Today, the Trump Administration released its 2018 budget proposals for discretionary spending and it’s not looking good for public health or the environment. Among those proposals, Donald Trump has called for attacks that would effectively disable the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior-- which is good for no one except money hungry polluters and their political allies. Trump’s plans for the EPA’s budget includes decimating its staff and many of its life-saving programs. Additionally, the proposals for the Department of the Interior sharply reduce the budget to protect America’s parks, public lands and wildlife, while undermining valuable programs to engage kids in service and learning outside, a critical contributor to the $646 billion outdoor recreation economy.
Trump’s proposed budget eliminates funding used to protect America’s most iconic bodies of water, like the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay, while also jeopardizing some of the nation’s most beloved parks and wildlife.
It would slash support for Superfund programs, which facilitate the cleanup of sites contaminated by hazardous chemicals. There are approximately 1300 Superfund sites that still need to be cleaned up and the new budget puts half of these sites at risk, places that are inhabited primarily by low-income groups, tribes and communities of color. In fact, 319 out of 512 Indian Reservations are within 500 miles of a Superfund Site. The cuts would also hinder EPA’s ability to monitor air quality and check for signs of deadly and toxic pollution like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, which put communities of color and low-income communities at the highest risk.
Trump also would strip funding that enables the U.S. to meet its commitment to the Green Climate Fund, hampering our ability to continue to lead the world in climate action. He would also try to jump start making Yucca Mountain a nuclear waste dump, slash innovating clean energy research efforts (ARPA-E), eliminate funding for afterschool and summer programs for at risk and underserved youth run by park and recreation agencies ( 21st Century Community
Learning Centers program), put the EPA programs that respond to crisis like Flint at risk, and make additional cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Transportation Safety Administration in order to funnel more than $2.5 billion into the ineffective boondoggle of a border wall.
If that’s not enough, here’s what else the budget proposal does:
Kills 3,200 direct federal EPA jobs and countless jobs connected to EPA and state environmental projects at the state level
Cuts of $2.6 billion, or 31 percent, from the 2017 budget which had already been cut by 2 billion from 2010 levels
Eliminates funding for specific regional efforts such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and Chesapeake Bay Cleanup program, which are helping to clean up these major bodies of water that provide drinking water and recreation related jobs to many Americans.
Eliminates of Energy Star, America’s favorite program for saving money through energy efficiency; the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, which conducts research on how chemicals affect our bodies; and infrastructure assistance to Alaska Native Villages, which provides sanitation services for rural communities in Alaska.
Eliminates funding for Clean Power Plan, international climate change programs, climate change research and partnership programs, and related efforts, making it nearly impossible for America to continue being a global leader in clean energy and setting us backwards on the path to fight the climate crisis.
Cut environmental education programs that were created through the National Environmental Education Act (NEEA), under the Bush administration in 1990. The NEEA has been a highly effective tool for improving student performance in science and math and protecting public health. It helps build 21st century skills and promote job training, innovation and leadership skills, utilizing public-private partnerships to leverage scarce federal resources.
Increases funding for dirty fuel development on our public lands and waters, while halting the creation of any new parks or public lands, eliminating outdoor summer programs for at-risk kids, and abandoning the preservation of important historic sites like the Betsy Ross House.
Cuts $1.5 billion from the Department of the Interior, further starving agencies like the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The lack of funding threatens to undermine decades of work by the FWS to bring endangered species, like the Bald Eagle, back from the brink of extinction, and to manage wildlife refuges across the country.
Eliminates the DOE’s Weatherization Assistance and Low-income Home Energy Assistance Programs which help millions of low-income Americans stay warm and keep the lights on.
This list goes on-- read more about what’s at stake here and help us #SaveTheEPA for the future of our communities and our children.