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WHITMAN PRAISES PRESIDENT’S BUDGET, CALLS EPA BUDGET RESPONSIBLE
Release Date: 02/28/2001
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FOR RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2001
WHITMAN PRAISES PRESIDENT’S BUDGET,
CALLS EPA BUDGET RESPONSIBLE
David Deegan 202-564-7839
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman today praised the President’s budget for all it accomplishes for the nation and the environment. “We will be able to build on the premise that environmental protection and economic prosperity should go hand in hand,” said Whitman. “And we will have the resources to base decisions on sound science.”
The proposed budget for EPA is $7.3 billion, a figure that is $56 million more than the previous Administration’s 2001 request. “Thanks to the elimination of some unrequested earmarks, there is a change from last year’s enacted budget,” Whitman remarked. “However, the core of EPA’s regulatory, research and enforcement activities is in its operating program, which is funded at $3.7 billion, the second highest level in EPA history. Enforcement and environmental protection take place primarily under this program.”
The Administrator said of the President’s budget, “It will leave more money in the pockets of hard-working Americans, and stimulate the economy. It protects Social Security and Medicare while it pays down the debt and protects the surplus. But it also funds the government at a workable level and implements priority programs.”
Whitman is assured by the budget levels that the Agency’s mission would not be hindered in any way. In fact, EPA’s program grants to State and Tribal governments are funded at the highest level ever, at more than $1 billion. “It is these grants that help States to administer programs delegated to them under Federal environmental statutes. As I can attest, states enforce most environmental laws through delegated state programs,” explained Whitman.
To help reach its goals, EPA will place a greater emphasis on innovative approaches to environmental protection, such as market-based incentives, and will request $25 million in grant funding to help states better integrate their environmental information systems. At present, the data collected on various systems are done separately. There are air data and water data but they are not easily integrated,” Whitman said. “Doing a better job of integrating these systems will facilitate results-based management and multimedia approaches.”
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