Trump's budget proposal seeks to slash EPA funding by more than half to 1980s levels

 The Environmental Protection Agency's budget would be cut by 54% under President Trump's initial FY 2026 budget request released Friday, which EPA Adminstrator Lee Zeldin said would better position the agency to meet Trump's goals to "unleash American energy, revitalize domestic manufacturing, cut costs for families and pursue permitting reform."

The plan would reduce the EPA's budget from $9.1B to $4.2B, the agency's smallest budget since 1986, as the Trump administration seeks to dramatically withdraw the federal government from its traditional role of writing and enforcing environmental rules.

Among the cuts outlined in the budget request are $2.46B to the EPA's clean and drinking water state revolving loan funds, a program the agency said "has been heavily earmarked by the Congress for projects that are ultimately not repaid into the program," $1B to the EPA's categorical grants program, which the budget request said "have become a crutch for states at the expense of taxpayers, many of whom receive no benefit from these grants." $254M in funding for Superfund cleanup, and $100M for environmental justice.

The budget also proposed a $235M cut from the EPA's Office of Research and Development, as pat of a reorganization that would consolidate several key offices, reflecting plans to cut regulatory red tape and promote more energy development, Zeldin said.

The proposal would add 130 positions to the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention to work on reviewing a backlog of more than 500 new chemicals and 12,000 pesticides, and create an Office of State Air Partnerships to work with state permitting agencies to resolve permitting concerns.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said shuttering the EPA's scientific arm that conducts independent research and folding it into policy offices would turn the EPA into a purely political agency.

The budget request also seeks a 9% cut for the Department of Energy and 21% for the Department of the Interior.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-s-budget-proposal-seeks-to-slash-epa-funding-by-more-than-half-to-1980s-levels/ar-AA1E7zEB