Ken Cronin National Tribal Environmental Council 2008 NTF Effective Tribal Participation in the EPA Budget Process and Beyond

Big Picture: EPA’s overall budget March 2007: Administrator Johnson testified in front of Senate Appropriations Committee FY08 Presidential Budget Request is for $7.2B This is $508M below FY07 enacted budget and represents a 6.6% cut Appropriations: House $8.09B, Senate $7.72B Wont be decided until December

Big Picture: Tribal Share About 3% of overall EPA budget Percentage has stayed roughly the same since FY04 Roughly $250M

2007 Enacted EPA Tribal Budget EPM STAG Total OAR$3,723.1$10,887.0$14,610.1 OW Total$18,917.7$178,915.3$197,833.0 OPPTS$1,272.0$3,508.0$4,780.0 OSWER$5,054.0$7,427.9$12,481.9 OECA$6,253.0$1,600.0$7,853.0 OEI$1,743.3$3,000.0$4,743.3 LUST$3,527.0 Superfund$1,650.0 $42,140.1$205,338.2$247,478.3

EPA Tribal Budget Breakdown Approx. 80% is for water programs

The Good News The FY07 continuing resolution actually resulted in a $8M increase in total “tribal resources” over FY06

Could Have Been Worse News If the FY07 budget had been enacted, Tribal programs would have been cut an additional $27M

Interesting trend: STAG v EPM STAG funds have decreased while EPM has increased STAG EPM

EPA Tribal Program FTE

Tribal Air Funding Has stayed relatively steady $ $11.05M FY09 Presidential Request shows $2.5M increase over FY08 (for R8 Tribes with Energy production increases))

Trends for other Offices

Water STAG water programs comprise 80% of total tribal EPA funding Targeted for major funding cuts

Current EPA Figures Environmental Protection Agency FY07 Budget: $7,725,130 Pres Request: $7,199,400 Passed by House: $8,090,915 Approved by Senate: $7,772,928 Not sent to President yet

Special Concern: Clean Water State Revolving Fund Has been one of the primary sources of EPA funding cuts –Cut by 30% in FY06 ($1.3B to $887M) –Proposed FY08 – Additional 20% cut ($688M) –Rationale: CWSRF has been nearly fully capitalized, so less appropriations needed Concern: Tribal Set-Aside tied to appropriations, not capitalized amount –Tribes looking at nearly 50% reduction from FY04 levels: $20M to $10.5M –$10M will not allow EPA to meet its 2015 goal of reducing by 50% number of tribal homes with inadequate wastewater systems Options: Either identify a actual dollar amount as a cap, or discuss tribal participation in loan program

Special Concern: Alaska Native Village Program ANV’s have had a separate line item to meet their unique water and wastewater needs (total need: $290.5M) Was funded at > $40M until FY06 Since 2006, Administration has each year asked for reduction to $15.5M (60% cut) Funding levels have been maintained at approx. $35M thanks to Senator Stevens Reason for cut: Funding has been given to State of Alaska, not tribes, and they have not been performing Option: Give this funding directly to tribes

EPA’s 2010 internal Budget Process Budget and Planning Meetings –March, 2008 Goal Meetings. EPA’s Deputy Administrator and Chief Financial Officer meet with each Assistant Administrator to discuss progress toward the Agency’s strategic goals. Regions provide input through their Deputy Regional Administrators. Issues are identified for discussion at the upcoming Planning Meeting. – May, 2008EPA’s Annual Planning Meeting. All Regional Administrators and Assistant Administrators meet to discuss FY 2010 planning and budget issues. The NTOC usually makes a presentation at this meeting. –July, 2008 The Budget Forum. All Regional Administrators and Assistant Administrators attend the Agency Budget Forum to discuss budget initiatives. The TOC usually makes a presentation on tribal budget needs. –August, 2008 EPA works with OMB on our budget proposal. The TOC usually meets with OMB at this time. After EPA’s work is done: –January, 2009 The President announces his FY 2010 budget proposal, usually a week or so after the State of the Union Address. –October, 2009 Congress passes the Agency’s FY 2010 budget. Congress often passes one or more Continuing Resolutions, or temporary budgets, before passing the final.

Opportunities for Participation in the EPA budget process Government-to-Government RTOCs / Regional Tribal Programs –Each region sets own priorities National Tribal Operations Committee –Has direct access to EPA leaders Media Committees - NTAA, NTWC, TPPC, etc –Has the expertise in each media –Recently included in NTOC process

Opportunities Beyond EPA Direct Tribal participation in Appropriations process –“Impact Weeks” NCAI –Meets in November/December to prepare State of Indian Country Address –NTEC as “Environmental Arm” of NCAI helps to prepare NCAI –Requires researched and quantified data for proposed numbers

Election year – Transition Papers 2008 Elections mean that 2010 Budget request is largely irrelevant New Administration will review all budget requests Will have to be done quickly Tribes need to be prepared with Transition Documents highlighting tribal needs and priorities NTAA is currently working towards this for air

EPA’s Strategic Planning Process EPA’s does NOT do Strategic Planning –Uses framework to justify existing priorities derived from environmental acts (CWA, CAA, etc) Federal Law requires review of each 5-year Plan every 3 years resulting in: – Plan – Plan Are starting now for next Plan – ?

Baseline Assessments Tribes have been barred from effective participation in the annual budget planning (and strategic planning process) through the lack of reliable national tribal baseline assessment data AIEO has spent over 10 years and $10M on Tribal Baseline assessment project, but has not released results EPA also started but did not follow up on Tribal Environmental Indicators (TREIS) NTEC is looking towards doing and independent baseline environmental and environmental health assessments

Examples of possible research avenues for successful air budget increase Correlations of tribal air quality to tribal health issues –Asthma, Diabetes Connection between tribal lifeways and exposure pathways for air pollution deposition Representative Analysis of national air monitoring programs

Effective Participation - Summary Early and Frequent participation by tribes Baseline Data –To measure progress *Consistent numbers for use within and without EPA process –Coordination with Tribes, NTOC, RTOC’s, NTEC, NCAI, and intertribal consortia Transisiton papers for new administration

For more information Ken Cronin Budget Analyst National Tribal Environmental Council