House Committee Slashes Environmental Funding, Blocks Clean Power Plan and Clean Water Rule

Environment America

For Immediate Release: July 15th, 2014
Contact: Anna Aurilio, (202) 725-0268, [email protected]

Washington, D.C. – This morning, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee held their markup on the FY 2015 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill. The bill cuts funding for the EPA by more than $700 million and funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund at less than one-fifth of its authorized level.  In addition the bill contains numerous policy riders including one that blocks the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and one that blocks EPA’s Clean Water Rule.  Environment America’s DC Office Director Anna Aurilio issued the following statement in response:

““This bill is an atrocious attack on our parks, water, and the future of our planet.

“By slashing EPA’s budget, this bill threatens the air we breathe and the water we drink.  By dramatically underfunding the Land and Water Conservation Fund, this bill jettisons America’s commitment to protect the very best of our natural legacy for future generations. 

 “This bill doesn’t stop at eviscerating parks funding; it also blocks the cleanup of our waterways.  From the wetlands that filter the Chesapeake Bay to the streams that feed the Puget Sound, too many of our waterways are vulnerable to pollution and development.  The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee bill would block the Obama administration from restoring protections to all of our waterways.

“Finally, despite record-breaking drought and wildfires in the West and floods and extreme downpours in the East, the bill blocks EPA’s Clean Power Plan— the biggest single step any nation has ever taken to cut carbon pollution that causes global warming.

“It’s hard to imagine a worse attack on our parks, waterways, and the future of our planet.  The committee should jettison this bill and start over.”    

 

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Environment America is a federation of 29 state-based, citizen funded environmental advocacy organizations working toward a cleaner, greener, healthier future.