{"id":87764,"date":"2017-12-26T09:34:52","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T14:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=87764"},"modified":"2017-12-24T11:37:10","modified_gmt":"2017-12-24T16:37:10","slug":"schneiderman-leads-13-states-calling-on-congress-to-reject-deep-and-damaging-epa-cuts-anti-environmental-budget-riders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=87764","title":{"rendered":"Schneiderman leads 13 states calling on Congress to reject ‘deep and damaging’ EPA cuts, anti-environmental budget riders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"House and Senate Would Eliminate Over $150 Million in Critical Funds, Could Slash EPA Staff by One-Quarter<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Proposed Budgets Would Mean More Polluted Air, Water, and Communities \u2013 Cutting Vital Programs like Enforcement, Scientific Research, and Environmental Justice, While Undermining Clean Water and Clean Air Acts and Limits on Climate Change Pollution<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In New York, Cuts Ignore $74 Billion Shortfall in Water Treatment Needs; Could Block Standards for Toxic Chemicals in Drinking Water<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, leading a coalition of 13 states, called on the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to reject \u201cdeep and damaging\u201d cuts in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and anti-environmental riders in federal budget bills.\u00a0In a letter to Congressional leadership, the coalition charges that the EPA cuts and riders currently proposed by both houses \u201cwill lead to more pollution of our air, water, and communities, and an accompanying increase in damage to public health.\u201d\u00a0The coalition is urging Congress to pass a final budget that fully funds EPA and omits any anti-environmental riders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joining Attorney General Schneiderman in the letter<\/a>\u00a0are the Attorneys General of California, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs it stands, these budget bills would lead to untold \u2013 an<\/span>d perhaps irreparable \u2013 damage to clean water, air, and communities throughout New York,\u201d said\u00a0Attorney General Schneiderman. \u201cThe EPA budget already represents just two-tenths of one percent of federal spending \u2013 yet the agency plays an essential role in protecting our environment and our health.\u00a0We will continue to fight back against these dangerous cuts, and the very real threat they pose to the health and safety of New Yorkers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Congress is reported to be negotiating with the Trump Administration on a final fiscal year 2018 budget for the EPA based on the House-passed Interior, Environmental, and Related Agencies FY 2018 appropriations bill (H.R. 3354) and the Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman\u2019s Mark for FY 2018 appropriations for these agencies.\u00a0While not as draconian as the $2.4 billion in EPA cuts originally proposed by the Trump Administration, the House-passed budget bill would still cut the EPA\u2019s budget by $650 million; the Senate bill would cut the EPA\u2019s budget by $150 million.\u00a0These budget cuts would leave EPA with its smallest budget since 1986, adjusting for inflation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bulk of the proposed cuts fall on central activities of EPA \u2013 environmental enforcement and compliance assurance, setting environmental standards, issuing permits, monitoring emissions, and providing technical and legal assistance to enforcement, compliance, and oversight.\u00a0The House reduces funding for EPA\u2019s core programs by 24 percent \u2013 an even deeper cut for these programs than proposed in the Trump Administration\u2019s irresponsible budget \u2013 while the Senate shrinks this funding by 10 percent. The Senate budget provides funding to cut EPA\u2019s workforce by one-quarter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the Trump Administration continues to retreat from enforcing federal environmental laws, the Senate and House are proposing cuts in the EPA\u2019s enforcement budget of 10 percent and 15 percent, respectively.\u00a0The EPA\u2019s enforcement work, often in partnership with the New York Attorney General\u2019s office, has been critical to protecting New Yorkers\u2019 health and environment\u2013 from the 2016 action against Volkswagen for emissions cheating, to the 2015 action against Tonawanda Coke Corp for violating federal and state air, water, and waste pollution laws, to the 2013 consent decree with the Lafarge cement company in Ravena to resolve claims for air pollution violations, and much more.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, both the Senate and House follow the Trump Administration\u2019s lead in targeting EPA programs that protect the health of disadvantaged communities, proposing a 10 percent and 15 percent cut, respectively, in funding for the EPA Office of Environmental Justice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The coalition\u2019s letter highlights concerns about the Senate\u2019s proposal to eliminate EPA\u2019s Integrated Risk Information System program, which, among other things, plays a fundamental role in the setting of national drinking water standards.\u00a0The coalition letter notes that drinking water supplies across the country \u2013 including in Hoosick Falls, New York \u2013 are now contaminated with the toxic industrial chemicals perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate.\u00a0PFOA and PFOS are currently unregulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, with no national monitoring or enforcement mechanism in place to address their risk to the public.\u00a0The coalition letter states, \u201cthe elimination or reduction of the IRIS program will likely delay, if not end, progress toward effective, science-based regulation of these dangerous chemicals, and toward ensuring the health and safety of the water Americans drink\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The letter also flags several troubling policy riders added to the EPA funding bills, including those that would:<\/span><\/p>\n