On July 25, as part of a
rush to draft all 13 FY 2003 appropriations bills before a month-long
August recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee drafted an FY 2003
VA-HUD appropriations bill (S. 2797) that would provide a substantial
increase for R&D in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The
Senate would provide EPA with a total budget of $8.3 billion in FY 2003,
$170 million or 2.1 percent more than FY 2002 and an even greater $679
million amount above the request. In the Senate plan, EPA’s R&D
funding would rise 7.7 percent for a total of $624 million, including
a doubling of the Superfund research program (see
Table). The Senate would mostly provide for EPA’s requested priorities
but would also add congressionally designated projects.
The Senate FY 2003 VA-HUD
bill would provide $91 billion for discretionary programs. The bill
funds science agencies including the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National
Science Foundation (NSF), EPA, and non-R&D programs for veterans
and housing. The President requested $93 billion for the bill’s programs,
but the Senate would rearrange priorities to give EPA $679 million more
than requested and would fund some priorities out of emergency funds
which do not count against the bill’s total. The House is not expected
to draft its version of the bill until September or later.
EPA requested $7.6 billion
for its total budget, a cut of $508 million or 6.8 percent from FY 2002
because of cuts to State and Tribal Assistance Grants, perennially a
higher priority for Congress than for EPA, cuts in funds for congressionally
designated projects, and the inclusion in the FY 2002 total of $226
million in emergency funds provided to EPA in the aftermath of the September
11 and anthrax attacks. The emergency funds paid for anthrax decontamination,
vulnerability assessments of drinking water supplies, and security upgrades
for EPA facilities. The Senate would boost total EPA funding above the
FY 2002 level by adding $546 million to the request for State and Tribal
Assistance Grants and also adding funds for Science and Technology,
Environmental Programs and Management, and the Superfund program, mostly
in the form of congressionally designated projects. The $8.3 billion
Senate appropriation is $170 million more than FY 2002 level including
emergency funds (see Table).
EPA’s R&D, mostly funded in the Science and Technology account, would total $624 million, up $45
million from FY 2002 for a 7.7 percent increase. EPA requested a 6.4
percent increase, mostly for new homeland security investments. EPA
requested $75 million in new funding from the Superfund program for
building decontamination research to build on the capabilities EPA demonstrated
in cleaning the Senate Hart
Building of anthrax. The
Senate would provide $50 million; these funds would be in addition to
Superfund’s ongoing hazardous-substances research program funded at
$37 million in both FY 2002 and FY 2003. The Senate would add funds
to other EPA R&D areas. While the EPA proposed to eliminate dozens
of congressionally designated research projects and keep core research
funding mostly flat, the Senate bill would add $32 million for 24 congressionally
designated research projects, mostly in the Science and Technology account
with some in the normally non-R&D Environmental Programs and Management
account. These additions and the new Superfund R&D funding would
leave most core EPA research programs near the FY 2003 request and FY
2002 funding levels if not slightly below. Among the new starts proposed
by EPA and approved by the Senate are $2.7 million for a Computational
Toxicology Program and $4.9 million for Biotechnology Research.
The Senate would reject the proposed transfer of the STAR (Science to Achieve
Results) Fellowships Program to the National Science Foundation
(NSF) and would provide $9.8 million (the same as FY 2002) within the
S&T account. This program helps to fund graduate education and research
in environmental research disciplines.
Included in EPA’s S&T
account for FY 2003 is $8 million for the
Homestake Mine. Last year, Congress approved $10 million
in FY 2002 in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
to maintain the closing Homestake Mine in
South Dakota in preparation
for possible construction of a National Underground Science Laboratory
for particle physics research on the site. The FY 2002 Defense appropriations
bill transferred title of the mine from the mine owners to the state
of South Dakota in exchange
for liability relief from environmental hazards on site. The FY 2003
site maintenance costs would be covered by EPA; next, the National Science
Foundation (NSF) will review the laboratory proposal and would cover
the laboratory construction costs and operating costs if the project
is approved by the National Science Board.
Although not an R&D
program, the President’s budget proposed to eliminate EPA’s Environmental
Education program (in the Environmental Programs and Management account)
in FY 2003. The program received $9.2 million in FY 2002; the Senate
would provide the same level of funding in FY 2003 within EPM.
The Senate would mostly
stick to the EPA’s priorities for FY 2003, except for a large boost
in funding for State and Tribal Assistance Grants. Although
EPA requested a cut in this program from $3.7 billion to $3.5 billion,
the Senate would provide a 7.3 percent increase to this account. Most
of this money goes to state and local governments. For Environmental Programs and Management, which funds most of EPA’s operating
expenses, the Senate bill would provide $2.1 billion, $47 million more
than FY 2002 but $93 million more than the request because of congressionally
designated projects. The Superfund
program would decline $88 million from the $1.3 billion FY 2002 funding
level.
Superfund used to transfer
funds to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS),
a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for its research
program on environmental health, but beginning in FY 2001 and continuing
with the FY 2003 request and FY 2003 Senate bill these funds are appropriated
directly to NIEHS, and appear as part of the NIH
budget. The NIEHS Superfund appropriation, funded in the VA-HUD
bill separately from the regular NIEHS appropriation, would be $76 million
for FY 2003, the same as the request and FY 2002.
The Senate VA-HUD did not
see floor debate and approval before a month-long August congressional
recess, so full Senate consideration has been delayed until September.
The House will not draft its version of the bill until September, at
the earliest, and possibly not until October.
- August 6, 2002
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
American Association for the Advancement of Science
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607
science_policy@aaas.org
http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd
(new URL)
