EPA Faces Funding Cut
EPA's fiscal year 2013 budget proposal is due for release later this month, and sources say the agency faces a roughly $100 million cut from its FY12 enacted funding level:
Obama To Seek Modest EPA Funding Cut In FY13 With $8.3 Billion Budget
President Obama is expected to propose cutting EPA's budget to $8.3 billion in fiscal year 2013 -- down roughly $100 million from its current $8.4 billion enacted funding level -- says an agency source, a move likely to draw concern from EPA union officials and others who fear agency budget cuts are hampering core agency programs.
More of Inside EPA's daily news coverage of EPA's FY12 and FY13 budgets:
EPA To 'Minimize' New Employee Hiring In Response To FY12 Budget Cuts
EPA is looking to “minimize” new employee hiring and internal staff transfers in response to cuts in the agency's fiscal year 2012 budget, according to an internal agency memo obtained by Inside EPA, just weeks ahead of President Obama's FY13 budget blueprint that sources predict could further reduce the agency's funding levels.
States Urge EPA To Fight Future Grant Cuts By Defending Unspent Funds
States are urging EPA to help ward off expected efforts by Congress to cut the agency's grants account by providing the “full picture” of why some grants remain unspent several years after EPA awards them, saying there are many factors behind the delays in using the grant funds long after they are awarded.
IRIS Review Options
EPA officials say it will be less disruptive for the agency if a National Academy of Sciences board reviews draft risk assessments that EPA is close to releasing for public comment and peer review:
EPA, NAS Weigh Options For Congressionally Mandated IRIS Reviews
EPA staff and members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) board that will undertake the congressionally mandated reviews of up to three of EPA's chemical risk assessments are discussing which pending assessments to look at and whether one of the NAS reports could discuss a broader, scientific investigation of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program's operations.
Concerns Over MOVES
In response to EPA concerns, researchers have agreed to delay a new paper that questions the accuracy of the agency's mobile source emissions model known as MOVES:
Researchers Agree To Delay Paper Questioning EPA Mobile Source Model
Authors of a peer-reviewed study doubting the accuracy of EPA's new regulatory mobile source emissions model that had been slated for publication this month have agreed to an 11th-hour publication delay in response to a discovery by a contractor that raised last-minute questions about the accuracy of the authors' conclusions.
Setback For Ethanol
EPA says there are additional steps the ethanol industry must go through before it can sell gasoline containing up to 15 percent ethanol:
EPA, State Rules Set Back Ethanol Industry Bid To Quickly Sell E15 Fuels
The ethanol industry is facing a lengthy and uncertain schedule as it seeks to comply with a host of EPA rules and state requirements to allow distribution of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol (E15) in the retail market, even as the industry joins with EPA to defend the agency's Clean Air Act waivers allowing sale of E15 from legal challenges.
New EPA Science Slot
EPA faces growing calls to create a new top science slot, especially given industry and others' concerns about agency science behind chemical risk assessments:
EPA Advisers Add To Growing Calls For Agency To Create Top Science Slot
EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) in a new draft report is urging the agency to create the position of a top scientist that would oversee and coordinate all agency scientific work with the Office of Research and Development (ORD), lending new weight to similar calls from House Democrats and several other advisory groups.
Background reading from Inside EPA's Risk Policy Report:
Democrats Renew Long-Standing Call For New Top Science Slot At EPA
House Democrats are renewing long-standing calls for the creation of a new top science slot at EPA as a way to better coordinate research and shield its science from criticism, though agency officials continue to resist their calls, as well as similar advice from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and others.
Water Permit Plan Fears
EPA has scheduled a series of five meetings in its regional offices to hear public comments on its integrated water planning and permitting framework:
POTWs Raise Fears Over Integrated Permit Plans As EPA Launches Hearings
As EPA launches a series of public meetings on its plan to integrate municipalities' wastewater and stormwater requirements, wastewater treatment industry officials say a number of issues are likely to emerge as flashpoints as the framework gets more specific, including the role of asset management, the use of green infrastructure to attain numeric pollution reductions and how flexible the agency will be with permittees.
Accounting For Biomass
On a lengthy Jan. 27 conference call, EPA Science Advisory Board panelists appeared to struggle with the best method for accounting for biomass' carbon dioxide emissions:
EPA Advisers Struggle To Agree On CO2 Accounting Method For Biomass
Members of an EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) panel are divided over what advice to provide EPA on how to discount the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from biomass in Clean Air Act permits, raising doubts about how the agency will account for the emissions in pending permits.
Utility Project Stalls
An indefinite delay in a novel utility compliance project highlights a broader challenge that power companies and regulators continue to face as they craft plans for complying with EPA's utility rules:
Uncertainty Stalls Novel EPA-Minnesota Project On Utility Rule Compliance
A novel pilot project bringing together EPA and Minnesota state, industry and activist officials to try and craft a model plan for easing utilities' compliance with the agency's power sector rules is stalled, sources say, due to uncertainties as a result of litigation and delays for EPA's utility air and climate rules.
Inside EPA's Clean Air Report has more on the project:
EPA-Minnesota Project Could Be Model For Complying With Utility Rules
EPA is working with Minnesota state officials, industry and environmentalists on a novel plan to identify measures the state could take to ease utilities' compliance with a slew of pending agency rules for the sector and minimize cost and grid reliability concerns, an effort that sources say could serve as a model for other states to implement.
