Vermont’s senior senator grilled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on the Trump administration’s proposed budget, which he said “doesn’t uphold your agency’s mission.”
The Trump administration’s detailed budget proposal, released in May, slashed funding for the EPA by 31 percent — the biggest cut to any federal agency. The budget would be reduced by a total of $2.6 billion.
At a hearing of a Senate Appropriations sub-committee, Leahy questioned Pruitt on the proposed elimination of funding for geographic area programs, including a program that directs federal resources to coordinating efforts to improve water quality in Lake Champlain between Vermont, New York and Quebec.
The cut will also hit regional water cleanup efforts in Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes and other areas. Leahy said the EPA provides “critical support” to those cleanup efforts, including fighting blue-green algae blooms in Lake Champlain.
“We, Vermonters, even though it’s going to be expensive and hard, we welcome that,” Leahy said.
Leahy questioned Pruitt on whether the cut in federal funding would hurt the cleanup effort in Vermont.
Pruitt, who throughout the hearing reiterated a stance that the EPA would be able to continue to meet its goals on the leaner budget through better management.
“I believe that these programs like Lake Champlain, Great Lakes initiative all have I think very important, meaningful objectives we should seek to meet and achieve,” Pruitt said.
He said he believes federal support to help states deal with runoff pollution, prompting Leahy to again question the cuts.
“The support and assistance we provide is important to continue, whether it’s part of a specific grant or part of the core programs of the office of water,” Pruitt said.
Vermont Secretary of Natural Resources Julie Moore said Tuesday the elimination of federal funding to the Lake Champlain Basin Program, along with other proposed cuts to federal resources and staffing would be a hit to the cleanup effort.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s a reasonable expectation that the state could backfill the gap that would be created by a significant reduction in EPA funding,” Moore said.
Leahy also took wider aim at the environmental policies of the Trump administration. At a time when the country should be “doubling down” on environmental protection, he said, the administration is “tearing down the legacies” of the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. He charged that the Trump policies are “steeped in anti-science, almost a know-nothingism.”
Other senators at the hearing from both parties raised concerns over cuts in the Trump budget.
“This budget is dead on arrival, and I think everybody in this committee knows it is, on both sides of the aisle,” Leahy said.
Moore said that while it is “reassuring” that Leahy and other senators said during Tuesday’s hearing that the administration’s proposal is unlikely to move forward, it’s difficult for the state to know what to expect going forward.
“There’s not a lot of clarity in that,” she said. “We’re somewhere between current conditions and a 30 percent cut.”
