The $3.8 trillion FY14 budget request President Obama sent to Congress this month proposes millions of dollars of cuts to EPA and the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs).
Under the president’s plan, EPA would receive $8.2 billion next year, $296 million below its final FY12 appropriation but about $250 million above the agency’s sequester-impacted FY13 funding level.
The plan would cut funding for the DWSRF to $817 million, while reducing the CWSRF to $1.095 billion. In comparison, the FY13 funding levels for the DW and CW SRFs were $908.7 million and $1.452 billion, respectively, but those figures do not include additional cuts of approximately $140 million that are expected due to the budget sequester.
The administration’s proposal, if enacted, would represent the lowest annual appropriation to the DWSRF since 1999, and the forth-straight year of declining budgets for the program. In response, AMWA and a coalition of water and wastewater organizations are planning to write to lawmakers to explain the importance of the SRF programs and to urge rejection of the proposed cuts.
Other sections of Obama’s EPA proposal would repeat requests he made in his FY13 budget. For example, his plan would direct states to reserve 10 percent of their total DWSRF allocation for “projects to address green infrastructure, water or energy efficiency improvements, or other environmentally innovative activities,” whereas no such requirement currently applies to DWSRF dollars. For the CWSRF, the FY14 budget would reserve 20 percent of a state’s allotment for green infrastructure projects, up from 10 percent today. Obama’s plan would require states to use between 20 and 30 percent of their DW and CWSRF funding to support loan forgiveness in disadvantaged communities. The document also explains the administration’s view that EPA should “target SRF assistance to small and underserved communities.”
Congressional appropriations subcommittees have already begun to hold hearings on various aspects of the president’s budget proposal, but many revisions are likely over the coming months before a final FY14 EPA spending plan becomes law.