On Friday’s Chris Salcedo Show, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin didn’t mince words: he blamed heavy-handed green policies in blue states for driving people and tax dollars away, warning that reckless climate mandates are hollow victories for coastal elites and real pain for ordinary families. He argued that when governments force expensive energy transitions and punish traditional industries, the inevitable result is migration to freer, more prosperous states — a predictable market reaction to bad policy.
The numbers back him up. Recent U.S. Census estimates show that states like New York and California have seen substantial net domestic outflows while Texas, Florida and the Carolinas have been gaining Americans fleeing high taxes, crushing regulations and unreliable energy systems. This is not just anecdote or partisan bluster; it’s a demographic and economic shift that should terrify any governor who thinks virtue-signaling policy can replace practical governance.
Those departures have real-dollar consequences. Reports show billions in income have left cities like New York as higher earners relocate to red states, hollowing out local tax bases and threatening public services — the very services the left claims will be protected by its green crusade. The math is simple: when wealthy taxpayers and entrepreneurs leave, so does the revenue that funds schools, public safety and infrastructure.
Zeldin has been consistent in calling out the folly of these policies, singling out state-level mandates that outpace technology and affordability and pointing to federal steps his agency has taken to roll back Biden-era green directives and pause questionable green-bank grants. Conservatives should welcome a return to common-sense energy policy that balances environmental protection with economic liberty, not a one-size-fits-all agenda that punishes the working class.
The lesson for patriotic Americans is clear: prosperity follows freedom, not bureaucratic zealotry. If blue-state leaders want to stop the exodus and restore their treasuries, they need to abandon punitive green overreach, stop treating prosperity as a crime, and embrace policies that keep jobs and families at home — otherwise more revenue and more people will quietly walk out the door.
