The stimulus package is an environmental boon, the EPA will probably regulate carbon, and Sen. Harry Reid wants to take a green pen to the Energy Bill. It looks like the best week in years for environmentalists–until, that is, you step out of the Beltway. To help close massive budget deficits, states across the country are weakening environmental rules.
Exhibit A is California, where today legislators closed a $41 billion budget gap in part by nixing air pollution rules that would have cost the housing industry millions. The measure delays requirements for builders to retrofit diesel construction equipment, slashing by 17 percent the emissions savings that the state had hoped to achieve by 2014. The move will probably prevent Los Angeles, the San Joaquin Valley, and other highly polluted regions from meeting federal air quality deadlines. It will also reduce the “green jobs” the state had hoped to create by retrofitting old equipment. The Sierra Club’s California director told the LA Times: “With the magnitude of the forces at play here, the environmental issues have taken a back seat to taxes.”
California’s move follows on the heels of other states. In Oklahoma:
State agencies that protect public water supplies, manage the state’s
flood plains and protect Oklahomans from the dangers of hazardous waste
would bear some of the biggest cuts under Gov. Brad Henry’s proposed
state budget for the upcoming year.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, which monitors the
state’s air and water quality as well as solid, hazardous and low-level
radioactive waste, lost almost $2 million in appropriations from its
current $9.7 million budget, a reduction of 20 percent.The Oklahoma Water Resources Board, responsible for setting water quality standards, enforcing dam safety regulations and managing Oklahoma’s flood plains, lost more than $1.1 million from its $4.6 million budget, a 25 percent reduction.
And that’s not all: Pennsylvania’s proposed budget reduces funding for three state environmental agencies by 1.5 to 9 percent. The state of Washington’s panel that tracks pesticide exposure was axed. And the budget for New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund, which buys open space, parks, and clean water projects, is being slashed from $300 million to $205 million.
As things get worse, Republican state legislators are likely to push for even deeper cuts. After all, enviro regs cost businesses money and slow down “shovel ready” projects. In Florida yesterday the St. Petersburg Times reported:
Florida legislative leaders want to make it easier to get permits to destroy wetlands, tap the water supply and wipe out endangered species habitat, all in the interest of building houses, stores and offices.
They say streamlining the permitting process will get the economy moving again.
All of this should be a sobering counterpoint to optimism about the stimulus bill and the new green tone in Washington. Without more direct aid to cash-strapped states, it will be hard to fix things faster than the provinces burn through the green.
