DEQ: ‘Unknowns’ lurk on fed funds for clear air, water
Lansing — State environmental officials and lawmakers say they’re uncertain about what may happen to Michigan air and water pollution programs partially funded by the federal government as a potential funding slash looms for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
As a state House panel gets closer to making a budget recommendation for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, DEQ Deputy Director Amy Epkey told lawmakers on the panel Tuesday that 30 percent of the state’s environmental protection department is federally funded through the EPA. She said DEQ officials are working with federal officials to determine how state air and water pollution programs might be impacted by potentially steep budget cuts to the federal agency.
A draft proposal from the federal Office of Management and Budget that surfaced last week showed a tentative plan for cutting the agency’s funding by about 25 percent, including a 97 percent reduction for the $300 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Grants to fight air and water pollution would be slashed by 30 percent under the draft federal proposal, according to the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, which the DEQ is a part of.
Officials are grappling with “a lot of unknowns” and will continue to work with the federal government to determine possible state impact, Epkey said.
“So we are actively reaching out to the federal government to understand really what the impact would be across the various programs,” Epkey said. “Clearly there’s a lot of programs that are relying on federal funds, and we want to continue to run those programs moving forward.”
The federal government funds 69 percent of a drinking water and municipal assistance fund for cities around the state, which offers about $60 million in loans to 10 municipalities every year. Federal funds also help pay for waste water treatment systems, storm water treatment projects and other water pollution control.
Metro Detroit projects that received initiative money last year included $20 million to clean up the polluted Clinton River watershed, $4.5 million to diversify a habitat along a nine-mile stretch of the Clinton River near Sterling Heights, more than $914,000 to stabilize a stream bank along the Clinton River in Shelby Township and $375,000 to restore 3,500 feet of stream at Sylvan Glen in Troy.
Meanwhile, 27 percent of the state’s air quality program is federally funded with $7.5 million annually. The overall air quality program costs $27.2 million annually, according to DEQ budget documents. The department uses that money to monitor and fight air pollution.
“I think the population, in general, is concerned,” said Rep. Mary Whiteford, R-Allegan, a first-term lawmaker and chairwoman of the committee responsible for making DEQ budget recommendations. “But we as lawmakers, we know how things can be stated politically, and then what really happens.”
She said her committee’s priority is protecting public health while also “trying to give the taxpayers relief,” and said it’s still too early to say whether her panel’s budget recommendation would differ from Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal to account for the possibility of lost federal funds.
Snyder offered his budget proposal before the prospect of a drop in federal funding loomed.
Democrats on the panel said they are concerned about what the state would do with less federal funding.
“A lot of our funding comes from the federal government,” said Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, another first-term lawmaker. “So how do we respond in that environment to those funding cuts? How do we respond when these federal regulations that impact the work that we do are eliminated, and do we still step up and protect the public health and the environmental health of our communities?”
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