The Obama administration on Thursday proposed a budget of $10.5 billion for the EPA, the largest in the agency's 39-year history. The budget includes a proposal to bring back the Polluter Pays tax principle to pay for Superfund.

The Obama administration on Thursday proposed a budget of $10.5 billion for the EPA, the largest in the agency's 39-year history.

Some key highlights of 2010 budget initiatives include:

• $3.9 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund grants to support approximately 1,000 clean water projects and 700 drinking water projects, which will be in addition to the recovery bill grants. The EPA said it will work with state and local partners to develop a sustainability policy, including management and pricing, conservation, security and a plan for adequate long-term state and municipal funding for future capital needs.
• A new $475 million, multi-agency Great Lakes Initiative
• A $19 million increase for the greenhouse gas emissions inventory and related activities to provide data critical for implementing a comprehensive climate change bill. EPA's funding for climate change investments is the foundation for working with key stakeholders and Congress to develop an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions approximately 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.
• Strengthening EPA's core research, enforcement and regulatory capabilities. The budget request also proposes reinstating the Superfund excise taxes that expired. Reinstating the Superfund taxes would collect over $1 billion annually to fund the cleanup of the nation's most contaminated sites.

Links

• More information on EPA's FY 2010 budget request