Similar to other proposed budgets in the Biden Administration, the proposed budget for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is ambitious.
The proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2022 for the EPA is $11.233 billion. For perspective, for FY 2021 the budget was $9.237 billion. EPA’s Fiscal Year runs from October 1 to September 30. See historical EPA’s Budget and Spending.
Larger EPA Budget and More EPA Employees
With respect to the 2022 budget, the law firm Williams Mullen provides the following: “To better grasp the significance of this budget proposal, some facts to consider: (1) this is the largest top-line request for EPA’s budget in its entire history; (2) the budget effects an increase of $2 billion over the enacted spending for FY2021; and (3) the budget includes a request for approval to add 1,000 new full-time employees (‘FTE’), one of the largest of any federal agency.”
President Joe Biden: Photo Credit Andrew “Andy” Cutraro.
According to the EPA, “This budget is rooted in the EPA’s commitment to advancing environmental justice, tackling climate change, protecting public health, improving infrastructure, and rebuilding the EPA workforce to accomplish the EPA’s mission.”
The focus on environmental justice and climate change (as well as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) has been consistent just about from day one of this administration. See our blog, “USEPA Sets Out Steps to Enforce Environmental Justice via Criminal Enforcement.” However, other environmental regulations are also a priority.
CERCLA and RCRA Using EJ Tools
Lost in the headlines and in the shadow of PFAS, Environmental Justice, and Climate Change, are other regulations intended to manage, reduce, and clean up hazardous waste sites. As discussed below, there is a push to cleanup/enforce hazardous waste sites, but the administration remains keenly focused on Environmental Justice (EJ).
Here is an excerpt from a recent blog Beveridge and Diamond wrote: “On July 1, 2021, EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) issued a memorandum to all EPA Regional Offices urging the offices to increase cleanup program enforcement under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), particularly at sites that ‘most impact overburdened communities.”
The blog goes on to say that the Cleanup Enforcement Memo includes potential tools that have not historically been a topic of much discussion in the CERCLA and RCRA cleanup programs. Key to its stated objectives is the stress on the availability of mapping and screening tools such as EJSCREEN to identify sites potentially affecting overburdened communities, along with a reference to addressing “the most urgent risks to human health” at such sites.
EPA Budget to Give States a Financial Boost
Another notable aspect of the EPA’s budget is the substantial increase in funding for state agencies. From the Williams Mullin Blog, “Recent budgets have allocated less and less federal money to state agencies, which often rely heavily on the federal government for resources; in a reversal of this trend, the FY2022 proposed budget allocates $1.242 billion to support state EPA partners.” Much of this money is dedicated to air quality.
The blog goes on to say, “Such an increase in state funding could result in an increase in enforcement and compliance activities by state regulatory agencies to complement those of EPA.”
The Biden EPA has been taking shape for several months now. By all indications, the way the agency approaches environmental protection will be substantially different than previous administrations.
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