APPROPRIATIONS: CONGRESS PASSES BILL FUNDING AGENCIES THROUGH FY 2012

The week of Dec. 16, Congress passed H.R. 2055, an omnibus bill which funds the government through the remainder of the current fiscal year (FY) 2012, which ends Sept. 30, 2012. The bill passed the House by a vote of 262-121 and the Senate by a vote of 67-32. The majority of opposition in both chambers came from conservative Republican lawmakers as many of the riders included in the House appropriations bills were shaved in conference.

The omnibus bill incorporates the remaining nine appropriations bills that were not included in the "minibus" that passed earlier this year (P.L. 112-55). The new omnibus bill includes funding for the Departments of Interior and Energy as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.

Energy and Water

Overall, energy and water programs are funded at $32 billion for FY 2012, a $328 million increase over FY 2011. For Department of Energy science programs, the bill includes $4.9 billion, an increase of $46 million from FY 2011. The bill also includes $769 million for nuclear energy research and development, $43 million above FY 2011. For environmental management activities, the bill includes $5.7 billion, a $31 million increase over FY 2011. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is funded at $5 billion, a $145 million increase from FY 2011. The FY 2012 funding level for the Corps is also $429 million above the president's request, one of the few agencies to enjoy this distinction this year.

Interior, Environment and Related Agencies

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): $8.4 billion for FY 2012, $233 million below FY 2011.The conference agreement cuts $14 million (six percent) in clean air and climate research programs; $12 million (9.5 percent) in EPA's regulatory development office; and $14 million (five percent) to air regulatory programs. The bill also reduces the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund by $101 million.

Bureau of Land Management: $1.1 billion, $5 million below FY 2011.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: $1.5 billion, $28 million below FY 2011.

National Park Service: $2.6 billion, $32 million below FY 2011.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement: $60 million (this agency was formalized in FY 2011).

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement: $76 million, including $15 million for oil spill research for this agency, formalized in FY 2011.

U.S. Forest Service: $4.6 billion for the Forest Service in FY 2012, $91 million below FY 2011.

Land and Water Conservation Fund: $322.8 million, a seven percent increase over FY 2011.

Clean Water State Revolving Fund: $2.39 billion, a 3.5 percent decrease from FY 2011.

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: $300 million, a slight increase from $299 million in FY 2011.

Everglades restoration: $142 million, down from $155 million in FY 2011.

Chesapeake Bay restoration: increase to $57.4 million, up from $54.4 million in FY 2011.

Gulf of Mexico restoration: funding increase from $4.5 million to $5.5 million in FY 2012.

Department of Defense Research and Development: $72.4 billion, $2.5 billion below FY 2011.

Other Provisions

Congressional Republicans were successful in including language to halt new standards requiring light bulbs to be nearly 30 percent more energy efficient next year. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) authored the language in the original 2007 energy law that established the standards. The rider will prevent the Department of Energy from implementing the rules through Sept. 30, 2012, the end of the current fiscal year. The language would have to be renewed in an FY 2013 appropriations bill.

The bill also includes a one-year block preventing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from spending money on Obama administration efforts to rewrite federal rules so that environmental considerations are given greater weight when planning and designing levees, locks, dams and other flood control efforts. Scientists have cited the benefits of complementing such infrastructure with natural approaches to flood control, such as floodplain and wetlands restoration.

The omnibus bill also includes language that would overturn a decision by a federal appeals court in 2010 that would require Clean Water Act permitting for stormwater runoff on logging roads.