Zeldin shutters multimillion-dollar Biden EPA ‘pet project’ that ‘scarcely’ saw visitors
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has made the decision to close the Biden-era EPA museum located near the White House due to lackluster visitor numbers and high operating costs. The National Environmental Museum and Education Center, which opened in 2024, was costing taxpayers millions of dollars to build and maintain, with little return on investment in terms of visitors.
According to the EPA, the museum cost $4 million to build and over $600,000 annually to operate. Despite being free to visit, the museum only saw fewer than 2,000 external visitors between May 2024 and February 2025, with the cost per visitor amounting to nearly $315. The museum was located within the William Jefferson Clinton federal building, near the EPA headquarters, and was meant to showcase the agency’s work in protecting public health and the environment.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin criticized the museum for not highlighting bipartisan achievements and efforts in protecting Americans’ health and the environment. Instead, the museum was curated to focus on the time period between 2014 and January 20, 2021, with a heavy emphasis on environmental justice and climate change content that favored the policies of the radical left.
The annual operating costs of the museum included expenses for cleaning, landscaping, audio and visual maintenance, artifact storage, magnetometer and X-ray maintenance, utility costs, and security guards. The total annual operating costs exceeded $600,000, which Zeldin deemed as wasteful spending that could have been better used for the EPA’s core mission of environmental protection.
The closure of the museum was celebrated by the Functional Government Initiative, a government watchdog group, as a win for taxpayers. The group applauded Zeldin for prioritizing the agency’s environmental protection efforts over self-promotion and bureaucratic inefficiency. Zeldin has been working with the Department of Government Efficiency to cut costs and streamline operations at the EPA since taking office in January.
In his efforts to trim government overspending, Zeldin has also cut $20 billion in grants for climate and clean-energy projects, put an end to the Clean Power Plan 2.0, and terminated hundreds of employees. These actions align with the Trump administration’s goal of reducing waste and ensuring that taxpayer funds are used effectively.
Overall, the closure of the EPA museum signifies a shift towards a more cost-effective and focused approach to environmental protection under Administrator Lee Zeldin’s leadership. The decision to shutter the museum reflects a commitment to eliminating wasteful spending and prioritizing the agency’s core mission of safeguarding public health and the environment.
