House Interior/Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Bill Drastically Cuts Clean Water SRF

This week, the House Interior/Environment Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its FY 2013 funding legislation for the Department of the Interior and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which also contains the funding for EPA’s State Revolving Funds (SRF) for clean water and drinking water infrastructure. As AGC reported earlier in the year, the president’s budget for the SRFs requested only $1.18 billion in its FY 2013 budget for the Clean Water SRF, which represents a cut of nearly 20 percent. Similarly, the Administration’s FY 2013 proposal for the Drinking Water SRF is $850 million, a cut of $69 million, or approximately 7 percent as compared to FY 2012. Prior to the Subcommittee markup, AGC joined other groups in the design and construction industry to send a letter calling for funding levels of at least $1.47 billion for the Clean Water SRF and $919 million for the Drinking Water SRF, which would return the programs to FY 2012 funding levels. However, the funding legislation calls for only $689 million for the Clean Water SRF, a nearly 54 percent cut. The bill also specifies a funding level of $829 million for the Drinking Water SRF, a 10 percent cut. This represents an overall cut to the SRFs of $870 million or 36 percent. The bill now moves to be considered by the full committee, and ultimately by the full House. However, due to the contentious nature of the bill there is a strong possibility that it may be rolled together with other contentious appropriations legislation in an omnibus bill later this year, much like it was last year. AGC will continue to follow and report on this legislation and advocate for increases to the SRF accounts. View the legislative language here. For more information, contact Scott Berry at (703) 837-5321 or berrys@agc.org.