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The 50,000 Foot View

If you haven't heard, the proposed 2008 EPA budget is out and it looks like there's a little in it for everyone, however, Superfund still makes up the lion's share of the budget (17%). EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson released the $7.2 billion budget in February. It emphasizes using more "citizen-partners". I have to admit, I'm not really sure what an EPA citizen partner is, however, EPA claims there are 300 million of them so I figure there's one close by….Are you one?

The proposed budget includes $549.5 million for enforcement operations, the largest amount ever dedicated to this area. As you would suspect, when enforcement funding increases, fines and penalties will too. Although a relatively small amount ($64.3 million), the budget has funding for four specific national water assets: Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. And yes, even Brownfields got a little. $162.2 million is proposed for this area.

There's approximately $300 million for improvement of air quality in the area of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, methane recovery and clean air related research. Finally, about 35 million is marked for National Clean Diesel Campaign grants to assist in meeting the mandates of the Energy Act. The 35 million is predicted to leverage an additional 72 million in funding assistance, which will achieve $1.4 billion in health benefits. I just love the whole dollarization idea. If there was somewhere I could make 10x on my investment I'd be all over that!

Although I feel this is somewhat of a shotgun approach, the fact is we have a lot of on-going commitments with new ones being taken on each day. Certainly we can always do more. But the other fact is we cannot do it all now. And even if we had the funds, the economy couldn't stand up to it. Things have to be prioritized and transitioned over time. Although resilient, our great economic engine has to have a little time to integrate changes. If we are smart in our priorities and do not try to do it all at once, we'll continue on the path of economic growth and good environmental stewardship.

- Scott Pate, President/CEO