EPA Budget Cuts Could Mean Less Funding to States, Beach Protection, and Superfund Site Clean-up

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

February 13, 2012 | 3:52 PM

While more research dollars are proposed to look at potential public health and environmental risks of fracking, Obama’s budget proposal for FY 2013 has been reduced by 1.2 percent, or $105 million dollars. From the EPA’s breakdown, here’s a list of cuts.

The FY 2013 President’s Budget eliminates a number of programs totaling $50 million including: the Clean Automotive Technology Program; Beaches Protection categorical grants; Environmental Education; State Indoor Radon Grants; the Support to Other Federal Agencies program within Superfund; and the Fibers program.

The budget will slash more than $37 million from the Superfund program, reducing the number of sites investigated and remediated by the agency. The Washington Post has more on the reductions:

“The $8.3 billion funding request represents a $105 million cut below EPA’s 2012 enacted level. In it, the White House slashed funding for the Superfund Remedial Program by $33 million but pledged to provide the money “necessary for EPA to be prepared to respond to emergency releases of hazardous substances and circumstances that place the public at imminent risk of exposure and harm.”

One silver lining among all the pain includes an increase of $15 million to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.