Environmental▼News EPA garners flat funding Overall, Bush is seeking $7.63 billion for the U.S. EPA in FY ’04, just $10 million more this year than requested in FY ’03. But it represents a drop in funding when compared to the $7.9 billion that Congress approved for EPA just two years ago. A look at the budget documents shows that funding for most programs would remain flat under the request, while the Office of Research and Development (ORD) would see a slight drop in dollars.
ence and technology budget is slated to grow 6.7% from last year’s request to $731.5 million. However, ORD’s funding is down from last year’s request of $627 million, to $607 million. This drop is attributed to a smaller request for ORD’s activities related to homeland security research, according to Paul Gilman, ORD director and Whitman’s science adviser. For FY ’03, ORD requested $75 million, but only $29 million for FY ’04.
TA B L E 4
EPA budget Budget amounts are given in thousands of dollars. FY 2003 Request
Environmental programs and management
FY 2004 Request
2,047,704
2,219,659
670,008
731,483
Buildings and facilities
42,918
42,918
Oil spill response
15,581
16,209
Science and technology
Inspector General Superfund Superfund Program Research transfer Inspector General transfer State and tribal assistance grants Leaking underground storage tanks Subtotal
35,325
36,808
1,272,888
1,389,716
1,148,978
1,331,805
111,168
44,697
12,742
13,214
3,463,776
3,121,200
72,313
72,545
7,620,513
7,630,537
(4000)
(4000)
7,616,513
7,626,537
Less Offsetting receipts Grand total budget authority
The request includes $280 million more, or a 7% increase, for the core operating programs that support air, water, land, and enforcement activities, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said February 3 when she unveiled the budget. As shown in Table 4, EPA’s sci-
The president requested $5 million for the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) fellowships program, which funds graduate students. The request restores a program the administration at one time had hoped to eliminate. The biggest drop in funding,
EPA’s science and technology budget is slated to grow 6.7% from last year’s request to $731.5 million. However, ORD’s funding is down.
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$360 million, came from the Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund (CWASRF), for which Bush proposed $850 million. He requested the same amount for the Safe Drinking Water Act Revolving Fund. This and the CWASRF help states improve or build sewerage and water treatment plants. Slight increases are seen for cleaning up hazardous waste sites: Almost $210 million is proposed for states to clean up brownfields, abandoned hazardous waste, and other contaminated industrial properties. Another $1.39 billion is proposed for cleaning up Superfund sites, a $150 million increase over FY ’03 request. Environmental groups, though, point out that the budget does not reinstate the Superfund tax on the petroleum and chemical industries. As much as 30% of the Superfund site cleanups are now funded by the general taxpayer, rather than the companies contributing to the pollution, according to EPA figures. Bush promised EPA $7.7 million for his Clear Skies initiative (CSI), a plan to cut power plant air emissions by 70% over the next 15 years. CSI-related research will focus on mercury by collecting electric power plant data to evaluate the performance of continuous emission monitors, and initiate lab studies to better understand atmospheric mercury fate and transport, Gilman says. Climate change activities would see $130 million under this request, mostly to support “the core” of the agency’s climate change efforts such as government–industry partnerships aimed at removing marketplace barriers to better deploy technologies. Bush asked Congress to provide EPA with $21 million for climate change research, down slightly from the FY ’03 request. The request also includes a $7 million increase for air toxics monitoring grants, which would bring the total to $16.5 million, to improve the agency’s understanding of population exposures. An additional $3 million was requested for children’s asthma programs, Whitman said, bringing the total to $23.9 million. CATHERINE M. COONEY
