As reported July 10, 2012, by the House Committee on
Appropriations, Title II of H.R. 6091, the Interior, Environment,
and Related Agencies Act, 2013, included a total of $7.06 billion
for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for FY2013, $1.28
billion (15.5%) below the President's FY2013 request of $8.34
billion, and $1.39 billion (16.5%) below the FY2012 enacted
appropriation of $8.45 billion. Although the House
committee-reported bill proposed an overall decrease for EPA, it
included both decreases and increases in funding for many
individual programs and activities in the eight appropriations
accounts that fund the agency compared with the FY2013 requested
and FY2012 enacted levels. Since FY2006, Congress has funded EPA
accounts within the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
appropriations. The House committee-reported bill would decrease
funding for seven of the eight EPA appropriations accounts compared
to the President's FY2013 request, and for six of the accounts
relative to FY2012 enacted levels. The largest decrease in H.R.
2061 as reported was for the State and Tribal Assistance Grants
(STAG) account: $2.60 billion for FY2013, compared to $3.36 billion
requested (23% decrease) and $3.61 billion for FY2012 (28%
decrease). This account consistently contains the largest portion
of the agency's funding among the eight accounts. The majority of
the proposed decrease is attributed to a combined $507.0 million
reduction in funding for grants that provide financial assistance
to states to help capitalize Clean Water and Drinking Water State
Revolving Funds (SRFs). Respectively, these funds finance local
wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects. H.R. 6091 as
reported included $689.0 million for Clean Water SRF capitalization
grants and $829.0 million for Drinking Water SRF capitalization
grants, compared to $1.18 billion and $850.0 million requested for
FY2013, and $1.47 billion and $917.9 million appropriated for
FY2012, respectively. The STAG account also includes funds to
support "categorical" grant programs. States and tribes use these
grants to support the day-to-day implementation of environmental
laws, such as monitoring, permitting and standard setting,
training, and other pollution control and prevention activities,
and these grants also assist multimedia projects. The $994.0
million total included for FY2013 for categorical grants in H.R.
6091 as reported is $208.4 million less than the $1.20 billion
requested for FY2013, and $94.8 million below the $1.09 billion
FY2012 enacted amount. Other prominent issues that have received
attention within the context of EPA appropriations include the
level of funding for implementing certain air pollution control
requirements including greenhouse gas emission regulations, climate
change research and related activities, cleanup of hazardous waste
sites under the Superfund program, cleanup of sites that tend to be
less hazardous (referred to as brownfields), and cleanup of
petroleum from leaking underground tanks. Funding needs for the
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and for the protection and
restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and other geographic-specific
water programs, also have received attention. In addition to
funding priorities among the many pollution control programs and
activities, several recent and pending EPA regulatory actions
continue to be controversial in the FY2013 appropriations. H.R.
6091 as reported included a number of provisions similar to those
considered in the FY2012 appropriations debate (some of which were
adopted for FY2012) that would restrict the use of funding for the
development, implementation, and enforcement of certain regulatory
actions that cut across the various pollution control statutes'
programs and initiatives.
General
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