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i <br />PROPOSED FEDERAL CUTS TO US EPA: <br />A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE POTENTIAL IMPACT ON NORTH CAROLINA'S <br />ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS <br />March 15, 2017 <br />Prepared by the North Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club <br />with assistance from Robin W. Smith, J.D. <br />The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plays a fundamental role in protecting the <br />environmental health of North Carolina. It works with the N.C. Department of Environmental <br />Quality (DEQ) to set policies and regulations, then enforce those regulations. The EPA provides <br />budgetary support to state environmental programs and to our universities for environmental <br />research. <br />North Carolina's environmental programs are heavily dependent on federal funding, along with <br />annual appropriations set out in the state budget by the General Assembly. News reports <br />published March 15, 2017, say the Trump administration is considering cuts of at least 25 <br />percent to the EPA budget. The final federal budget, including the EPA budget, will require <br />approval by Congress. <br />The impact of possible EPA cuts on North Carolina environmental programs and enforcement <br />would be considerable on its own. But it is important to note that these cuts would compound <br />substantial funding reductions to N.C. DEQ made by the General Assembly over the past six <br />years. Governor Cooper has proposed a state budget that would start to build back some of the <br />DEQ programs cut over the past six years; the 2017 -2018 state budget is not yet finalized. <br />The Baseline: Background on Six Years of State Environmental Funding <br />Reductions <br />Newly proposed cuts to the EPA, if adopted, would reduce already overburdened <br />environmental program budgets at DEQ which have been through at least six years of cuts at <br />the state level. <br />In 2009 -2010, all state program budgets were reduced to address a budget shortfall caused by <br />the 2008 recession. After 2011, the Legislature made more significant cuts to specific DEQ <br />programs. Coastal management, water quality, and sedimentation pollution programs saw <br />some of the greatest cuts. <br />Page 1 of 7 <br />