EPA would get $7.9 billion under 2015 budget

President Obama on Thursday proposed a $7.9 billion fiscal 2015 budget for the Environmental Protection Agency, a spending plan that focuses on reducing carbon output from vehicles and power plants and preparing the country “for the unavoidable impacts of climate change.”

The proposal is a $300 million reduction from the EPA’s 2014 budget of $8.2 billion, although the plan would increase the agency’s funding in coming years. One major cut is $581 million from a fund that helps states  build wastewater and drinking water projects.

The EPA last year proposed new regulations to reduce carbon emissions from future power plants and is scheduled to issue new rules for such existing facilities this summer. The agency proposes to help states take actions that reduce the output of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

It also promises to modernize its workforce, spend $7 million to switch from a paper-based records system for transporting hazardous waste to an electronic one and devote $13 million to preventing and responding to accidents such as the explosion of an ammonium nitrate facility in Texas last year.