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US House appropriators seek slimmer EPA budget, full repeal of Clean Water Rule

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US House appropriators seek slimmer EPA budget, full repeal of Clean Water Rule

As part of a new spending bill, appropriators in the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed to shave $100 million off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's budget and ensure the "full repeal" of the Obama administration's Clean Water Rule.

The GOP-controlled House Committee on Appropriations released its fiscal year 2019 funding bill for the EPA, U.S. Department of Interior and related agencies on May 14. In total, the bill seeks $35.25 billion, which is in line with the fiscal year 2018 enacted level.

But the legislation seeks to lower total EPA funding to $7.96 billion — above the Trump administration's request of $6.1 billion but down by $100 million from appropriations in the prior fiscal year. Among other things, the proposal would cut money for the agency's regulatory programs by $228 million from current levels.

The legislation contains a handful of policy riders, including a "full repeal" of the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Clean Water Rule, according to a committee summary of the bill. The rule, which the Obama administration finalized in 2015, defined waters subject to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act in a way that energy companies, including coal producers, worried would drastically expand the type of water bodies the EPA could regulate. The EPA under President Donald Trump is in the process of repealing the regulation, but GOP lawmakers opposed to the rule have sought to speed up its demise.

In addition to that provision, the House spending bill would direct the EPA, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy to establish policies that reflect the carbon neutrality of biomass. The proposal comes after Trump in March enacted a fiscal-year 2018 omnibus bill from Congress that recognized biomass as a carbon-neutral energy source, a move that environmental groups protested.

Turning to Interior, the appropriations bill would provide $1.4 billion for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees leasing of federal property for energy production. That amount is up $55 million from the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement meanwhile would receive $229 million, including $90 million to maintain a pilot program to accelerate the reclamation of abandoned mine lands.

The House appropriations committee's Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies will hold a markup of the bill late May 15. The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations will mark up its version of the spending bill the week of June 11-15 but has yet to release that legislation.