Obama Administration Proposes EPA Budget Cuts for 2012

Feb. 15, 2011
Proposed budget is 13% less than 2010 budget

The Obama administration proposed a fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget of $8.973 billion for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This proposal reflects President Obama’s commitment to ensuring the government lives within its means while ensuring that EPA can carry out its core mission: protecting public health and the environment while reducing air and water pollution in communities across America.

This budget proposal represents about a 13% decrease from the FY 2010 budget of $10.3 billion.

Some key 2012 budget initiatives include:

• $350 million for projects strategically chosen to target the most significant threats to people’s health in the Great Lakes ecosystem, a $125 million decrease from FY 2010, the first year of the initiative; • $2.5 billion--a decrease of $947 million-- for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs). EPA will continue to work with states and communities to enhance their capacity to provide clean water and safe drinking water to Americans; • $1.2 billion for the Superfund program to support hazardous waste cleanup at the nation’s highest priority sites. While EPA will be exploring efficiencies in the program, the $70 million reduction to Superfund programs will slow the pace of new projects and the completion of current projects; • $27.5 million increase in enforcement and compliance, allowing for investments to increase efficiencies and streamline enforcement by using the latest e-reporting and monitoring tools. EPA plans to increase oversight and inspections at high-risk chemical and oil facilities; • $16.1 million more to reduce chemical risks, increase the pace of chemical hazard assessments and provide the public with greater access to chemical information so it can make better informed health decisions; • $1.2 billion for state and tribal grants—an overall increase of $84.9 million over FY 2010. This funding will help communities take steps to meet the pollution standards EPA has developed under the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act; • $67.4 million to support EPA’s efforts to clean up America’s great water bodies, specifically the Chesapeake Bay; and • $584 million to support research and innovation into new and emerging environmental science. This includes a $24.7 million increase to Science to Achieve Results grants to ensure that EPA is using the best science to protect air, water and land. EPA’s research program is being restructured to ensure that scientific work is conducted more efficiently and effectively.

Source: U.S. EPA

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