EPA and Reclamation FY 2010 Budget Summary

President Obama first released a shell overview of his Fiscal Year 2010 budget on February 26, but on May 7, Obama and Agency heads released a more detailed FY 2010 budget request. During a news conference at the White House on Thursday morning, the President unveiled his pared down budget saying, “we can no longer afford to spend as if deficits don’t matter, and waste is not our problem. We can no longer afford to leave the hard choices for the next budget, the next administration—or the next generation”.

Environmental Protection Agency
Despite the deep cuts for other agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Lisa Jackson, unveiled her agency’s largest budget in its thirty nine year history saying. Jackson praised the Administration’s budget priorities saying, "EPA’s new budget reflects the President’s commitment to growing a clean energy economy and protecting human health and the environment. These investments reject the false choice of a green economy or a green environment, and position EPA to lead the way in green jobs, innovation and technology, and action on global climate change. Expanding on the investments of the Recovery Act, this budget allows EPA to provide real solutions to our economic crisis. It takes significant strides to ensure that our air, land, and water are safe and clean. And it significantly improves accountability and transparency, ensuring fiscal responsibility at a time when every dollar count”.
Details of EPA’s FY 2010 Budget Request are below:
Program FY ’09 Request FY ’10 Request
Clean Water State Revolving Fund $555 Million $2.4 billion
Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund $842 Million $1.5 billion
Leaking Underground Storage Tanks $72 Million $113 Million
Superfund $1.26 Billion $1.3 Billion
Total Discretionary Budget Authority $7.14 Billion $10.5 Billion

The EPA’s full budget can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/budget/2010/2010cj.htm
Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program
The Army Corps of Engineers has not yet released details of their FY 2010 budget request and the scheduled briefing has been postponed. Details will follow as soon as they become available.

Department of the Interior: Bureau of Reclamation
The President’s FY ’10 budget request funds the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) at $1 billion which is offset by $35.1 million in funds from the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund for a net total of $985 million. Although Secretary Salazar has not yet held a Department wide briefing, details of the Bureau’s FY ’10 budget request were unveiled during the May 7 stakeholder’s budget briefing. While some new programs authorized by the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act have been included in the budget (ie San Joaquin River Restoration), stakeholders were told that the majority of those projects and programs were not included in the 2010 budget due to the fact that the legislation was signed into law too late in the budget development process to be accounted for.
Highlights of the budget are below.
Program FY ’09 Enacted FY ’10 Request
CALFED $40 Million $31 Million
Central Valley Project Restoration Fund (total w/ offset) $3.4 Million $0.3 Million
San Joaquin River Restoration (mandatory appropriations) $0 $15.9 Million
Dam Safety Program $88.3 Million $101.9 million
Klamath Project $23 Million $25 Million
Platte River Recovery Program $10.6 Million $12.7 Million
Site Security Activities $28 Million $28.9 Million
Central Arizona Project $25.4 Million $18.4 Million
Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Project $18.2 Million $22.2 Million
Rural Water Projects $139 Million $64 Million
Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program $39.2 Million $9.0 Million
Yakima Project $7.8 Million $8.5 Million
Yuma Area Projects $21.3 Million $24.5 Million
Columbia Basin Project $12.1 Million $16.5 Million
Animas-La Plata Project $50.0 Million $54.2 Million
Water Conservation Initiative $50.3 Million $46.0 Million
Loan Program (P.L. 84-984) $0 $0
Total Discretionary Budget Authority $1.15 Billion $919.3 Million

The Bureau’s full budget information can be found at: http://www.usbr.gov/budget/2010/CONTENTS.pdf

Congressional hearings on the budget request are expected to begin within the next two weeks. For more information about any project or Agency budget request, please contact me at 703-524-1544 or acoffey@nwra.org.