Acting EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Nancy Stoner appeared before the House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee last week to testify on President Obama’s FY14 budget request that proposes cutting millions of dollars from the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs). Stoner’s testimony repeated previous administration statements that its Drinking Water and Clean Water SRF requests of $817 million and $1.095 billion, respectively, would supplement approximately $20 billion in federal dollars invested in the SRFs over the past six years, while supporting roughly 370 drinking water and 450 clean water projects across the country.
Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio.) criticized the budget proposal and warned that cutting SRF funding would make it more challenging for communities to comply with burdensome federal regulatory mandates. Gibbs also complained about EPA’s use of “guidance” documents to change policy “without following a proper, transparent, and unbiased rulemaking process.”