MAJOR PROGRESS IN SUPERFUND CLEANUPS

155 217

278

585

840

346 410

498

925

755 670

Redeveloping Contaminated Land: The Brownfields National Partnership is bringing together the resources of more than 20 Federal agencies to clean up and redevelop former in-dustrial sites in economically disadvantaged areas. The initial two-year investment of $300 million is expected to leverage $5 billion to

$28 billion in private investment, help create up to 196,000 new jobs, and help preserve ex-isting uses in thousands of acres of undevel-oped land. The brownfields tax incentive, en-acted as part of the 1997 Taxpayer Relief Act, will leverage another $4 billion in private in-vestment by allowing businesses to deduct cer-tain clean up costs on environmentally con-taminated lands. The Administration proposes to extend this tax incentive, which otherwise expires at the end of 2000.

Making the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Work: Administration reforms have im-proved the way the ESA works. Habitat Con-servation Plans (HCPs) give State, local, and Tribal governments and the private sector the flexibility to protect endangered species and

conserve habitat, while allowing for develop-ment. HCPs will cover an estimated 250 spe-cies by the end of 1999. The Administration is also providing earlier protection for at-risk species, to prevent having to list them as en-dangered later on. For instance, in 1998 the Federal Government entered into 40 Can-didate Conservation Agreements with private landowners or State and local governments.

These and other efforts allowed 11 species to be approved for removal from the Candidate list.

Improving Rangeland Management: In-terior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is reforming and improving rangeland manage-ment by implemanage-menting regional and local standards and guidelines to establish the con-dition, health, and uses of lands it administers for grazing. The new standards and guidelines have been developed in concert with innovative consensus-building Resource Advisory Councils (RAC) comprising local ranchers, recreation-ists, and experts in land management. Almost 4,500 grazing permits on BLM lands are

expir-ing and will be evaluated in 1999. Those per-mits will be evaluated based on the new RAC standards and guidelines, and renewed per-mits will use the new standards to evaluate rangeland health and grazing capacity.

Environmental and Natural Resource Investments

The budget proposes to boost funding for high-priority environmental and natural re-sources programs by five percent, compared to 1999 levels (see Table 6–1).

Preserving Great Places and Green Spaces, and Promoting Smart Growth: As we approach a new century, our Nation faces new challenges to preserving the natural herit-age and green spaces that Americans have come to treasure. The budget proposes a new

$1 billion Lands Legacy initiative (see Chart 6–2), supported by full funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund’s dedicated Fed-eral Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) revenues, to protect Great Places and provide the tools for States, localities, Tribes, and land trusts to plan for smart growth and open space pres-ervation. This initiative provides funding for States and other entities to conserve important lands for recreation, open space and wildlife habitat, plus the preservation of forests, farm-land, and coastal areas.

The initiative provides $442 million for Federal land acquisition, preserving the next generation of Great Places, including national parks, national forests, refuges, and coastal areas with flexibility to use this funding to cost share non-Federal land conservation.

It also will provide $588 million targeted to State, local, and Tribal governments for land conservation, resources protection, and planning. This includes $150 million in grants to promote open space acquisition; habitat conservation; and protection of coastal areas, forest lands, urban and suburban parks and greenways, riparian areas, and wetlands. A new $50 million program to support State and Tribal planning for smart growth will be coordinated with similar activities being proposed under the Livability initiative. The Lands Legacy proposal also provides $382 million for other programs to help private landowners and municipalities continue devel-opment while protecting endangered species,

preserving farmlands and forests, and provid-ing urban green space.

Better America Bonds: As an additional feature of the Livability initiative, the Admin-istration is proposing a new financing tool to preserve green space for future generations and provide attractive settings for economic development, which will generate $9.5 billion for investments by State, local and Tribal gov-ernments over five years. The budget proposes tax credits, totaling almost $700 million over five years, to support Better America Bonds, which can be used to preserve green space, create or restore urban parks, protect water quality, and clean up brownfields. The pro-gram will be administered jointly by EPA and the Department of the Treasury, in consulta-tion with other agencies.

Recovering Pacific Coastal Salmon: The budget proposes a broad interdepartmental Pa-cific Coastal Salmon Recovery Initiative to bol-ster and deploy existing and new Federal capa-bilities to assist in the conservation and recov-ery of at-risk Pacific salmon runs in the west-ern States of California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. This new initiative responds to the proposed listings of these runs under the ESA by forming lasting partnerships with State, local, and Tribal efforts for saving Pa-cific salmon and their important habitats. The initiative has four main components:

• A proposed $100 million Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery fund to help share the costs of State, Tribal, and local conser-vation initiatives in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. The fund would be administered through Commerce’s Na-tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-tration, with grants matched dollar-for-dollar with non-Federal contributions.

• Improved coordination of Federal activities that may affect salmon and their habitat, to ensure that Federal agencies and activi-ties are part of a lasting solution.

• Better access to the extensive Federal sci-entific capabilities to ensure a broad and solid science foundation upon which to construct a lasting recovery effort.

Table 6–1. HIGH-PRIORITY ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCES PROGRAMS

(Budget authority unless otherwise noted; dollar amounts in millions)

1998 Actual

1999 Estimate

2000 Proposed

Dollar Change:

1999 to 2000

Percent Change:

1999 to 2000 Lands Legacy Initiative (LWCF–DOI, USDA, NOAA)¹... 386 459 1,030 +571 +124%

Salmon Habitat Restoration:

Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery (NOAA) ... ... ... 100 +100 NA Columbia/Snake River (Corps) ... 108 95 100 +5 +5%

Climate Change Technology Initiative (DOE, EPA, USDA, DOC, HUD): 819 1,021 1,751 +730 +71%

Spending ... (819) (1,021) (1,368) (+347) (+34%) Tax Incentives ... ... ... (383) (+383) (NA) Clean Water Action Plan (EPA, USDA, DOI, NOAA, Corps) ... 1,436 1,643 1,975 +332 +20%

Department of Transportation (DOT):

Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) ... 700 1,408 1,770 +362 +26%

Environmental Enhancements ... 360 553 566 +13 +2%

Endangered Species Act (DOI/NOAA) ... 107 129 181 +52 +40%

Department of the Interior (DOI):.

National Park Service Operating Program ... 1,246 1,286 1,390 +104 +8%

Bureau of Land Management Operating Program ... 681 716 743 +27 +4%

Fish and Wildlife Service Operating Program ... 595 661 724 +63 +10%

Subtotal, DOI (Select programs) ... 2,522 2,663 2,857 +194 +7%

Department of Agriculture (USDA):

Forest Service Operating Program ... 1,514 1,595 1,652 +57 +4%

Natural Resources Conservation Service Operating Program ... 632 641 681 +40 +6%

Water/Wastewater Grants and Loans²... 577 645 570 –75 –12%

Wetlands Reserve Program (mandatory) ... 231 132 209 +77 +58%

Conservation Reserve Program (mandatory) ... 1,760 1,576 1,597 +21 +1%

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (mandatory) ... 200 174 300 +126 +72%

Subtotal, USDA (Select programs) ... 4,914 4,763 5,009 +246 +5%

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):.

Operating Program ... 3,330 3,491 3,682 +191 +5%

Clean Air Partnership Fund ... ... ... 200 +200 NA

Subtotal, All EPA (includes Superfund mandatory spending )³... 7,363 7,590 7,407 –183 –2%

Department of Energy (DOE):

Energy Conservation and Efficiency (gross) ... 612 692 838 +146 +21%

Solar and Renewable Energy R&D (net) ... 272 336 399 +63 +19%

Federal Facilities Cleanup (Environmental Management Program) ... 5,862 5,830 5,939 +109 +2%

Subtotal, DOE (Select programs) ... 6,746 6,858 7,176 +318 +5%

Department of Defense (DOD):

Cleanup ... 2,140 1,962 1,972 +10 +1%

Environmental Compliance/Pollution Prevention/Conservation ... 2,466 2,434 2,199 –235 –10%

Subtotal, DOD (Select programs) ... 4,606 4,396 4,171 –225 –5%

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

Fisheries and Protected Species ... 319 350 395 +45 +13%

Ocean and Coastal Management ... 166 178 246 +68 +38%

Ocean and Atmospheric Research ... 263 275 270 –5 –2%

Subtotal, NOAA (Select programs) ... 748 803 911 +108 +13%

Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (DOE, NSF, others) ... 220 240 264 +24 +10%

U.S. Global Change Research (NASA, DOE, NSF, DOC, USDA, others) ... 1,677 1,681 1,786 +105 +6%

GLOBE—Global Environmental Education (NOAA, NASA, EPA, NSF) .. 12 10 13 +3 +30%

Montreal Protocol (State/EPA) ... 40 45 55 +10 +22%

Global Environment Facility (Treasury) ... 48 193 143 –50 –26%

Multilateral and Bilateral Assistance (International Programs/USAID) 268 309 321 +12 +4%

Total⁴... 30,840 32,223 33,929 +1,706 +5%

NA = Not applicable.

1Includes non-LWCF base funding for certain programs—$116 million in 1998; and $130 million in both 1999 and 2000. Excludes $699 million in one-time LWCF 1998 funding.

2The program level (grant budget authority plus loan levels) is projected to be $1.5 billion in 2000; 12-percent higher than in 1999.

3Includes Superfund orphan share mandatory spending of $200 million in 2000.

4Total adjusted to eliminate double counts and climate change tax incentives.

INTERIOR USDA COMMERCE/

NOAA

TOTAL

GREAT PLACES

(California Deserts, Northern Forests, Marine

Sanctuaries, Civil War Battlefields) 295 118 15 428 1/

GREEN SPACES

(Conservation grants and programs for open

space, forests, coasts, and habitat protection) 270 112 90 472

LWCF TOTAL 565 230 105 900

NON-LWCF BASE 14 38 78 130

TOTAL-- LANDS LEGACY 579 268 183 1,030

Chart 6-2. FULL LWCF FUNDING SUPPORTS