Some have halted work on the Biden-era $5 billion program to build E.V. charging stations. Others plan to keep building. Most are confused.

President Trump is expected to close the office as he cuts programs to help poor and minority communities that are disproportionately affected by pollution.

The former New York congressman has little experience in environmental policy. He is expected to follow orders to weaken climate rules.

Top political appointees are already at the E.P.A. preparing to erase the agency’s climate rules and pollution controls. Many of them have tried it before.

Legal experts said the president was testing the boundaries of executive power with aggressive orders designed to stop the country from transitioning to renewable energy.

Agencies and unions have put in place new guardrails designed to limit political interference in government research.

Mr. Zeldin, a Trump loyalist, would be charged with dismantling climate rules and perhaps the agency itself. He faced questions from the Senate Thursday.

State regulators said the measures would probably have been rejected by the Trump administration and that they would focus on homegrown legal strategies instead.