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  4. Congress' Fiscal 2012 Bill Cuts EPA Spending on GHG Programs

Congress' Fiscal 2012 Bill Cuts EPA Spending on GHG Programs

Date: January 5, 2012

Source: News Room

Congress approved an omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2012 that permanently strips the US EPA of its air permitting authority in Arctic waters, cuts spending on key water and greenhouse gas (GHG) programs and cuts the agency's overall spending by $233 million compared to fiscal 2011. However, the final conference committee bill, passed by Congress Dec. 16 and signed Dec. 23 by President Obama, dropped dozens of other binding policy riders, sought by Republicans to address core EPA air, water, waste and toxics programs. Still, at least one of the House riders remains: legislative language amending the Clean Air Act to transfer the authority for issuing air permits for drilling operations in the Arctic from EPA to the Department of the Interior (DOI). The House agreed to drop some of its riders because of actions taken by EPA. For example, lawmakers dropped a rider blocking EPA's air rule for boilers because they were "encouraged" by the agency's recently re-proposed rule, which provides additional compliance flexibilities and exempts biomass. The final bill's overall funding level was set in the deficit reduction deal that Congress approved earlier this year, providing slightly higher levels than what House appropriators had assumed.

Several high-profile initiatives that Republicans had been threatening to eliminate were ultimately funded, including GHG permitting and EPA's pending study on the risks posed by hydraulic fracturing.

Despite strong support, the committee declined to provide EPA with $2 million to create an electronic manifest system to track hazardous waste because Congress has not yet approved legislation providing EPA with authority the collect user fees to offset the cost.

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