EPA - in the budget
President Bush is requesting a cut of half a billion dollars for the Environmental Protection Agency, a reduction of 5.6 percent, for a total of $7.6 billion. Environmentalists warned that the cuts would gut valuable programs, while administration officials said that the cuts would not harm the environment or the public health.
The budget calls for a $79 million increase in EPA's homeland security programs, including a project to monitor contamination in select cities, said acting administrator Steve Johnson. It also provides $47 million in additional funding to clean up and restore contaminated and abandoned sites.
Cuts include $170 million for water quality protection programs and about $115 million for land preservation and restoration. Among the targeted programs is a loan program to help states build sewage and water treatment plants, said Wesley Warren, deputy director for advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.
But Johnson and James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said many cuts merely removed congressional "earmarks" -- spending proposals not backed by the administration. Some successful programs also needed less money, they said, while other unsuccessful programs were being cut.
President Bush is requesting a cut of half a billion dollars for the Environmental Protection Agency, a reduction of 5.6 percent, for a total of $7.6 billion. Environmentalists warned that the cuts would gut valuable programs, while administration officials said that the cuts would not harm the environment or the public health.
The budget calls for a $79 million increase in EPA's homeland security programs, including a project to monitor contamination in select cities, said acting administrator Steve Johnson. It also provides $47 million in additional funding to clean up and restore contaminated and abandoned sites.
Cuts include $170 million for water quality protection programs and about $115 million for land preservation and restoration. Among the targeted programs is a loan program to help states build sewage and water treatment plants, said Wesley Warren, deputy director for advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.
But Johnson and James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said many cuts merely removed congressional "earmarks" -- spending proposals not backed by the administration. Some successful programs also needed less money, they said, while other unsuccessful programs were being cut.
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