Trump's Proposed Budget Slashes EPA Funding By A Third

U.S. EPA funding and water programs took a major hit in a budget proposal from President Trump released this week.

The potential plan for the 2018 fiscal budget, issued by the White House on Tuesday, is the first full budget proposal from the new president. “While lawmakers are likely to dismiss most of it — as they traditionally do with most White House wishlists — the document provides fresh insight into the administration's priorities,” CNN reported.

The document proposed to slash the U.S. EPA’s budget by nearly one third, according to the Associated Press.

“The White House's proposed spending plan for the EPA amounts to $5.7 billion, a 31 percent cut from the current budget year. Adjusted for inflation, that would be the nation's lowest funding for environmental protection since the mid-1970s,” the report said.

Overall, the EPA would “fare worse than any other federal agency,” The Washington Post reported. The EPA would shrink from 15,416 full-time employees to 11,611.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt praised the new budget in a statement. "The President's budget respects the American taxpayer," he said, per E&E News. "This budget supports EPA's highest priorities with federal funding for priority work in infrastructure, air and water quality, and ensuring the safety of chemicals in the marketplace."

Water funding, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, was hit particularly hard.

“Dozens of programs would be eliminated, including $427 million in regional programs that help decrease pollution in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound and other large water bodies. Though the administration has said state agencies should take more of the lead in enforcing environmental laws, the budget also reduces grants that help states pay for those programs by more than half,” the AP reported.

Additional cuts that would, if implemented, scale back water programs, per The Atlantic:

• The EPA office which determines standards for the amount of acceptable pollution in drinking water [the Office of Science and Technology] will have its budget cut by half. (Earlier this year, the same office struck the words “science-based” from its mission statement, replacing them with “economically … achievable.”)
• Superfund, the EPA program that cleans up toxic-chemical spill sites that have become public-health hazards, will have its budget cut by 25 percent. Such a cut will halt many cleanups.

Water advocates slammed the new budget and warned of dire consequences if it were to become law.

"I can predict with certainty there will be many more people dying prematurely and thousand more getting sick unnecessarily [if the Trump proposals take effect],” said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, per the Greensburg Daily News.