The House of Representatives approved the fiscal year 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill, H.R. 5538, on Thursday that was introduced by U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA).
The bill outlines $7.98 billion in funding for the EPA, which would be $164 million less than in the previous fiscal year and $291 million below the president’s funding request.
Overall, the appropriations bill would reduce funding for EPA regulatory programs by six percent, which would be 21 percent below the president’s request.
“The Interior bill approved by the House today protects taxpayers, job creators and makes important investments in critical programs for our country,” Calvert, the chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, said. “The bill contains a number of provisions and significant resources for California, including language addressing the ongoing drought, funding for an earthquake early warning system and the highly successful Diesel Emissions Reduction Program (DERA).”
The bill prohibits the EPA from implementing new greenhouse gas regulations for new and existing power plants, from making changes to the definition of “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act, and from imposing duplicative financial assurance requirements.
“The bill also protects our economy and American jobs by stopping a host of job-killing regulations that have become the hallmark of the Obama administration’s executive overreach,” Calvert said. “I’m proud to be at the forefront of the House’s efforts to stop President Obama’s harmful regulatory overreach that has created our stagnant economy.”
The bill outlines $1.1 billion in funding for the U.S. Geological Survey, $3.9 billion for wildlife firefighting and prevention, and $480 million for local communities through the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program.
U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) offered an amendment to the bill that would prohibit the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from establishing or enforcing guidance on financial assurances for liability bonds for decommissioning wells on the outer continental shelf. His amendment passed by voice vote on Tuesday.
“Under the new rule, each party would be assessed 100 percent on shared leases in a joint operating agreement that’s no longer accepted as a reflection of actual liability,” Boustany said. “This means if there were four companies sharing a project and it would cost an estimated $20 million to remove that particular platform, BOEM would then nevertheless require each party to post a $20 million bond to remove the platform. It hardly seems necessary to require $80 million in bonding for a $20 million project.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) said that passage of the appropriations bill was important because it makes a number of “excellent” policy changes.
“We’ve voted to prevent the listing of the sage grouse, to stop funds from being spent to declare a huge new national monument in Malheur County, and to rein in the overzealous regulatory regime of the EPA,” Walden said. “This plan really gives us an opportunity to do what we do best in Oregon: to work together to find solutions to our natural resource issues. I’m glad the House passed the bill with these important policy changes included, and I look forward to getting support from the Senate so we can get it down to the president.”