CEI Comments on Proposed EPA Budget

The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Director of the Center for Energy and Environment Myron Ebell commented on the reports of the Trump administration’s proposed cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency budget:

“CEI agrees with President Trump that the federal government requires fundamental transformation to rein in rogue agencies.  In terms of federal agencies and departments that are out of control, the EPA must be close to the top of the list. 

“The Office of Management and Budget’s proposed 24 percent budget cut for the EPA is a way of applying market discipline to a bloated bureaucracy. A 24 percent cut is a good target, although the specifics of the cuts should be carefully considered and revised if needed.  If members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees want to increase spending on specific programs, they should justify it and find comparable savings in other programs.

“Despite claims from environmental pressure groups that cutting the EPA’s budget will threaten environmental quality, the reality is that the EPA has more employees than it needs. Much of the EPA’s important work to protect our air and water has already been devolved to the states, meaning at the federal level, EPA is top heavy. Besides eliminating a number of programs that are not required by statute, the EPA’s ten regional offices could especially benefit from significant downsizing.”

See more from CEI on its proposed agenda for how Congress can improve energy and environmental policies here.

See more from CEI on its proposed agenda for President Trump’s EPA here.