2008 Budget is Greener
I saw on the news tonight how the 2008 United States Budget is being released for Congress’ perusal. Fortunately for the EPA and other environmentalist groups, next years budget looks a littler greener. (I also think that it’s ironic that the actual budget is a green book.) This gave me relief, because as I had reported earlier on one of my blogs, “Sub-Par State of the Union,” there was much skepticism about how much concern was expended towards the environment.
The new budget allocates $549.5 million for use of environmental enforcement. This is the largest amount of money ever allocated to any particular agency. (EPA) It is $9.1 million more than was given for the 2007 budget.
Some other concentrations of this money are to improve and preserve some of the United States’ major water sources. The 2008 budget also calls for an additional $687.5 million for clean water grants and $842.2 million for clean drinking water grants.
“With a focus on improving air quality, the president’s budget includes:
- $117.9 million for EPA’s climate change programs to build upon partnership efforts to achieve reductions in US greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the president’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent in 2012;
- $44 million for Energy Star programs for the commercial, residential and industrial sectors to continue voluntary government/industry partnership programs designed to capitalize on the opportunities that consumers, businesses, and organizations have for making sound investments in efficient equipment, policies, and practices;
- $5 million for the Asia Pacific Partnership to support international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and
- $4.4 million for Methane to Markets to promote methane recovery and use at landfills, coal mines and natural gas facilities.”
The budget also includes funds that promote scientific research towards a greener earth, such as:
- “$123.8 million for Clean Air and related research, a $7.5 million increase to improve research related to cyclical review of criteria air pollutants, study near-road air pollution, and support work with NOAA to develop the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system;
- $10.2 million for Nanotechnology Research, an increase of $1.6 million to identify potential uses and study nano-scale materials that are subject to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requirements.”
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