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<title>EPA News Release (HQ): Statement of Lisa P. Jackson Administrator, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency </title>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>CONTACT: </span></font></b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><br>
EPA Press Office <br>
press@epa.gov <br>
202-564-4355 <br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE <br>
</span></b>February 23, 2010</span></font> <br>
<br>
<b><font size=5 face=Arial><span style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:Arial;
font-weight:bold'>Statement of Lisa P. Jackson Administrator, <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:country-region u2:st="on">U.S.</u1:country-region></u1:place>
Environmental Protection Agency <br>
Legislative Hearing on EPA’s 2011 Budget Proposal <br>
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works <br>
</span></font></b><b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'><br>
</span></font></b><font size=5 face=Arial><span style='font-size:16.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>February 23, 2010</span></font><font size=5><span
style='font-size:16.0pt'> <br>
</span></font><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial'><br>
Chairman Boxer and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to
appear before you to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency’s
proposed budget. Let me first say that I am particularly proud of the Fiscal
Year 2011 budget as it reflects President Obama’s continuing commitment
to providing the environmental protection that keeps our communities healthy
and clean and his commitment to fiscal responsibility. Families across <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:country-region u2:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</u1:country-region></u1:place></st1:place></st1:country-region>
are tightening their budgets; the President has directed us to do the same. <br>
<br>
Environmentalism is a conversation that we all must have because it is about
protecting people in the places they live, work and raise families. In FY
2011, the Agency is focused on expanding the conversation to include new
stakeholders and involve communities in more direct ways. Over the years, EPA
has worked to prevent pollution at the source and promoted the principles of
responsible environmental stewardship, sustainability, and innovation. EPA
works to improve and encourage sustainable practices and help businesses and
communities move beyond compliance to become partners in protecting natural
resources, managing materials more wisely, reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
and improving the environment and public health. <br>
<br>
Today’s challenges require renewed and refocused efforts to address old
pollution and prevent new pollution. The $10 billion proposed for EPA in the
FY 2011 President’s budget will support key priorities during this time
of fiscal challenges. These themes are: taking action on climate change; improving
air quality; assuring the safety of chemicals; cleaning up our communities;
protecting <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:country-region u2:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</u1:country-region></u1:place></st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
waters; expanding the conversation on environmentalism and working for
environmental justice; building strong state and tribal partnerships; and maintaining
a strong science foundation. <br>
<br>
These themes are aligned with a government-wide effort to identify near-term
high priority performance goals. For EPA, such goals include reducing
Greenhouse Gas emissions, improving water quality, and delivering improved
environmental health and protection to our communities. EPA will work toward
meeting these goals over the next 18 to 24 months. <br>
<br>
Madam Chairman and Members of the Committee let me touch on some of the
highlights of this budget, both the hard choices and the targeted investments
that will protect our health and the environment, advance creative programs and
innovative solutions, and help build a new foundation for our prosperity. <br>
<br>
Taking Action on Climate Change <br>
<br>
EPA continues to take meaningful, common sense steps to address climate
change. Making the right choices now will allow the agency to improve health,
drive technology innovation, and protect the environment; all without placing
an undue burden on the nation’s economy. The budget includes a requested
increase of more than $43 million for additional regulatory efforts aimed at
taking action on climate change. It includes $25 million for state grants
focused on developing technical capacity to address greenhouse gas emissions
under the Clean Air Act. It also includes $13.5 million in funding for
implementing new emission standards that will reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG)
emissions from mobile sources such as passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and
medium-duty passenger vehicles, developing potential standards for large
transportation sources such as locomotives and aircraft engines, and analyzing
the potential need for standards under petitions relating to major stationary
sources – all through means that are flexible and manageable for business.
<br>
<br>
A request of $21 million will support continued implementation of the
Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule to ensure the collection of high quality data.
This budget also requests an additional $3.1 million to promote work on current
and future carbon capture and sequestration projects. <br>
<br>
Improving Air Quality <br>
<br>
To improve air quality we’ll continue our support of enhanced monitoring
and enforcement efforts already underway. We are also requesting $60 million
for state grants to address new and expanded National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS) as well as air monitoring requirements. Through the Healthy
Communities Initiative we will provide $6 million to improve air toxics
monitoring capabilities and address compliance and enforcement issues in communities.
I will have more to say both about the Healthy Communities Initiative and our
efforts to improve air quality momentarily. <br>
<br>
Assuring the Safety of Chemicals <br>
<br>
Assuring the safety of chemicals in our products, our environment and our
bodies is of utmost concern, as is the need to make significant and long
overdue progress in achieving this goal. Last year, I announced
principles for modernizing the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). At the end
of 2009, we released our first ever chemical action plans for four groups of
substances, and more plans are in the pipeline for 2010. Using our
streamlined process for Integrated Risk Information System assessments, we will
continue strong progress toward rigorous, peer reviewed health assessments.
Additionally, we will continue focus on high-profile IRIS assessments on
dioxins, arsenic, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene (TCE) and other substances of
concern. <br>
<br>
We are proposing $56 million for chemical assessment and risk review, including
continued development of chemical management plans, to ensure that no
unreasonable risks are posed by new or existing chemicals. Further, this budget
invests $29 million in the continuing effort to eliminate childhood lead
poisoning. We will implement the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule to
address lead hazards created by renovation, repair and painting activities in
homes and child occupied facilities with lead based paint. In FY 2011, $6
million would support national efforts to mitigate exposure to high risk legacy
chemicals, such as mercury and asbestos. <br>
<br>
Cleaning Up Our Communities <br>
<br>
Among our highest priorities in this budget are investments in new and
innovative strategies for cleaning up communities, especially to protect
sensitive populations, such as children, the elderly, and individuals with
chronic diseases. We will continue to focus on making safer, healthier
communities. To clean up our communities, we’re proposing investments
that will get dangerous pollution out, and put good jobs back in. <br>
<br>
This budget proposes $215 million for Brownfields, an increase of $42 million
to support planning, cleanup, job training and redevelopment of Brownfields
properties, especially in underserved and disadvantaged communities. EPA
encourages community development by providing funds to support community
involvement and is adding area wide planning efforts to enhance the positive
impacts associated with the assessment and cleanup of Brownfields sites.
Through area wide planning, particularly by focusing on lower income
communities suffering from economic disinvestment, Brownfield properties can be
redeveloped to help meet the needs for jobs, housing, and infrastructure
investments that would help rebuild and revitalize these communities, as well
as identify opportunities to leverage additional public and private
investment. We’ll also provide funding for assessment and cleanup of
underground storage tanks and other petroleum contamination on Brownfields
sites. <br>
<br>
In addition, we’re proposing $1.3 billion for Superfund cleanup efforts
across the country. We will continue to respond to emergencies, clean up the
nation’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites, and maximize the
participation of liable and viable parties in performing and paying for cleanups.
EPA will initiate a multiyear effort to integrate and leverage our land cleanup
authorities to address a greater number of contaminated sites, accelerate
cleanups, and put sites back into productive use while protecting human health
and the environment. The new Integrated Cleanup Initiative represents
EPA’s commitment to bring more accountability, transparency and progress
to contaminated site cleanups. <br>
<br>
This budget also requests $27 million for a Healthy Communities Initiative
which covers clean, green, healthy schools; community water priorities;
sustainability and the air toxics monitoring in at risk communities I mentioned
earlier. Six million dollars is requested for the Clean, Green, and Healthy
Schools Initiative to support states and communities in promoting healthier
school environments, to broaden the implementation of EPA’s existing
school environmental health programs including asthma, indoor air quality,
chemical clean out, green practices, enhanced use of Integrated Pest
Management, and safe handling of PCB-containing caulk. The Agency will work in
partnership with the Department of Education and the Department of Health and
Human Services to accomplish this initiative. <br>
<br>
The Healthy Communities Initiative also includes an increase of $5 million for
and Smart Growth work, including the Interagency Partnership for Sustainable
Communities with the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban
Development. The Smart Growth program works with federal partners and
stakeholders to minimize the environmental impacts of development. <br>
<br>
These modest investments will make real, measurable, improvements in a small
number of pilot communities. In addition, the strategies that will be
developed could be used in communities across the nation. <br>
<br>
Protecting <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:country-region u2:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</u1:country-region></u1:place></st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
Waters <br>
<br>
Protecting America’s waters is a top priority and EPA has an ambitious
vision for the nation’s waters in the years ahead. Water quality has
tremendous impacts on quality of life, on economic potential, and on human and
environmental health. In FY 2011, EPA continues its commitment to upgrading
drinking water and wastewater infrastructure with a substantial investment of
$2 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving fund and $1.3 billion for the
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. EPA, the states, and community water
systems will build on past successes while working toward the FY 2011 goal of
assuring that 91 percent of the population served by community water systems
receives drinking water that meets all applicable health based standards. <br>
<br>
EPA’s partnership investments will allow States and Tribes to initiate
approximately 800 clean water and 500 drinking water projects across <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:country-region u2:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</u1:country-region></u1:place></st1:place></st1:country-region>,
representing a major federal commitment to water infrastructure investment.
These investments send a clear message to American taxpayers that our water
infrastructure is a public health and environmental priority. <br>
<br>
The FY 2011 budget request supports national ecosystem restoration efforts;
$300 million is requested for the <u1:place u2:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Great
Lakes</u1:place></st1:place>, the largest freshwater system in the world. This
multiagency restoration effort represents the federal government’s
commitment to significantly advance <u1:place u2:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Great
Lakes</u1:place></st1:place> protection, with an investment of over $775
million over two years. The focus is on addressing critical environmental
issues such as contaminated sediments and toxics, nonpoint source pollution,
habitat degradation and loss, and invasive species, including Asian carp. <br>
<br>
We’re requesting $63 million for the <u1:place u2:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Chesapeake Bay</u1:place></st1:place> program including increased funding
to implement President Obama’s Chesapeake Bay Executive Order. We are
accelerating implementation of pollution reduction and aquatic habitat
restoration efforts to ensure that water quality objectives are achieved as
soon as possible. A centerpiece of EPA’s FY 2011 <u1:place u2:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Chesapeake Bay</u1:place></st1:place> activity is the implementation
of the nation’s largest and most complex Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
for the entire Bay watershed. The TMDL will involve interstate waters and the
effects on water quality from the cumulative impact of more than 17 million
people, 88,000 farms, 483 significant treatment plants, thousands of smaller
facilities, and many other sources in the 64,000 square mile watershed <br>
<br>
In addition, the budget request includes $17 million for the <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:placename u2:st="on">Mississippi</u1:placename>
<u1:placetype u2:st="on">River Basin</u1:placetype></u1:place>. EPA will work
with the Department of Agriculture and states to target nonpoint source
reduction practices to reduce nutrient loadings. EPA will also work with other
Federal partners to target two high priority watersheds in the Mississippi
River Basin to demonstrate how effective nutrient strategies and enhanced
partnerships can address excessive nutrient loadings that contribute to water
quality impairments in the basin and, ultimately, to the hypoxic conditions in
the Gulf of Mexico. <br>
<br>
The budget also proposes $10 million for green infrastructure research, more
than doubling research that offers the potential to help us transition to more
sustainable water infrastructure systems. <br>
<br>
Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism and Working for Environmental
Justice <br>
<br>
We have begun a new era of outreach and protection for communities historically
underrepresented in environmental decision making. We are building strong
working relationships with tribes, communities of color, economically
distressed cities and towns, young people and others, but this is just a
start. We must include environmental justice principles in all of our
decisions. This is an area that calls for innovation and bold thinking,
and I am challenging all of our employees to bring vision and creativity to our
programs. The protection of vulnerable subpopulations is a top priority,
especially with regard to children. Our revitalized Children’s
Health Office is bringing a new energy to safeguarding children through all of
our enforcement efforts. We will ensure that children’s health
protection continues to guide our path forward. The increased Brownfields
investments I mentioned will target underserved and economically disadvantaged
neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are
needed. <br>
<br>
We’re also proposing $9 million for Community Water Priorities in the
Healthy Communities Initiative; funds that will help underserved communities
restore urban waterways and address water quality challenges. <br>
<br>
Furthermore, the FY 2011 President’s Budget includes approximately $615
million for EPA’s enforcement and compliance assurance program. This
request reflects the Administration’s strong commitment to vigorous
enforcement of our nation’s environmental laws and ensures that EPA will
have the resources necessary to maintain a robust and effective criminal and
civil enforcement program and pursue violations that threaten vulnerable
communities. <br>
<br>
<u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:placetype u2:st="on">Building</u1:placetype> <u1:placename u2:st="on">Strong</u1:placename>
<u1:placetype u2:st="on">State</u1:placetype></u1:place> and Tribal
Partnerships <br>
<br>
Another hallmark of this budget is strengthening our state and tribal
partnerships. The budget requests $1.3 billion in categorical grants for state
and tribal efforts. State and local governments are working diligently to
implement new and expanded requirements under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water
Act. New and expanded requirements include implementation of updated National
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), for the first time addressing Greenhouse
Gas (GHG) emissions, and addressing growing water quality issues, such as
nutrient pollution. This increase includes the $25 million for greenhouse gas
permitting activities already mentioned, as well as increases of $45 million
for core work under air quality management grants and $15 million for air
monitors, all of which I mentioned previously. <br>
<br>
We are also requesting $274 million, a $45 million increase over 2010, to help
states enhance their water quality programs. New funding will strengthen the
base state, interstate and tribal programs, address new regulatory
requirements, and support expanded water monitoring and enforcement efforts. <br>
<br>
The request also includes increased support for our Tribal partners. In order
to help tribes move beyond capacity building to implementation of their
environmental programs, $30 million is budgeted for a new competitive Tribal
Multimedia Implementation grant program. These grants are tailored to address
an individual tribe’s most serious environmental needs through the
implementation of Federal environmental programs, and will build upon the
environmental capacity developed under the Tribal General Assistance Program
(GAP). To further enhance tribal capacity, this budget also includes an
additional $9 million for GAP grants for a total of $71 million. GAP grants
develop capacity to operate an environmental program, and support a basic
environmental office or circuit rider that can alert the tribe and EPA to
serious conditions that pose immediate public health and ecological threats. <br>
<br>
Maintaining a Strong Science Foundation <br>
<br>
In FY 2011, the range of research programs and initiatives will continue the
work of better understanding the scientific basis of our environmental and
human health problems We are requesting a science and technology budget of
$847 million to enhance – among other things – research on
endocrine disrupting chemicals, green infrastructure, air quality monitoring,
e-waste and e-design, and to study of the effects of hydraulic fracturing on
drinking water. It’s important to highlight that most of the scientific
research increase will support additional Science to Achieve Results (STAR)
grants and fellowships to make progress on these research priorities and
leverage the expertise of the academic research community. The $26 million
increase for STAR includes $6 million for STAR fellowships in support of the
President’s priority for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
(STEM) investments. This reflects a near doubling of the STAR fellowships
program. This budget also supports the study of computational toxicology, and
other priority research efforts with a focus on advancing the design of
sustainable solutions for reducing risks associated with environmentally
hazardous substances. <br>
<br>
These are the highlights of a budget that reduces costs while strengthening
American communities and boosting the green economy. Responsible, targeted
investments will protect our health and the environment, advance creative
programs and innovative solutions, and help build a new foundation for our
prosperity. Thank you again for inviting me to testify today and I look forward
to answering your questions. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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<p class=physicaladdress><font size=1 color=gray face=Arial><span
style='font-size:7.5pt'><!-- BLOGLINK --><!-- SHARE_CONTENT -->Sent by the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> Environmental Protection Agency · <st1:Street
w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW</st1:address></st1:Street>
· <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City> <st1:State
w:st="on">DC</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">20460</st1:PostalCode></st1:place>
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