Brad Johnson: GOP Budget Amendments Would Destroy Health, Economy, Planet

GOP Budget Amendments Would Destroy Health, Economy, Planet

by Brad Johnson, Wonk Room, Think Progress, February 16, 2011

Of the over 400 amendments offered on the House government-funding measure, the2011 Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1), dozens are focused on climate change, energy policy, and environmental protection. The existing language in the budget bill is already designed to deny global warming, slash and burn public health and green jobs, but the amendments would take even more radical steps to reward polluters who are killing our children’s future. Republican amendments, if fully enacted, would:

– Eliminate the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Special Envoy for Climate Change, the Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, the NOAA Climate Service, the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, National Science Foundation K-12 funding
– Block US funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Global Environment Facility
– Suspend enforcement of fisheries laws and construction and conservation acquisition programs of the National Parks and Department of the Interior
– Block rules for cement plant pollution, coal ash, industrial boiler pollution, water quality, climate change pollution, climate change adaptation, energy-efficient lighting, mountaintop removal, atrazine, and water conservation

Most of these amendments are budget neutral, not lowering the deficit one cent. Several defund extremely effective jobs programs that cost only a few million dollars. The goal of these amendments is not fiscal responsibility or jobs creation, but polluter protection, even though the pollution is poisoning babies, causing the elderly to suffer, and destroying America’s natural bounty.

Meanwhile Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) has proposed amendments to eliminate billions in dollars in Big Oil subsidies, reduce the deficit, and restore LIHEAP and NIH funding, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) offered amendments to defend America from the threat of global warming pollution, and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) proposed amendments to take $66 million from fossil energy research and development and put it into green energy programs.

Some of these amendments were first compiled and summarized by E&E News PM.

CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT, AND ENERGY AMENDMENTS TO H.R. 1
Amdt.	Sponsor	Purpose
3	Tonko (D-NY)	To strike language that prevents new rules under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
4	Tonko (D-NY)	To maintain funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program and State Energy Program
6	Tonko (D-NY)	To strike language that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from authorizing state action plans on greenhouse pollution.
10	Stearns (R-FL)	To stop EPA from developing or issuing standards that list coal ash as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
13	Rooney (R-FL)	To stop EPA from using its funding to implement, administer or enforce new water quality standards for Florida’s lakes and flowing waters, which were issued in November.
18	Tonko (D-NY)	To restore cuts made to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
27	Markey (D-MA)	To stop Interior from issuing new oil or natural gas leases on the outer continental shelf if they do not include limitations on royalty relief based on market price
29	Heller (R-NV)	To reduce funding for the International Fund for Agricultural Development by $2.6 million, Contributions to International Organizations account by $44 million, Global Environmental Facility by $4.6 million, International Development Association by $136 million, Enterprise for American Multilateral Investment by $2.9 million, and African Development Fund by $19.5 million
52	Tonko (D-NY)	To remove unobligated funding from Fossil Energy Research and Development and transfers those funds to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
60	Markey (D-MA)	To restore LIHEAP funding and eliminate oil industry subsidies.
65-66	Polis (D-CO)	To allow EPA to limit greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act if it is deemed “necessary to protect the public health or prevent severe environmental degradation.”
69-70	Polis (D-CO)	To allow the further expenditure of recovery act funds in order to create jobs and transportation projects
84	Pompeo (R-KS)	To cut $8.5 million from the EPA
94	Sullivan (R-OK)	To stop EPA from using its funding to implement its decision to allow the ethanol content of gasoline to be increased from 10 percent to 15 percent.
109	Griffith (R-VA)	To stop EPA from using its funding to implement or enforce new guidance for the review of possible water pollution from proposed coal-mining projects
127	Young (R-AK)	To stop EPA from regulating air pollution from Arctic offshore drilling
130	McGovern (D-MA)	To remove prohibition on funding the HUD Sustainable Communities Initiative
149	Leutkemeyer (R-MO)	To prohibit funding the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
152	Jenkins (R-KS)	To prevent funding the cleanup of pesticides and PCBs from the Great Plains Industrial Park (formerly the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant)
165	Carter (R-TX)	To stop EPA from using its funding to implement new air toxic pollution rules for cement kilns
169	Poe (R-TX)	To eliminate K-12 National Science Foundation science & technology education funding
174	Heller (R-NV)	To block the Yucca Mountain repository
180	Akin (R-MO)	To eliminate funding for the Global Environment Facility
181	Akin (R-MO)	To bar the use of federal funds to implement the section of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that phases out traditional incandescent light bulbs in favor of more energy-efficient alternatives
192	Biggert (R-IL)	To eliminate the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency
193	Lummis (R-WY)	To eliminate funding for BLM, FWS, and USDA conservation land acquisition
193	Lummis (R-WY)	To fully remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act (existing text from Simpson (R-ID) would delist gray wolves except for Wyoming population)
197	Walberg (R-MI)	To kill the Green the Capitol initiative
198	Poe (R-TX)	To stop EPA from creating a cap-and-trade program or enforcing any other regulations for greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act
201	Labrador (R-ID)	To stop EPA from issuing or enforcing final standards for air pollution from industrial boilers
202	Labrador (R-ID)	To defund the White House Council on Environmental Quality
203	Labrador (R-ID)	To stop the administration from using its funding to designate new monuments under the Antiquities Act
204	Scalise (R-LA)	To eliminate the assistant to the president for energy and climate change (the departing Carol Browner), the special envoy for climate change (Todd Stern), and the special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation (formerly Van Jones)
206	Jones (R-NC)	To impede NOAA from preventing illegal fisheries activities
207	Jones (R-NC)	To block penalties for illegal fisheries activities
213	Markey (D-MA)	To restore NIH funding and eliminate oil industry subsidies.
216	McKinley (R-WV)	To stop EPA from administering or enforcing the sections of the Clean Water Act that govern dredge-and-fill permits, i.e. mountaintop-removal
217	McKinley (R-WV)	To stop coal ash rules
218	Johnson (R-OH)	To stop EPA from issuing new rules for the circumstances under which mining may be conducted near streams or from conducting an environmental impact statement on the impact of the rules; e.g. mountaintop removal
228	Goodlatte (R-VA)	To prevent the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center refurbishment, and to reduce the DOE nuclear budget by $20 million
241	Carney (D-DE)	To stop the Department of Energy from using its funding for the Oil and Gas Research and Development Program
251	Scalise (R-LA)	To stop Interior from using any funding to delay the approval of a plan or permit for energy exploration on the outer continental shelf
257	Huelskamp (R-KS)	To eliminate the assistant to the president for energy and climate change
279	Schock (R-IL)	To stop EPA from using its funding to re-evaluate the possible health effects of the approved herbicide atrazine
289	McClintock (R-CA)	To stop Interior from issuing grants under the WaterSMART program, a conservation initiative intended to find solutions for the water shortages in many areas of the West.
300-320	McClintock (R-CA)	To make a variety of changes to the appropriations given to DOE for energy efficiency and renewable energy research, including eliminating solar energy, water power, building technologies, vehicle technologies, fuel cells, geothermal energy, and biomass technologies
326	Blumenauer (D-OR)	To lift the prohibition on funding community development block grants and the Sustainable Communities Initiative
329-331	Kaptur (D-OH)	To bar additional funding for the operations and maintenance of the Southeastern, Southwestern, and Western Power Administrations
342	Pearce (R-NM)	To eliminate the Mexican Wolf recovery program
344	Pearce (R-NM)	To prevent the support of citizen suits under the National Environmental Policy Act
345	Pearce (R-NM)	To prevent the support of citizen suits under the Endangered Species Act
348	Pearce (R-NM)	To stop Interior from putting funding toward climate change adaptation
350-361	Pearce (R-NM)	To prevent federal land acquisition programs, conservation programs and new construction by BLM, FWS, USGS, and the National Parks Service
374	Flake (R-AZ)	To stop funding the Biomass Crop Assistance Program
376	Flake (R-AZ)	To cut the EPA science and technology budget by $64.1 million
377	Flake (R-AZ)	To block funding for the construction of ethanol facilities
378	Hall (R-TX)	To prohibit the establishment of the NOAA Climate Service (NCS)
379	Reed (R-NY)	To cut $10 million from the EPA support for state and tribal environmental law enforcement
393-395	Inslee (D-WA)	To move $66 million from DOE fossil energy R&D budget to grid modernization, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and ARPA-E
397	Waters (D-CA)	To eliminate DOE fossil energy R&D budget
401	Jackson Lee (D-TX)	To strike elimination of unspent recovery act funds http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/02/16/energy-enviro-amendments/