Local programs get the biggest hit in proposed EPA budget

A draft budget proposal obtained by The Washington Post details how the Trump administration seeks to cut more than 31 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget. The spending plan emphasizes a focus on the EPA’s “core legal requirements,” withdrawing from state and local projects and avoiding any efforts the administration considers to be extraneous within the EPA or other agencies.

Among the cuts, the budget shutters 56 programs and trims staffing by nearly 4,000 jobs.

Elimination of local geographic programs

Many of the programs slated to be cut are either programs focusing on specific geographic areas or federal grants that go out to states to fund specific projects. Some of these programs are part of the Clean Water Act of 1972, which charges the EPA with helping to restore the nation’s waterways. States may not only lose funding for these programs, but a lack of enforcement could mean environmental goals may never be reached.

In addition to nearly $7 million in funding for miscellaneous geographic programs, here are all the geographic programs proposed to be eliminated.

In addition to local geographic programs, grants going out to local regions will be cut. A $165 million grant mitigating pollution from land runoff into waterways will be eliminated, and grants for states to manage pollution and air quality are each losing one-third of their funding.

Refocusing on statutory requirements

More than 14 initiatives under the Climate Protection Program, including the Energy Star program, are proposed to close in an effort to refocus on the agency’s core statutory requirements, according to the proposal.

The budget proposal also removes funding for climate change research, some of which is conducted with the U.S. Global Change Research Program, an umbrella group consisting of 13 federal agencies. Overall, the document proposes a 32 percent cut to the science and technology appropriation operating costs and a 40 percent cut to staffing, the biggest proportional cuts in the agency. The reductions add up to more than $230 million and 900 jobs.

[ Trump wants to slash funds for the outside experts who make sure EPA gets the science right]

The document also proposes a 26 percent cut to the environmental program and management appropriation. In addition to geographic programs and the Climate Protection Program, the appropriation also includes the agency’s Science Advisory Board, which will see an 84 percent cut in operating costs because of an “anticipated lower number of peer reviews.” Additionally, the appropriation also includes a program focused on limiting children’s exposure to lead-based paint, which will be eliminated.

The EPA budget proposal also echoes a continuation of the budget set forth by the Obama administration in 2016 to fund an $18 million water infrastructure program. Passed in December 2016, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act provides funding for eligible projects. Local, state and tribal governments can apply for funding for such infrastructure projects as wastewater and drinking water treatment and drought mitigation.

The document also states that fee-based funding is encouraged, proposing additions to the workforce of a program to teach and monitor the proper handling of pesticides “funded from fee collections” as opposed to federal funding.

For nearly every other program, the document proposes a cut or elimination. In an effort to roll back the EPA’s responsibilities, the proposed funding cuts for local programs will have a wider reach beyond the nation’s capital.