FEDERAL BUDGET BATTLE THREATENS ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS

By Denny Wong

The Republican-controlled House passed a budget resolution a few day ago that would have a significant impact on U.S. energy and environmental policies and programs if enacted into law. The budget resolution, H.R. 1, makes large cuts to federal funding for programs administered through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. It allows the recently elected Republican majority in the House to fulfill their campaign promise to rein in federal spending and to stop energy and environmental policies and programs that they find ideologically abhorrent.

The budget resolution cuts more than one-third of the budget for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs administered by the DOE. In addition, it cuts the EPA’s budget by $3 billion and prohibits that agency from spending money on implementing greenhouse gas emissions rules that the GOP opposes. (In addition, the GOP plans to introduce a separate bill to revoke EPA’s authority over greenhouse gases).

Other parts of the House GOP budget plan that affects U.S. environmental and energy programs include provisions that:

● Prevent the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from moving forward with its planned Climate Service

● Prevent the United States from contributing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

● Prevent EPA from implementing a rule to let cars use ethanol blends up to E15 -- a fuel that's 15 percent ethanol

● Prevent the President from hiring a czar to assistant with energy and climate change policies

Democratic Party leaders in the Senate have already indicated that they will oppose the proposed cuts; and the White House has stated that it would veto any bill that came before the President with the currently proposed cuts in place. It is likely that the House GOP budget plan will serve as the basis for a compromise bill.

The budget proposals being tossed about by the various parties provide useful insights into the direction that our energy and environmental policies will likely take in the next few years. For example, in a bow to reality, cap-and-trade is not a part of the current White House budget proposal even though it figured prominently in prior White House budget plans. While we do not yet know the final outcome of the federal budget battle, it appears that budget cuts will force the current administration to reconsider many of our energy and environmental priorities.