- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The
Bush administration on Monday proposed a 2005 budget for the Environmental
Protection Agency which is down more than 7 percent from levels Congress
enacted in 2004, but includes more money to clean up toxic waste sites
while slashing funds for clean water projects by about $500 million.
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- President Bush's proposed $2.4 trillion election-year
budget includes $7.76 billion for EPA, the agency charged with keeping
the nation's air, water and land pollution-free. Proposed funding is down
from the $8.4 billion that Congress allocated for EPA in the current budget
year.
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- EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt, who is nearing the 90-day
mark after taking the reins of the agency from Christine Whitman, said
the budget allocates "substantially more money" than prior years.
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- "With the President's budget, we can increase the
velocity of environmental protection," Leavitt told reporters.
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- Leavitt pointed to a $133 million boost from EPA's 2004
request of $7.63 billion to remove toxic sludge from the Great Lakes and
make school buses burn cleaner fuel.
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- However, some lawmakers and environmental groups criticized
the budget as hindering U.S. environmental initiatives.
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- "This budget not only shortchanges our environment,
it challenges our nation's role as a global environmental leader,"
said independent Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont.
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- "Congress will not let this stand," said Jeffords,
the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee,
which has oversight over some EPA programs.
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- In a statement, Jeffords pointed out that the budget
cuts $492 million, or 37 percent, from a revolving fund which states use
to upgrade sewage and septic systems and storm-water run-off projects.
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- The administration would hold steady a separate $850
million state fund for clean drinking water.
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- Funding for Superfund -- an industry program to clean
up toxic waste sites -- would increase by about 10 percent to $1.38 billion.
EPA will complete clean-ups at about 40 sites this year, and begin work
at up to 12 new U.S. sites in 2005, according to budget documents.
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- However, Jeffords said the numbers were down from levels
seen during the second term of the Clinton administration, when the EPA
cleaned up an average of 87 sites per year.
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- The National Environmental Trust (NET), an environmental
group, said that Superfund should not gain at the expense of clean water
programs.
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- "Clean water or toxic waste -- as if Congress is
going to choose one over the other in an election year. At best, expect
the status quo," said NET President Philip Clapp.
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