For years, the EPA has reimbursed the Justice Department for prosecuting Superfund lawsuits “to force polluters to pay for cleaning up sites they left contaminated with hazardous waste,” says the New York Times. Now, with the Trump administration in charge, the EPA may end those payments, which, at about $20 million a year, amount to a quarter of the funding for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Justice Department.
“No decision will be made until Congress passes an EPA budget for the fiscal year that begins in October, officials at both agencies said, although the payments were created by the executive branch, not Congress, so Mr. Pruitt may be able to act on his own,” said the Times. The possible cutback in funds was disclosed in a little-noticed line item in the EPA budget proposal last spring. The budget would cut overall EPA funding by one-third.
At the same time the EPA budget showed a funding cut, the Justice Department budget was anticipating a reimbursement of $26 million from the EPA. The possibility of that reduced funding “has raised worries among employees in the Environment and Natural Resources Division about potential layoffs or furloughs and significant reductions in their work to fight pollution in the nation’s waterways, soil, and water,” said the Times. Besides Superfund cases, the division handles enforcement of clean water and clean air laws.