Researchers and environmentalists directed loud criticism last summer at President Bush’s proposed budget cuts for the U.S. EPA. But the final budget, signed by Bush on Nov. 26, actually boosts the agency’s budget and provides additional funds for research and development (R&D).

Bush signed a $7.9 billion bill providing funds for EPA, granting the agency a 1.2% increase over last year’s level and $597 million more than Bush had requested. The agency’s R&D efforts will receive $632 million for this fiscal year (FY 2002), which is 3.8% more than in last year’s budget.

The legislation moved steadily through Congress, and once agreement was reached on restoring many of the monetary cuts Bush proposed in his $7.3 billion budget, (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35 (11), 226A), there was little controversy.

Congress provided the Science and Technology account, through which most of the agency’s R&D activities are funded, with $698 million. This is nearly $60 million over the White House’s request, issued because Bush wanted to eliminate scores of congressional “earmarks,” or funding requests for hometown projects. The bill does change some earmarks, but the 107th Congress included nearly 70 congressionally designated research projects. The final appropriation for R&D is $23 million more than the FY 2001 level.

Nearly $98 million, identical to Bush’s request, is provided for the Brownfields program, which supports projects to clean hazardous waste sites, turning them into useable land. EPA’s Superfund program stays steady at $1.27 billion, but research on environmental health related to Superfund sites, in a separate appropriation bill for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is increased from $63 million in FY 2001 to $70 million. This funding also matches Bush’s request.

The White House’s proposal that $25 million be shifted from EPA’s enforcement activities into a new state grant policing program was shelved. Instead, Congress restored $15 million for enforcement programs that Bush proposed be cut, then generally stayed the course with overall EPA enforcement funding by approving $464 million, just slightly more than the FY 2001 amount.

Bush’s effort to slash funding for the state funds used for sewage and drinking water treatment was ignored. Congress included $1.35 billion for the clean water revolving fund and $850 million for the drinking water revolving fund. Nearly $237 million is marked for state grants to control nonpoint source pollution, such as parking lot runoff, and $222 million will go to the states in air quality grants.

Overall, EPA’s core regulatory, research, and enforcement activities, funded by the operating program, will receive $3.7 billion, the second highest funding level in EPA’s history, according to agency figures.

The final law does include language barring EPA from setting a level for arsenic in drinking water that is higher than 10 parts per billion, even though EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced a 10-ppb standard in October. Concerns raised by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) that the costs of compliance with the arsenic rule to small and rural communities could be as high as $1 million were satisfied with language ordering EPA to provide Congress with a plan indicating steps that Congress can take to help these communities. The final budget law can be found at http://www.epa.gov/ocfopage/budget/budget.htm. —CATHERINE M. COONEY