House Republicans proposed blocking environmental regulations on power plants and waterways in a draft fiscal 2016 budget for the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency.
The $30.17 billion spending plan revealed Tuesday is a reduction of $246 million below current levels and $3 billion below President Obama’s request.
While the spending cuts would hit some programs cherished by the Obama administration, it’s the policy “riders” on power plants, endangered species and water that drew the most attention from lawmakers and outside groups.
“This legislation stops the abuse of power by over-zealous bureaucratic agencies in Washington — including the EPA — that seek to impose unnecessary regulations that kill jobs and hinder growth,” said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky.
The proposals underscore the bread-and-butter criticism Republican lawmakers have lobbed at the White House regarding what they perceive as environmental rules that amount to executive overreach that could harm the economy. But Obama, backed by most Democrats, likely would veto the spending bill given it targets his climate and environmental policies.
Chiefly, the bill would undercut proposed EPA limits on carbon emissions from power plants, the cornerstone of Obama’s climate agenda.
The rule is due to be finalized this summer and aims to slash electricity emissions 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Conservatives, coal-state Democrats and the energy industry dislike the proposal because they say it will raise power costs and shutter coal mines, but more Democrats and environmental and public groups contend it will clean the air and slow harmful effects of climate change.
The spending bill also would prevent implementation of the “Waters of the U.S.” rule that was finalized at the end of May. Agricultural groups and their congressional allies say the rule expands EPA’s reach over waterways, though the agency insists it clarifies where EPA has jurisdiction and that it adds agricultural practices exempt from needing a permit for development.
The Interior Department would be forbidden from listing the greater sage grouse, which inhabits 11 Western states, as an endangered species. The department must decide whether to list the bird by the end of September.
Environmental groups said the provisions, along with spending cuts to programs those groups support, went too far.
“This is a draconian proposal. Using funding levels as their weapon of choice, the House Republican leadership is launching a frontal assault against our bedrock environmental protections,” Friends of the Earth climate and energy campaigner Lukas Ross said.
EPA funding would fall by $718 million — or 9 percent — to $7.4 billion, with regulatory programs receiving $69 million less than current levels and $206 million below Obama’s request. The Fish and Wildlife Service also would take an $8 million hit, settling at $1.4 billion.
Other agencies received spending bumps.
The bill increases wildfire prevention and firefighting by $52 million, up to $3.6 billion total for the fiscal year.
Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement would get $30 million more in 2016, reaching $180 million. It includes a new $30 million program that would speed access to fees paid to the federal government for reclaiming abandoned mines in hopes of spurring economic development in those areas.
Interior’s Bureau of Land Management would receive $1.1 billion, an increase of $30 million. It also includes riders that block the Obama administration from raising oil and gas inspection fees that Interior wants to use to fund a fast-track permitting program for oil and gas drilling on federal land.
