Budget

State and local air regulators are faulting EPA’s proposed fiscal year 2020 budget cuts to key Clean Air Act grant programs on which they rely, arguing in comments on the agency’s draft air office funding guidance that further reducing grant funding to states will hinder already strained programs and risk harming public health.

House lawmakers are pressing the Energy Department (DOE) for answers on its growing environmental liability, estimated at almost $400 billion, particularly as that liability outpaces annual cleanup spending, and are questioning how that liability can be cut when the Trump administration is proposing budget cuts to the cleanup program.

State water regulators are urging Senate appropriators to reject EPA's proposed fiscal year 2020 cuts to grants aimed at helping states implement the Clean Water Act (CWA), saying maintaining or exceeding current funding levels would demonstrate a clear commitment to the collaborative federal-state relationship.

EPA's financial advisory panel is recommending the agency take a number of steps to encourage the “regionalization” of water utilities, including examining whether a grant allocation formula creates disincentives for states to promote beneficial consolidation of water systems and how to use the permitting system to bolster the effort.