At the time it was opened, Regan said, “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.”

“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,” Regan said.

EPA added, “The National Environmental Museum and Education Center tells EPA’s story since its creation under President Richard Nixon.”

“From the Tribal communities who have cared for and called our lands home for centuries, to the states and communities who have fought to protect their air, land and water, everyone has played a role in this movement and in protecting the nation’s public health and the environment.”

Zeldin said in a news release that the one-room, 1,595 square foot EPA museum had cost $4 million in taxpayer dollars and saw fewer than 2,000 external visitors between May 2024 and February 2025, and costs $600,000 per year to operate.  

“Our commitment to responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars remains unwavering as I continue to oversee a line-by-line review of agency spending,” Zeldin said in a news release. He also posted a video in conjunction with the announcement.

“The $4 million cost to build this one-room, little-trafficked museum inside of EPA with $600,000 in operational costs annually is yet another example of waste by the Biden administration that could have instead been spent on remediating environmental issues in forgotten communities,” Zeldin said.

“Not to mention, the previous administration curated the contents of the museum with a large focus on ‘environmental justice’ instead of EPA’s core mission. While Americans were left to contend with sky high prices and inflation, the Biden administration spent millions on this ‘museum’ to proliferate a political agenda. Gone are the days of funding partisan pet projects at the detriment of the American taxpayers and the agency’s mission of protecting human health and the environment,” Zeldin said. 

The news release also said, “The museum conveniently omits any environmental progress between 2014 and January 20, 2021, despite significant accomplishments during the first Trump administration, including a reduction in emissions. The American people saw significant improvement in air quality and the first ever comprehensive nationwide action plan to address PFAS.”