Tag: Superfund

Sequester Threatens Superfund, Air Pollution, Oil Spill Oversight

February 21, 2013

Sequester Threatens Superfund, Air Pollution, Oil Spill Oversight

Superfund enforcement, air pollution monitoring and oversight of oil spills are all under threat from the severe budget cuts known as the sequester, which is scheduled to take effect in just over a week if the federal government does not act to avoid it.

The sequester was signed into law in 2011 as part of a raft of measures that ended that year’s crisis surrounding whether or not to raise the country’s debt ceiling. According to multiple news sources, the President and congressional republicans have thus far made little progress towards an agreement to head off the $85 billion in budget cuts that would automatically come into effect on March 1. Continue reading “Sequester Threatens Superfund, Air Pollution, Oil Spill Oversight”

Sequestration To Cut $716 Million From U.S. EPA Budget

Sequestration To Cut $716 Million From U.S. EPA Budget

By Steven M. Siros

If budget sequestration takes effect on January 2, 2013, U.S. EPA will face a $716 million budget cut.  According to a September 14, 2012 report from the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), U.S. EPA’s budget would be reduced from approximately $8.4 billion to $7.7 billion. The OMB report projects that the Superfund program would face cuts of approximately $122 million; state and tribal assistance grants would be cut by approximately $293 million; and U.S. EPA’s program account would be cut by approximately $220 million. The OMB report goes on to acknowledge that these cuts would degrade U.S. EPA’s “ability to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe” and encourages Congress to act to prevent these cuts from being triggered. According to an U.S. EPA official, U.S. EPA is developing its 2014 fiscal year budget without accounting for these significant budget cuts. To see a copy of the OMB report, please click here.

Posted at 01:43 PM in Air, CERCLA, Climate Change, Greenhouse Gas, Hazmat, OSHA, RCRA, Sustainability, Toxic Tort, TSCA, Water | Permalink

 

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