On July 6, the House Appropriations Committee released the subcommittee draft of the FY2012 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, which was subsequently marked up in the Interior-Environment Subcommittee.  The bill provides $27.5 billion in spending, a reduction of $2.1 billion below last year’s level of $29.5 billion and $3.8 billion below the President’s budget request of $31.2 billion.

Department of the Interior:  The bill provides $9.9 billion in spending for the Department of Interior, a $720 million reduction from current spending and $1.2 billion below the President’s FY2012 request. 

• The Bureau of Land Management would receive $1 billion, a decrease of $63 million from the current year.
  

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):  The bill provides $7.1 billion in spending for EPA, a reduction of $1.5 billion from FY2011 levels.  The cuts to EPA programs include: 

• The Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund would receive $1.5 billion (down $1 billion from the $2.4 billion they received in FY2011).  These programs help fund state and local water infrastructure improvements nationwide.
• Regulation of greenhouse gases would be cut $46 million
• EPA regulatory programs would be cut $76 million
• Grants for state implementation of environmental programs would be cut $102 million
• Numerous restrictions to agency water policies related to coal mining in Appalachia would be included as well