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SUMMARY

WATER QUALITY

• Background
• Water Quality and the 1983 Budget

AIR QUALITY

• Background
• Air Quality and the 1983 Budget

HAZARDOUS WASTE

• Background
• Hazardous Waste and the 1983 Budget

TOXIC SUBSTANCES

• Background
• Toxic Substances and the 1983 Budget

SUMMARY

This paper contains a brief analysis of the President's 1983 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In particular, the analysis concentrates on four major media programs within EPA--water quality, air quality, hazardous waste, and toxic substances. The analysis was prepared at the request of Senator Patrick Leahy and Congressman Paul McCloskey, Jr., the Co-Chairmen of the Environmental and Energy Study Conference.

The numbers presented in this analysis were prepared for the March 9 EPA Budget Workshop hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Conference. The numbers are preliminary and subject to revision as part of the continuing analysis of the federal budget by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Methodology

All historical and projected budget figures presented here were obtained from the EPA Appropriations Justification documents submitted each year to the Congress. Historical figures from 1975 to 1981 depict actual obligations; these figures were used because they are the most detailed, showing budget trends within the individual media programs. Obligations reported for the years 1982 and 1983 in Tables 1, 4, 7, and 9 represent CBO estimates of expected obligations, and include carry-over funds from the previous year. In other comparisons of the 1982 and 1983 budgets, only budget authority as estimated (1982) or requested (1983) by EPA is used.

In comparing 1982 and 1983 budget authority levels, both nominal and 1981 constant dollars (adjusted for inflation) are used. Historical figures were adjusted to 1981 dollars using appropriate gross national product (GNP) deflators; projected 1982 and 1983 figures were adjusted using CBO's estimated GNP deflators described in The Prospects for Economic Recovery (February 1982).

In addition to the EPA Budget Justification Statement submitted to the Congress, other documents used in this analysis include the 1983 EPA budget submission to the Office of Management and Budget and the 1982 EPA Resource Impact Analysis (workload models) prepared by the agency. In all cases, the Budget Justification Statement was assumed to contain the final and most accurate description of potential program changes.

Overview of the EPA Budget

The total EPA budget request of $3.6 billion for 1983 includes funds for construction of public treatment works (construction grants program) and emergency hazardous waste cleanup (superfund). The remainder of the EPA budget funds the operating programs conducted by the agency, and includes funds for abatement and control, enforcement, research and development, management and support, and buildings and facilities (see Summary Table). The total 1983 request of $961 million for EPA's operating programs represents a 17 percent decrease in real terms from 1982 appropriation levels. Funding for abatement and control will be reduced from its 1982 level by 22 percent, enforcement by 22 percent, and research and development by 27 percent. The Summary Table shows the budget changes between 1982 and 1983 for the agency.

In the following sections, four separate EPA programs are examined--water quality, air quality, hazardous waste, and toxic substances. The first part of each section explores the legislative requirements underlying the program. The second part describes the budget and program changes between 1982 and 1983 for the program and its subprograms. Each program is subdivided into abatement and control, enforcement, and research and development subprograms. This discussion presumes some basic familiarity with environmental issues and policies.

In summary, the 1983 budget makes several major changes in EPA program direction and raises corresponding issues:

• The states will receive a greater share of program responsibility, often in conjunction with reductions in the amount of federal resources supplied to the states in the form of direct grants, training, and assistance. Will the states be capable of assuming such greater responsibility in light of probable budgetary constraints at the state level?
  
  
• Federal resources in the enforcement areas of the air, water, hazardous wastes, and toxic substances programs are being reduced, with legal resources being consolidated in a single office of the agency, the Office of Legal and Enforcement Counsel. It appears that a sharp reduction will occur in the resources available to monitor compliance. Will such reductions be offset by increased state enforcement activities, or will reduced federal efforts lead to possible relaxed compliance in certain areas of the country?
  
  
• In general, EPA is shifting research and development efforts away from long-term projects to those activities more concerned with the immediate implementation of regulations. This may have the effect of reducing the amount of data available to review, revise, and develop future regulations.

This document is available in its entirety in PDF.