EPA Budget to Reduce Funding for Efficiency Programs

According to the newsletter “Inside EPA Weekly Report” (subscription only), the Bush Administration has proposed for 2007 fiscal year that EPA increase spending on “Homeland Security” stuff and reduce spending…we bet you can guess…on certain research programs. Specifically, the “… administration proposed a 43 percent funding increase for EPA homeland security initiatives”. “A host of research programs would in turn be slashed…, including $6.4 million for clean air research and $9 million for human health and ecosystem studies. The budget would also slash $4.4 million for sustainability studies, which includes a decision to zero out a $3 million technology verification research program that was created to accelerate the entry of new, cleaner technologies into domestic and international markets.

We think we see the advantage of this approach. If a bad guy tries to smuggle some WMD in an imported hybrid vehicle or imported corn burning stove, EPA will then be able to better respond. Of course, Congress still has to do it's review magic on the budget. So, we'll "keep you posted". Now...has anyone seen our "Model A"? We have some sustainability research of our own to do.