Testimony of Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Hearing on EPA’s 2010 Budget Proposal
Environment and Public Works Committee
United States Senate
(As prepared for delivery)
Contacts: Betsaida Alcantara, 202-564-1692 / 4355 /
alcantara.betsaida@epa.gov
Brendan Gilfillan, 202-564-2081 / 4355 /
gilfillan.brendan@epa.gov
(Washington, D.C. – May 12, 2009) Madam Chairman and Members of the
Committee, I am delighted to appear before you today to discuss how the
proposed FY 2010 Budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency is
designed to address our environmental challenges and contribute to the
country’s economic recovery.
The President requests $10.5 billion for FY 2010 to carry out EPA’s
mission to protect human health and safeguard and improve the environment.
This budget represents a 37 percent increase over our FY 2009 Budget --
the highest level ever for EPA. It reflects both the challenges and
promise we face in an era of higher energy costs, global climate change,
and economic crisis. We recognize that now is the time to make the
environmental investments to support a cleaner energy economy and a more
sustainable future.
This budget starts the work needed to transform our economy through
investment in cutting-edge green technologies, repairing crumbling
infrastructure and strengthening our core regulatory and scientific
capabilities to make the Nation’s water, air, and land cleaner for our
communities, families, and children. This budget keeps EPA on the job
protecting the environment. It helps states, tribes, and local governments
stay on the job by providing critical partnership assistance. And, it
helps put Americans back on the job.
The FY 2010 budget request provides a substantial increase for EPA
programs, reflecting greater opportunity for EPA to address public health
and environmental challenges that can no longer be postponed, in areas
such as water infrastructure, protecting our freshwater resources, laying
the foundation to address climate change, and addressing gaps in research
as well as chemical management.
This FY 2010 budget reflects President Obama’s commitment to usher in a
new era in environmental stewardship and puts us on a clear path to a
cleaner and safer planet.
Madam Chairman and Members of the Committee, I now would like to provide a
bit more detail about the major environmental protection priorities
addressed in this budget.
Invests in Water Infrastructure
The most significant investments in the FY 2010 budget include $3.9
billion total for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds
to fund water infrastructure projects for states, tribes, and territories.
This budget includes $2.4 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund
and $1.5 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. These
investments will help the Nation build, improve, and repair the
infrastructure that provides us with reliable and safe sources of water.
We estimate that this 157 percent funding increase in the State Revolving
Funds will finance 1,000 clean water and 700 drinking water projects
across America – projects that will upgrade and update the nation’s aging
water infrastructure, assure compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act
requirements, make water delivery more efficient, and create American jobs
that pay well. These investments channel critical funding for water system
pipe replacements and help address an estimated 240,000 water pipe breaks
that occur across America each year and waste millions of gallons of
water.
The Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds provide grants to
states to capitalize their own revolving funds, providing infrastructure
financing to communities, making water infrastructure more efficient, and
supporting green jobs in the 21st
century. Because repayments and interest are recycled back
into the program, these State Revolving Funds generate funding for loans
even without Federal capitalization. We estimate that for every Federal
dollar invested, approximately two dollars in financing are provided to
municipalities.
The Administration will make these water investments with an eye to
the future. EPA will continue to work with state and local partners to
develop sustainability policies, including management and pricing,
conservation, planning adequate long-term funding for future capital
needs, and providing equitable consideration of small system customers. As
President Obama has said, now is the time to make long overdue investments
in clean energy and new infrastructure to create a platform for
entrepreneurs and workers to build an economy that will lead us into a
better future. This significant investment sends a clear message to
American taxpayers that the water infrastructure, that all of us rely on
every day, will be repaired, maintained, and modernized for the 21st
century.
Accelerates Great Lakes Restoration
The Great Lakes Basin is a national resource treasure that is home to 34
million people in the U.S. and Canada. It holds 20 percent of the world’s
fresh surface water, has 10,000 miles of coastline, and contains a diverse
array of biological communities. EPA’s FY 2010 budget requests $475
million for Great Lakes restoration programs and projects that
strategically target the most significant problems in the region, such as
aquatic invasive species, nonpoint source pollution, toxics in sediment,
and habitat and species loss.
This restoration effort represents the federal government’s commitment to
significantly advance Great Lakes protection. The Great Lakes Initiative
will use outcome-oriented performance goals and measures to target the
most significant problems and track progress in addressing them. EPA and
its Federal partners will coordinate state, local, tribal, and industry
actions to protect, maintain, and restore the chemical, biological, and
physical integrity of the Great Lakes.
In the FY 2010 budget we include other geographic priorities, such as
Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay
restoration effort is funded at $35 million, a $4 million increase over FY
2009, and will support projects to further address nutrient and sediment
pollution in the Bay.
Initiates a Comprehensive Approach to Slow Global Warming
EPA’s FY 2010 Budget supports efforts to develop a comprehensive energy
and climate change policy to increase energy independence, move toward a
greener economy and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is not a
moment to lose in confronting the rapid advance of climate change.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Cap and Trade Program)
The FY 2010 Budget includes a $19 million increase to support the
President’s effort to develop a comprehensive energy and climate change
plan to transition America to a clean energy economy, reduce oil usage,
and slow global warming. It will allow us to work on a greenhouse gas
emissions inventory and work with industry sectors to report high-quality
greenhouse gas emission data that is the foundation of an effective
climate policy. This funding supports design, development, and testing the
data management system, developing guidance and training materials to
assist the regulated community, conducting industry-specific workshops and
developing source measurement technologies for greenhouse gases.
This budget provides funding to develop environmentally sound
methodological approaches needed to implement a possible cap and trade
program, including offsets, and to strengthen climate partnership
programs. EPA will develop protocols to measure the effectiveness of
offset projects, and provide advice on effective, environmentally sound
approaches to offsets.
Chemical Risks
Just as we need to address climate change, we also need to manage chemical
risks. The FY 2010 Budget requests $55 million, an increase of $8 million
over FY 2009 levels, to fund an enhanced toxics program to screen, assess,
and reduce chemical risks. This 17 percent increase will fulfill U.S.
commitments under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
to complete screening-level hazard and risk characterization and initiate
action as needed on more than 6,750 organic U.S. chemicals.
Research and Development
The Research and Development programs are funded at $842 million for the
Science and Technology appropriation, and increase of $52 million from FY
2009. This funding will support the rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific
analyses that we must use as a basis for our environmental decisions. It
will allow us to assess, develop and compile scientifically rigorous tools
to inform decision-making and assist in incorporating green infrastructure
into existing practices.
Computational Toxicology
The FY 2010 Budget includes a $4.5 million increase over the FY 2009
enacted level for Computational Toxicology Research. This increase will
enhance EPA efforts to provide regulatory offices with detailed hazard
assessment profiles on thousands of chemicals of concern, as well as
information on human exposure potential, including chemical screening and
prioritization, and toxicity pathway-based risk assessment. This funding
will also provide for the high-throughput screening of up to 200
additional chemicals and the deployment of this information in EPA
databases with supporting analysis tools, via computer programs and EPA
websites.
Integrated Risk Information Systems
The FY 2010 Budget includes $14.5 million, a $5 million increase over
2009, to enable the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) to increase
assessment production and reduce our backlog of assessments for chemicals
previously identified as priority needs.
Biofuels
The FY 2010 budget includes $5.6 million, an increase of $5 million over
FY 2009, for biofuels research and sustainability analysis mandated by the
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Biofuels lifecycle and
sustainability research will provide better information to decision makers
on the trade offs and opportunities associated with increased biofuels
production.
Green Infrastructure Research
The FY 2010 budget provides $3.6 million to expand green infrastructure
research to assess, develop and compile scientifically rigorous tools and
models that will be used by the Agency’s water and other programs, states,
tribes, and municipalities to help advance the deployment of green
infrastructure. This research will help EPA and its non-Federal partners
further their understanding of the benefits it provides, and aid in
integrating green infrastructure into water pollution control programs at
the Federal, state, and local level.
Air Toxics
I believe EPA has a particular duty to inform America’s most vulnerable
populations about the environmental risks we face. I recognize that for
the nation’s vulnerable populations – the disadvantaged, the elderly,
children, and historically disadvantaged communities –are least able to
bear additional increments of environmental risk.
.
Therefore, the budget also includes $3.3 million for air toxics research
to protect and improve the quality of the air that each of us breathes.
Air toxics research studies the effects to human health of toxic air
pollutants and includes evaluating risk assessment methodologies to
support the development and implementation of regulatory programs that
assist state and local governments and tribes develop clean air plans. The
FY 2010 budget also supports improvement of risk assessment tools,
including National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment; analytical support to
states as they enhance air toxics monitoring near selected schools, and 5
FTE in EPA’s Regional offices to provide technical assistance and
coordination.
These combined scientific efforts do more than build our understanding of
environmental programs; they remind us all of the need for transparent,
clear communication of the facts and risks of the environmental challenges
we face together.
Strengthens Environmental Enforcement
EPA’s FY 2010 budget proposes the largest enforcement and compliance
budget in history -- $600 million, an increase of $32 million from last
year. The $600 million enforcement budget reflects the President’s strong
commitment to enforcing of our Nation’s environmental laws and ensures
that EPA has the resources necessary to maintain a robust and effective
criminal and civil enforcement program. Specifically, the request includes
an increase of nearly 30 additional positions primarily for civil and
criminal enforcement. In addition, we will enhance efforts to integrate
environmental justice considerations in EPA’s programs and policies as
well as fulfill environmental requirements with respect to other federal
agencies’ projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Experience has shown that investing in our enforcement program yields
tangible pollution reductions and fundamental behavioral change in the
regulated community. The FY 2010 Budget will advance EPA’s mission, and do
so with unparalleled transparency. The success of our efforts depends on
earning and maintaining the trust of the public we serve by upholding
values of transparency and openness in conducting EPA operations.
Superfund
The $1.3 billion Superfund budget contains an increase of $24 million over
FY 2009. Funding in the budget will enhance enforcement and removal work
as well as support the Superfund program. The budget also includes a
proposal to reinstate the Superfund tax that expired in 1995. Beginning in
FY 2011, the taxes should generate $1 billion a year, rising to $2 billion
a year by 2019 – all to fund needed cleanups across America. These efforts
focus on ensuring that contaminated sites are ready to be returned to
beneficial use by our communities.
Brownfields
The 2010 budget provides a total of $175 million for the Brownfields
program, a $5 million increase from 2009. This includes $149.5 million for
Brownfields State and Tribal Assistance Grants to continue to provide
Brownfields assessment, revolving loan fund, clean-up, and job-training
grants.
The Brownfields program is designed to help states, tribes, local
communities and other stakeholders work together to assess, safely
cleanup, and reuse Brownfields. Revitalizing these once productive
properties helps communities by removing blight, satisfying the growing
demand for land, helping limit urban sprawl, enabling economic
development, and improving quality of life.
Leaking Underground Storage Tanks
The FY 2010 budget requests $128 million for the Leaking Underground
Storage Tanks program, including $113 million for the LUST trust fund. The
Leaking Underground Storage Tanks program promotes rapid and effective
responses to releases from Underground Storage Tanks containing petroleum
and hazardous substances by enhancing state, local, and tribal enforcement
and response capability. EPA supports state and tribal underground storage
tank programs to clean up contaminated sites, promote innovative and
environmentally friendly approaches in corrective action to enhance and
streamline the remediation process, and measure and evaluate national
program progress and performance. Almost 80 percent (or 377,019) of all
reported leaks have been addressed to date, leaving a backlog of almost
103,000 cleanups that have not yet been addressed. In FY 2010, EPA will
continue to work with the states and tribes to complete LUST cleanups in
an effort to reduce the remaining backlog.
All three of these programs – Superfund, Brownfields, and Leaking
Underground Storage Tanks – focus on cleaning up contaminated sites to
ensure these sites are ready to be returned to beneficial use by our
communities, putting both people and property to work.
Partnerships
Next, I want to discuss how this budget will help our partners stay on the
job. States, localities, and tribes are the front line in many
environmental programs – they implement major portions of many EPA
programs. As the recession drastically lowers tax revenues, states and
localities are looking at deep cuts in all their programs – cuts that
could hinder environmental progress on a wide range of issues.
Categorical Grants
In FY 2010, EPA requests a total of $1.1 billion for “categorical” program
grants for state, interstate organizations, non-profit organizations, and
tribal governments. EPA will continue to pursue its strategy of building
and supporting state, local and tribal capacity to implement, operate, and
enforce the nation’s environmental laws. In this way, environmental goals
will ultimately be achieved through the actions, programs, and commitments
of state, tribal and local governments, organizations and citizens.
Highlights of EPA’s FY 2010 categorical grants include:
Air Quality and Radon Grants
The FY 2010 request includes $248 million for grants to support state,
local, and tribal air management and radon programs. These funds provide
resources to multi-state, state, local, and tribal air pollution control
agencies for development and implementation of programs for the prevention
and control of air pollution and implementation of National Ambient Air
Quality Standards. EPA will continue an initiative to measure levels of
toxic air pollution near selected schools across the country and ensure
that deployed monitors collect high-quality data. This partnership will
help EPA maximize its monitoring and analytical capabilities. This budget
also includes $8.1 million for radon grants that focus on reducing radon
levels in existing homes and promoting the construction of new homes with
radon reducing features.
Water Pollution Control Grants
The FY 2010 Budget request includes $229 million for Water Pollution
Control grants. These grants assist state and tribal efforts to restore
and maintain the Nation’s water quality. EPA will also work with states to
implement the new rules governing discharges from Concentrated Animal
Feeding Operations. EPA encourages states to continually review and update
the water quality criteria in their standards to reflect the latest
scientific information from EPA and other sources.
Non-Point Source Program Grants
In FY 2010, EPA requests $200.9 million for Nonpoint Source Program grants
to states, territories, and tribes. EPA’s goal is to reduce annually the
amount of runoff of phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediment through our Clean
Water Act section 319-funded projects by 4.5 million pounds, 8.5 million
pounds, and 700,000 tons, respectively. These grants enable states to use
a range of tools to implement their programs including: both
non-regulatory and regulatory programs, technical assistance, financial
assistance, education, training, technology transfer, and demonstration
projects.
Hazardous Waste Financial Assistance Grants
In FY 2010, EPA requests $106.3 million for Hazardous Waste Financial
Assistance grants. These grants are used for implementation of the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act hazardous waste program, which
includes permitting, authorization, waste minimization, enforcement, and
corrective action activities. In FY 2010, EPA expects that 100 hazardous
waste facilities will put in place new or updated controls to prevent
releases.
Public Water System Supervision Grants
In FY 2010, EPA requests $105.7 million for Public Water System
Supervision (PWSS) grants. These grants provide assistance to implement
and enforce National Primary Drinking Water Regulations to ensure the
safety of the Nation’s drinking water resources and to protect public
health. In FY 2010, EPA will emphasize that states use their PWSS funds to
ensure that drinking water systems of all sizes meet new and existing
regulatory requirements.
Tribal General Assistance Program Grants
EPA’s budget request includes $62.9 million for the Tribal General
Assistance Program to help federally-recognized tribes and intertribal
consortia develop, implement and assess environmental programs. In FY
2010, 100 percent of federally-recognized tribes and intertribal consortia
will have access to environmental assistance.
Pesticides, Toxics Substance, and Sector Program Grants
The FY 2010 request includes $25.6 million to build environmental
enforcement partnerships with states and tribes and to strengthen their
ability to address environmental and public health threats and assist them
in the implementation of compliance and enforcement provisions of the
Toxic Substances Control Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act. Under our Toxic Substances Compliance Grant program,
states receive funding for compliance inspections focused on asbestos,
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and lead-based paint. States also
receive funding for implementation of the state lead-based paint
certification and training, and abatement notification compliance and
enforcement program. Under the Sector program grants, EPA builds
environmental partnerships with states and tribes to strengthen their
ability to address environmental and public health threats, including
contaminated drinking water, pesticides in food, hazardous waste, toxic
substances, and air pollution.
Lead Grants
The FY 2010 request includes $14.6 million for lead grants. This funding
will support the development of authorized programs, including work under
the new Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule, in both states and
tribes to prevent lead poisoning through the training of workers who
remove lead-based paint, the accreditation of training programs, the
certification of contractors, and renovation education programs. In FY
2010, EPA will continue to award targeted grants to reduce childhood lead
poisoning and keep EPA on target to eliminate childhood lead poisoning as
a public health concern.
In addition to these grants, the FY 2010 Budget continues EPA’s funding
and Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act and Wetlands
grants to protect our coastal shorelines and improve water quality in
watersheds throughout the country.
Homeland Security
EPA has a vital role in homeland security. The Agency has been called upon
to respond to five major disasters and nationally significant incidents in
the past seven years. In the coming years, EPA’s homeland security roles
and responsibilities will continue to be of the utmost importance as the
Agency enhances its preparedness.
The FY 2010 Budget requests $160 million to support the Agency’s homeland
security efforts. The emphasis for FY 2010 is on several areas: applied
research for decontamination methods and agents; ensuring trained
personnel and key lab capacities are in place to be drawn upon in the
event of multiple large-scale catastrophic incidents; and enhancing
critical water infrastructure security efforts.
EPA’s FY 2010 Budget provides an increase of $9 million to fully
fund five Water Security Initiative pilot cooperative agreements. The
Water Alliance for Threat Reduction Activities. The Water Security
Initiative will include continued design and demonstration, of a system to
test, and evaluate the appropriate response to drinking water
contamination threats. Adoption of effective water security guidance on
contamination systems will be issued upon completion of these projects.
Inspector General
This budget also reflects another key concern of Congress and mine –
making sure we manage our resources responsibly. This budget includes
increases to the Inspector General to help ensure that we protect public
dollars from fraud, waste, and abuse.
Conclusion
Madam Chairman and Members of the Committee, the FY 2010 budget
request sets EPA on a clear path to accomplishing the important work
Americans support to address the pressing environmental challenges facing
our nation. We are honored to have the job of protecting human health and
the environment. And, we are proud that this $10.5 billion funds
investments in both our environmental and economic future.