US Environmentalists Fear Bush Budget Plan

Broadcast: Feb 09, 2003

 

In terms of dollars and cents, the 2004 budget request increases spending for defense¹, the war against terrorism and homeland security. It also expands tax cuts, a move the Bush administration says will help stimulate² a ¹⁾sluggish economy and create jobs.

Charli Coon is a senior policy analyst³ on energy and the environment with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research and educational institute based in Washington. She says that in the context of the national political agenda, the environment is not shortchanged.

"I would say that the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior and the ^2）EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency )are treated fairly in the budget," she says. "In fact, when you look at non-defense ³⁾discretionary spending, they are getting about ten percent of that. Given the times right now, that the focus is on economic growth, on national defense and homeland security and possibly a war, that the amounts the president is proposing are reasonable. In fact, the DE (the Department of Energy) budget is going up six percent, the Department of Interior about three percent, and the EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency )is remaining pretty much the same."

Welsey Warren is a senior fellow for environmental economics with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. Taking a closer look at the numbers, he says, the proposed budget deprives agencies responsible for protecting the environment of adequate financial resources to do their job. "Even though government spending as a whole will go up by about four percent, environmental spending goes down by about six percent, so plainly something is going on here rather than to balance the books. It reveals the hidden anti-environmental agenda in this administration into the budget document," she says.

The Environmental Protection Agency would suffer a $500 million cut from the $7.6 billion EPA budget request. Wesley Warren says the impact on the Agency would be enormous.

"Overall, water-quality investments [would be] washed out, enforcement personnel are being moved out, and the 'polluter pays' principle is being canceled out," he says. "This means that protection is going down and pollution is going up. In respect to clean water, it is really astonishing. About one-third of the investments (made) since 2002 would be wiped out in this budget totally $186 million. On enforcement, they claim that they have an increase in enforcement for this year, but that is only compared to 2003.

"If you compare to where they were at the beginning of this administration, we are still down about 100 key ⁴⁾enforcement personnel, and their own press and budget documents they reveal last week, we reveal that the amount of pollution that we reduce every year from enforcement actions has dropped by more than half. Finally, Super Fund, where the industry was supposed to pay for the cleanup [of toxic⁴ waste sites]. They have a small increase in their budget of $90 million, but they haven't re-instituted the 'polluters-pay' fee and as a consequence, the tax payer is picking up practically the whole tab."

Environmentalists also argue that the president's Clear Skies initiative, a proposal aimed at reducing health-threatening air pollutants⁵ from utility plants and factories, would actually increase pollution relative to what could be done if clean air laws already on the books were enforced.

On the other hand, the biggest increase in the budget is for a program to develop ⁵⁾hydrogen-powered cars, with funding up 121 percent to $88 million. The budget also proposes incentives⁶ for energy conservation, including tax relief for the purchase of residential⁷ solar energy equipment, for the purchase of electricity generated by wind, and for the purchase of new ⁶⁾hybrid gas-electric ⁷⁾vehicle.

Environmentalists argue these initiatives come at the expense of major cuts to on-going renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. But, Charli Koon with the Heritage Foundation says the budget proposals make good ⁸⁾fiscal⁸ sense.

"We have to remember that most of our energy does not come from renewable sources, and given the times and the budget constraints⁹ that we have now, we have to ⁹⁾prioritize. And I think the president is prioritizing and funding the highest level initiatives for the environment and energy," she says.

The Bush administration has called for greater energy security, meaning less U.S. dependence¹⁰ on foreign oil. This is why drilling for oil and gas on public lands like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska a controversial move hotly debated in Congress has been included in the budget.

The administration would ¹⁰⁾earmark money generated from oil leases in the Arctic preserve for renewable energy programs, a move strongly opposed by environmentalists like Bonnie Galvin with the Wilderness¹¹ Society.

"Trying to sneak¹² the Arctic [National Wildlife Refuge] through by inserting it into a complex technical budget document, we think is pretty ¹¹⁾outrageous," she says. "We feel confident that Congress is going to stand up and oppose that."

Environmentalists say they have ¹²⁾bipartisan support for the environment in Congress, which must approve any final budget. The challenge, they say, will be to negotiate for a budget that also makes sense for the environment. The debate is expected to continue at least until October 2003. That would be the beginning of the 2004 fiscal year, which is also a presidential election year in the United States.

I'm Rosanne Skirble.

1)    sluggish[5slQ^iF]adj. 不景气的，萧条的

2)    EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency )美国环保署

3)    discretionary[dIs`kreFEnErI]adj. 任意的, 自由决定的

4)    enforcement[in5fC:smEnt]n. 执行, 强制

5)    hydrogen[5haidrEudVEn]n. 氢

6)    hybrid[5haibrid]adj. 混合的

7)    vehicle[5vi:ikl]n. 交通工具, 车辆, 媒介物

8)    fiscal[5fiskEl]adj. 财政的, 国库的, 会计的, 国库岁入的

9)    prioritize[praI`CrItaIz]vt. 把...区分优先次序

10)earmark[5iEmB:k]v. 指定(款项等的)用途

11)outrageous[aut5reidVEs]adj. 蛮横的, 残暴的, 无耻的

12)bipartisan[bai7pB:ti5zAn]adj. 两党连立的

 

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

7 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

8 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

9 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

11 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

12 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。