Trump's EPA air chief Aaron Szabo resigns after overseeing climate rollbacks
Aaron Szabo, who led the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation during its push to repeal the 2009 endangerment finding, departed the agency on Friday; the agency says senior adviser Justin Schwab has been nominated to replace him.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s top air pollution official, Aaron Szabo, has resigned, departing the agency on Friday last week, the EPA announced on Tuesday.
Szabo, an attorney, led the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation as assistant administrator since 2025, overseeing programmes covering air pollution, vehicle emissions, the blending of gasoline with renewable fuels and other major Clean Air Act provisions.
During his tenure, the EPA moved to repeal its 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare — a step that could substantially limit its authority to regulate climate pollution. His office also worked on rolling back emissions rules covering power plants, vehicles and the oil and gas industry, Reuters reported.
In an email to Reuters, the EPA thanked Szabo for his “tremendous work” advancing President Donald Trump’s agenda, and said his office had delivered “the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history”, valuing deregulatory cost savings during his tenure at more than $1.6 trillion.
The EPA had previously said Szabo would leave in July but asked him to remain longer, after his planned move to a law firm fell through, Reuters reported. Szabo gave no public reason for his departure and did not respond to requests for comment.
The agency said Justin Schwab, a senior adviser to Administrator Lee Zeldin, has been nominated to replace him.
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