Today, the Obama administration issued its 2011 budget proposal, which included $10.020 billion in discretionary budget authority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Highlights of EPA’s budget include:
–$1.3 billion “to address Superfund sites that may be releasing harmful or toxic substances into the surrounding community.”
–$215 million “to clean up abandoned or underused industrial and commercial sites that are available for alternative uses but where redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of environmental contaminants.”
–$27 million for EPA’s new Healthy Communities Initiative, which “will address community water priorities; promote clean, green, and healthy schools; improve air toxics monitoring in at-risk communities; and encourage sustainability by helping to ensure that policies and spending at the national level do not adversely affect the environment and public health or disproportionally harm disadvantaged communities.”
–$60 million “to support state efforts to implement updated National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).”
–$1.3 billion for state and tribal grants to help “implement new and expanded requirements under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.”
–“$43 million for additional efforts to address climate change and work toward a clean energy future. EPA will implement the greenhouse gas reporting rule; provide technical assistance to ensure that any permitting under the Clean Air Act will be manageable; perform regulatory work for the largest stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions; develop standards for mobile sources such as cars and trucks; and continue research of carbon capture and sequestration technologies.”
–$300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative “for programs and projects strategically chosen to target the most significant environmental problems in the Great Lakes ecosystem.”
–$3.3 billion “to maintain and improve outdated water infrastructure and keep our wastewater and drinking water clean and safe.”
–$56 million “for chemical assessment and risk review to ensure that no unreasonable risks are posed by new or existing chemicals.”
–$8 million “for environmental justice programs. It targets increased brownfields investments to under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and proposes $9 million for community water priorities in the Healthy Communities Initiative, funds that will help under-served communities restore urban waterways and address water quality challenges.”
EPA’s $10.020 billion request for 2011 is down from the $10.5 billion requested for 2010. Congress enacted a $10.3 billion budget for EPA for FY2010.
Stay tuned to the Illinois Environmental Law Blog for more news and developments.
