Continuing its call for reduced spending at U.S. EPA, the Trump administration proposed additional budget cuts at the agency for the remaining 6 months of fiscal year 2017. The administration proposal calls for reductions in spending at EPA totaling $247 million.
Targeted cuts at EPA include a $115 million cut in state grants, equaling a reduction of approximately 10 percent; a $48 million cut for research and development programs, also representing a reduction of approximately 10 percent, focused largely on cuts for climate research programs; a proposed $49 million reduction in spending for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative; a $30 million spending cut for the Superfund remedial program, and $5 million in cuts to the brownfield grants program.
The cuts at EPA are part of a larger package of cuts intended to partially offset proposed increases in defense spending of $33 billion, including $1.75 billion in cuts from the Energy & Water Development appropriations bill, and $714 million in appropriations for Interior and the Environment. In addition to the $247 million in spending cuts at EPA, the proposed cuts include reductions of $1.43 billion at the Department of Energy, $371 million at the Department of the Interior, and $300 million at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).