John, check out the bit about the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Might
this somehow impact what's left of the Chesapeake? Time for an envelope and
stamp?

Natural Resources Defense Council's

LEGISLATIVE WATCH

February 15, 2006

==================================
This is a status report on congressional action on the environment. The
information in this bulletin is also available on our website at
http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/legwatch.asp (the web version links to the
text
of bills and congressional web pages). To take action on these and other
environmental issues, visit NRDC's Earth Action Center at
http://www.nrdc.org/action/.

(Please do not reply to this message. See the instructions below for how to
unsubscribe or contact NRDC with questions or comments.)
==================================


Senators and representatives returned to Washington late last month for the
second session of the 109th Congress, although this is expected to be a
short
legislative year due to the midterm elections. The president gave his State
of
the Union address on 1/31, and a week later presented his fiscal year 2007
budget proposal to Congress.

===

Budget/Appropriations

On 2/7, President Bush sent Congress his fiscal year 2007 budget proposal,
which would cut overall environmental funding by 13 percent. The
Environmental
Protection Agency is slated for more than $300 million in cuts from its
fiscal
year 2006 level. Hit particularly hard in the proposed EPA budget is the
Clean
Water State Revolving Fund, which provides states with essential
low-interest
loans for clean water infrastructure, and is targeted for a $200 million
reduction. The Department of Interior is facing a $322 million cut that
would
fall heavily on the National Park Service through the elimination of the
Land
and Water Conservation Fund. The Interior proposal also calls for an
estimated
$7 billion in revenue from oil leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.

President Bush surprised audiences during his State of the Union address
when
he said, "America is addicted to oil." The president proposed an "Advanced
Energy Initiative" with a goal to "replace more than 75 percent of our oil
imports from the Middle East by 2025." When the president submitted his
proposed budget to Congress, however, he missed an opportunity to increase
funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. In fact, with
inflation factored in, this year's proposed funding for those programs
amounts
to an actual decrease of more than $130 million.

See NRDC's analysis of some of the energy proposals and environmental
programs
in the president's proposed budget at
http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/060209.asp