The highlights of his speech included the following:
Provides $3.3 billion total for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds.
This will allow States and Tribes to initiate approximately 800 clean water and 500 drinking water projects nationally, continuing a major Federal commitment to water infrastructure investment.
• Provides new funding to support the Administration’s commitment to mitigate climate change.
Obama wants Congress to enact forward-looking energy legislation that kicks off our development of advanced, clean energy technologies to reduce our dependence on oil, strengthen our energy and national security, create new jobs and restore the U.S. spot as a global leader in mitigating climate change.
• Continues support for collaborative, interagency ecosystem restoration efforts in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and Mississippi River Basin.
Obama’s plan gives $300 million towards the Great Lakes, $17 million for the Mississippi River and increases Chesapeake Bay support by $13 million. The Great Lakes money will focus on contaminated sediments and toxics, nonpoint source pollution, habitat degradation and loss and invasive species. The Mississippi project will target nonpoint source reduction practices on agricultural land to reduce nutrient loadings. The Chesapeake money will support the Presidents Day May 2009 Chesapeake Bay Restoration Executive Order and enables the EPA to conduct robust regulatory, permitting, modeling and reporting efforts.
• Provides grants for States and Tribes to administer delegated environmental programs at $1.3 billion, the highest level ever.
Environmentalism has helped lead this FY to have the highest budget for environmental programs, 14% higher than 2010 FY. The budget recognized state fiscal restraints and provides increases for select state and tribal programs, including a $45 million increase for state water pollution control grants and a $58 million increase for air quality management grants.
• Supports economic growth and job creation in hard hit regions by bolstering Brownfield’s cleanup.
Brownfields are lightly contaminated sites-many in economically hard hit regions- that pollution may keep from being used productively. This green legislation increases the spending available to help clean up these areas. Obama gave an estimated $3,000 more for these projects than FY 2009.
Source: GoAccess.gov
