Earth Equity News

Senate Boosts EPA, Interior Department Budgets. By Andrew Taylor, AP, September 24, 2009. "The Senate on Thursday approved big budget increases for the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency as it passed a $32 billion spending measure for the budget year that starts next week. The measure, passed 77-21, is especially generous with EPA grants to cities and counties for clean and safe drinking water projects. The money would ease a backlog and would, Democrats say, create much-needed infrastructure jobs. The measure is the sixth of the 12 annual spending bills setting agency operating budgets to have passed the Senate. Like the others, the measure provides significant increases for the programs it covers, including a 33% increase for the EPA... All told, the bill would provide a 17% boost for its programs, including $2.6 billion for the Forest Service to combat wildfires, a 21% increase, and $4 billion for the Indian Health Service, an 11% increase. "The bill contains more than 300 pet projects known as earmarks sought by senators. They total $246 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based budget watchdog group. Many of those went to local governments to replace water and sewer lines, while others went for improvements at parks and wildlife refuges and to preserve historic structures. Efforts during the weeklong debate to kill some earmarks failed by overwhelming margins. The measure passed with bipartisan support despite protests from Republican conservatives such as Jeff Sessions of Alabama and John Ensign of Nevada, who said it's simply irresponsible to approve such generous increases while the government is running a huge deficit. On Thursday, Democrats blocked a vote on an attempt by Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to block the EPA from issuing regulations during fiscal 2010 to clamp down on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, factories and other so-called stationary sources."