Senate Republicans want to end EPA program that assesses chemical risks
The Senate
Appropriations Committee on November 27 released a spending bill that
would kill a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program that evaluates the
potential health risks to people from chemicals found in the environment.
The bill, which lays out
the Senate recommendations for the 2018 budgets of the Department of the
Interior and multiple environmental agencies, would cut the EPA's budget by
about $150 million and roll the chemical testing program—the Integrated Risk
Information System (IRIS)—into the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The IRIS program has
been around since 1985 and its science on the toxicity of chemicals is used at
state and local health agencies as well as internationally.
In releasing the bill, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairperson of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, said it ensures the "health, well-being, and safety of the American people."
But Democratic members
of the Senate voiced concern with the proposed cuts to the EPA, including the
cut to IRIS, saying TSCA was "not designed to accommodate the breadth of
the IRIS program's responsibilities."
U.S. Senator Tom Udall
(D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies, commended the budget for not taking the drastic cuts
originally proposed by President Trump. However, in a statement he said he
couldn't "look past the deep and damaging cuts to the EPA budget in this
bill that put public health at risk."
"And I can't ignore
that it takes aim at the laws that protect our environment and our
communities," he added.
In addition to IRIS
cuts, Democrats said the bill could spur more staffing cuts at the EPA, leaving
the agency tasked with protecting environmental health with fewer scientists
and public health experts, and pointed out it "endorses the President's
request to eliminate nearly all of the agency's climate change programs."
U.S. Senator Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the
bill "bowed to the anti-science know-nothingism of President Trump by
slashing environmental programs and denying the reality of climate
change."
Across all agencies, the
Senate bill represents a $250 million cut to 2017 funding levels but still
$4.83 billion more than President Trump's budget request.
The federal government
is currently on a short-term budget that will expire next month. The proposed
cuts to the EPA under the Senate bill were less than those proposed under a
House plan, which sought to cut the agency's budget by $528 million. President
Trump proposed cutting the EPA budget by $3.6 billion.
Under the Senate bill,
other departments—such as the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and Office of Surface Mining—would also take cuts.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The US Fish and Wildlife Services
manages our local federal wildlife refuges including Ninigret here in
Charlestown and nearby Trustom Pond. These funding priorities make it unlikely
that the Service’s planned local expansion will not happen. – Will Collette
