News Briefs
“Invasive species, energy resource assessments, water availability, and coastal landscape change and monitoring” took top priority in the proposed 2004 budget for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), according to USGS director Charles Groat. As shown in Table 3, the agency’s budget request increased $28.2 million or 3.2% over the 2003 request, for a total of $895.5 million.
ization on the environment. A total of $200.1 million was proposed for water resources work, an increase of 11.1% over the FY ’03 request, but a decrease of 3.2% compared with the 2002 level appropriated by Congress. Of the new money, $11.0 million was requested for the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, a decrease of $2.8 million, or 26%, compared with the 2002 ap-
Of the increased funding, $3 million was requested for invasive species research and a national early warning detection system. Of the increased funding, $3 million was requested for invasive species research and a national early warning detection system for controlling or eradicating invasive plants and animals, and $1 million was requested for research on chronic wasting disease, a degenerative and ultimately fatal disease afflicting deer and elk that has some similarities to “mad cow” disease. The figures show that USGS would also take a more active role in mapping urban sprawl. An increase of $0.8 million was proposed for its Urban Dynamics Program to better understand the impacts of urban-
propriated level. Although a proposal was made in the 2003 budget request to transfer $10 million of that toxics program to the National Science Foundation, outraged environmentalists and other lobby groups ultimately stopped the move. The future of USGS’s long-term National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) was also a contentious issue in the 2003 budget request because of a proposed decrease of $6 million. That proposal fell through, and to avoid going down that road again, the 2004 budget proposes a $6.5 million increase for NAWQA. BRITT E. ERICKSON
TA B L E 3
U.S. Geological Survey budget Budget amounts are given in thousands of dollars. FY 2002 Actual
FY 2003 Request
FY 2004 Request
Change from FY ’03 to FY ’04
Mapping, remote sensing, and geographic investigations
133.1
129.3
120.5
−7.3%
Geologic hazards, resources, and processes
232.5
224.7
221.6
−1.4%
Water resources investigations
206.4
177.8
200.1
11.1%
Biological research
166.2
160.5
168.9
5.0%
86.2
86.1
91.5
5.9%
Science support Facilities Total
89.4
89.0
92.9
4.3%
913.9
867.3
895.5
3.2%
Evaluating power plant emissions The U.S. EPA’s current practice of measuring emissions from power plants relative to the amount of fuel they consume provides no incentive for creating energy-efficient technologies and encourages the continued use of older coal-fired power plants, according to a new report released by the NortheastMidwest Institute, a nonprofit research organization. The report advocates that power plant emissions allowances should be calculated based on the amount of energy produced rather than the amount used. This type of policy would encourage energy-efficient technologies and reward companies with the highest energy output-to-pollution ratio. Output-Based Emission Standards: Advancing Innovative Energy Technologies is available at www.nemw.org.
Environmental rollbacks under Bush During 2002, the Bush administration advanced more than 100 rule changes that weaken environmental programs across the board, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental organization. Examples range from exempting older power plants from installing modern pollution controls to ending federal protection for numerous wetlands and waterways. In a separate report, OMB Watch, a nonprofit advocacy group that tracks the White House Office of Management and Budget, finds that the administration has issued far fewer environmental, health, and safety protections than the two previous administrations. The NRDC’s report, Rewriting the Rules, can be accessed at www.nrdc.org, and the OMB Watch report at www.ombwatch.org/execreport.
APRIL 1, 2003 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ■ 131 A
PHOTODISC
USGS tackles invasive species
