United States Environmental Protection Agency FISCAL YEAR 2024 Justification of Appropriation Estimates for the Committee on Appropriations Tab 00: Overview March 2023 EPA-190-R-23-001 www.epa.gov/cj ------- United States Environmental Protection Agency FY 2024 Budget Overview The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a clear and vital mission: to protect human health and the environment. While the Agency, along with tribal, state, and local partners, has made great progress in advancing this mission over the last 50 years, much work remains to guarantee that all people living in the United States share more fully in the benefits of clean air, clean water, clean land, and chemical safety. The urgency of climate change raises the stakes of the Agency's work to protect communities. The FY 2024 President's Budget articulates Agency plans to confront these challenges and advance the priorities described in the FY 2022 2026 EPA Strategic Plan. which will make real, durable changes to the environmental and public and economic health of all Americans. The FY 2024 President's Budget for EPA totals $12,083 billion, $1.9 billion or 19 percent higher than the FY 2023 enacted level. It includes 17,077 full-time equivalents (FTE), an increase of 1,961 FTE above the current level, to restore the Agency's capacity to carry out its core mission. These resources will advance EPA's efforts to clean up air, land, and water pollution, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, fund scientific research, support the President's Cancer Moonshot Initiative, and position the Agency with the workforce required to address emerging and ongoing challenges. In furtherance of its mission to protect human health and the environment, the Budget requests robust funding to address the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; building resilience in the face of climate impacts; and engaging with the global community, and state, local and tribal partners to respond to this shared challenge. The Agency also will continue to ensure environmental justice is at the forefront of its activities by investing across numerous programs in support of environmental justice and ensuring compliance with several civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance from EPA. Reliable and safe drinking water is critical to every citizen's health while access to clean water for recreation, as well as commerce, supports the environmental and economic health of all communities; therefore, the Budget supports the full implementation of grant programs authorized in the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA). To capitalize on the once- in-a-generation opportunity to make meaningful, long overdue progress, the FY 2024 Budget will complement the significant resources provided in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), American Rescue Plan (ARP), and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to ensure that EPA, tribes, and states have the support needed to effectively implement these new or significantly expanded programs. The FY 2024 Budget is rooted in the four foundational principles of the FY 2022 - 2026 EPA Strategic Plan: Follow the Science, Follow the Law, Be Transparent, and Advance Justice and Equity. These principles form the basis of the Agency's culture and will guide its operations and decision making now and into the future. The Strategic Plan focuses on achieving the Agency's and Administration's environmental priorities to instill scientific integrity in decision making, tackle the climate crisis, and embed environmental justice across Agency programs. ------- FY 2024 Funding Priorities Tackle the Climate Crisis The FY 2024 Budget prioritizes tackling climate change with the urgency that science demands. EPA's Climate Change Indicators website presents compelling and clear evidence of changes to our climate reflected in rising temperatures, ocean acidity, sea level rise, river flooding, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires.1 Resources in the Budget support efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis while spurring economic progress and creating good-paying jobs. Both climate mitigation and adaptation are essential components of the strategy to reduce the threats and impacts of climate change. The Budget empowers EPA to work with partners to address the climate crisis by reducing GHG emissions; building resilience in the face of climate impacts; and engaging with the global community to respond to this shared challenge. In FY 2024, EPA will drive reductions in emissions that significantly contribute to climate change through regulations of GHGs, climate partnership programs, and support to tribal, state, and local governments. The Agency will accomplish this through the transformative investments in the IRA, IIJA, and our annual appropriation, which funds the core operating accounts of the Agency. In FY 2024 and beyond, EPA will ensure its programs, policies, regulations, enforcement and compliance assurance activities, and internal business operations consider current and future impacts of climate change. The Budget proposes an additional $64.4 million and 24 FTE to implement the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act to continue phasing out potent greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Resources support efforts to implement innovative Information Technology solutions, such as a Quick Response (QR) code system and database integration across EPA and Customs and Border Patrol, to ensure that the phasedown is not undermined by illegal imports. By September 30,2023, EPA expects that annual U. S. consumption of HFCs will be 10 percent below the baseline2 of 303.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCChe) consistent with the HFC phasedown schedule implemented in the AIM Act and codified in the implementing regulations. A 10 percent reduction would decrease the U.S. consumption limit to less than 273.5 MMTC02e by 2023, meeting an Agency Priority Goal for FY 2022 - 2023 to Phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Building on investments in the FY 2023 enacted budget, the FY 2024 Budget also provides an additional $71.5 million and 40.6 FTE, for a total of $181 million and 257 FTE, for the Climate Protection Program to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad through an integrated approach of regulations, partnerships, and technical assistance. This additional resource includes $5 million for EPA to provide administrative support to the $27 billion GHG Reduction Fund, enacted through the IRA. With enhanced administrative support, EPA will be able to more efficiently and effectively administer competitive grants to mobilize financing and leverage private capital for clean energy and climate projects that reduce GHG emissions with an emphasis on projects that 1 For more information, please visit:https://www.epa.gov/cliiirate-hfcs-reduction/final-rule-phasedowii-hydrofIuorocarbons- estabtishing-attowaiice-attocatioii. 2 https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/final-rule-phasedown-hydrofluorocarbons-establishing-allowance-allocation ------- benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities. Additionally, EPA provides investments to support the private sector in calculating GHG emissions and climate risk and setting science-based climate targets, as well as investments to embed the economic impacts of climate change and decarbonization efforts within government economic projects. In FY 2024, EPA will continue to take action to reduce dangerous air pollution and GHG emissions from mobile sources. The FY 2024 Budget provides $150 million for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Grant Program, a $50 million increase above the FY 2023 enacted level, to expand the availability of DERA grants and rebates to reduce harmful diesel emissions, with a focus on school buses, ports, and communities disproportionately affected by air quality problems.3 These locations also are often where lower income communities and communities of color suffer from exposure to higher levels of pollution. The Agency also will commit an additional $62.3 million and 46.8 FTE for a total of $180 million and 370 FTE to the Federal Vehicle and Fuels Standards and Certification Program to build on investments in FY 2023. This includes the development of analytical methods, regulations, and analyses to support climate protection by controlling GHG emissions from light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles. In FY 2024, EPA also will promulgate a final rulemaking to establish new GHG emissions standards for heavy-duty engines and vehicles. This rule will reduce GHG and other emissions from highway heavy-duty vehicles, the second largest source of transportation GHG emissions. In support of Executive Order 14037: Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks,4 EPA's longer-term rulemaking to set emission standards will save consumers money, cut pollution, boost public health, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis. EPA will establish new multi-pollutant emissions standards, including for GHG emissions, for light- and medium-duty vehicles beginning with model year 2027 and extending through at least model year 2030. Acting domestically to reduce GHG emissions is an important step to tackle the climate crisis; however, environmental protection is a shared responsibility that crosses international borders, and climate change poses a threat that no one government can solve alone. The FY 2024 Budget provides an additional $18 million and 16 FTE to support tackling the climate crisis abroad. Through a collaborative approach with international counterparts, we will enhance capacity building programs for priority countries with increasing GHG footprints, to enable stronger legislative, regulatory and legal enforcement. To this end, President Biden has ambitiously laid out a path, by 2030, for the United States to cut GHG emissions by at least half from 2005 levels showing our international partners that America is doing its part to reduce global emissions. EPA will continue to engage both bilaterally and through multilateral institutions to improve international cooperation on climate change. These efforts help fulfill EPA's commitment to Executive Order 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Tackling the climate crisis depends not only on the Agency's ability to mitigate GHG emissions but also the capacity to adapt and deliver targeted assistance to increase the Nation's resilience to climate change impacts. As part of a whole-of-government approach, EPA will directly support 3 DERA Fourth Report to Congress: https://iiepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi?Dockey=P100XlBI.pdf. 4 Executive Order 14037: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefiiig-rooiii/presidential-actions/2021/08/05/executive-order-on- strengthening-american-leadership-in-clean-cars-and-trucks/. ------- federal partners, tribes and indigenous communities, states, territories, local governments, environmental justice organizations, community groups, and businesses as they anticipate, prepare for, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change. In FY 2024, the Budget provides an additional $45.3 million and 26.5 FTE for climate adaptation efforts to strengthen the adaptive capacity of tribes, states, territories, local governments, communities, and businesses. The Budget also provides resources to support the implementation of the Agency's Climate Adaptation Action Plan, which accelerates and focuses attention on five priority actions the Agency will take over the next four years to increase human and ecosystem resilience as the climate changes and disruptive impacts increase. Take Decisive Action to Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights The communities hardest hit by pollution and climate change are most often communities of color, indigenous communities, rural communities, and economically disadvantaged communities. For generations, many of these communities, which also are among the most vulnerable, have been overburdened with higher instances of polluted air, water, and land. The inequity of environmental protection is not just an environmental justice issue but also a civil rights concern. Neither an individual's skin color, nor the community in which they live, should determine whether they have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, or healthy environments in which their children can play. And yet, the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies has not always ensured the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income. In FY 2024 EPA provides over $758 million within programs under Goal 2 to advance environmental justice and civil rights across the Nation and across Agency efforts. EPA will continue efforts in FY 2024 to implement the President's Justice40 Initiative with the goal of delivering at least 40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant federal investments to underserved and overburdened communities. In June 2022, EPA announced 73 programs that will be covered under the Justice40 initiative, including the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, Brownfields Projects Program, Superfund Remedial Program, and the Clean School Bus Program. EPA is currently looking at ways to ensure the delivery of benefits to disadvantaged communities to achieve the 40-percent goal within existing legal authorizations. EPA is also developing methodologies to track and report the benefits going toward communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. Advancing the Administration's environmental justice priorities is a foundational component of the Agency's FY 2024 Budget, and success requires a whole-of-EPA approach. EPA's Budget recognizes the importance of embedding environmental justice principles in all Agency programs and implementing Executive Order 14008: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, and Executive Order 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. To elevate environmental justice as a top Agency priority in FY 2024, EPA's newest National Program Manager, the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR), will lead the agency-wide effort to address the needs of overburdened and underserved communities and maximize the benefits of the Agency's programs and activities to underserved communities. By September 30, 2023, EPA expects to develop and implement a cumulative impacts framework, ------- issue guidance on civil rights compliance for recipients of federal funding, establish at least 10 indicators to assess EPA's performance in eliminating disparities in environmental and public health conditions, and train staff and partners on how to use these resources, to meet an Agency Priority Goal for FY 2022 - 2023 to Deliver tools and metrics for EPA and its tribal, state, local, and community partners to advance environmental justice and external civil rights compliance. The FY 2024 Budget will expand upon the FY 2023 enacted budget to enhance the Agency's ability to develop, manage, and award new competitive grants to reduce the historically disproportionate health impacts of pollution in communities with environmental justice concerns. Nearly $375 million and 265 FTE, an increase of $267 million and 41 FTE above the FY 2023 enacted, is requested for the Environmental Justice Program to expand support for community- based organizations, indigenous organizations, tribes, states, local governments, and territorial governments in pursuit of identifying and addressing environmental justice issues through multi- partner collaborations. The FY 2024 Budget proposes to invest $91 million and 50 FTE on building out community-centered technical assistance hubs to support basic capacity building of communities and their partners to advance equity and justice in their communities. With the FY 2024 investment of $34.7 million and 167 FTE in the Tribal Capacity Building Program, an increase of $20 million and 88 FTE above the FY 2023 enacted, EPA will strengthen efforts to support nationwide core work in the tribal capacity building program with a focus on addressing the climate change crisis. In addition, EPA will implement the revised EPA Tribal Consultation Policy and Implementation Guidance to improve consultation practices in conformance with the executive order on tribal consultation and train EPA staff. To fully implement its external civil rights mission with quality and consistency and in a way that yields positive and sustainable impacts for the most overburdened and vulnerable communities where protection of civil rights may be at risk, EPA must embed civil rights obligations into its programmatic actions and provide the level of funding and staffing necessary for success. All applicants for and recipients of EPA financial assistance, including state and local governments as well as private entities, have an affirmative obligation to comply with federal civil rights laws, both as a prerequisite to obtaining EPA financial assistance and in administering their programs and activities. EPA enforcement of these anti-discrimination provisions is a vital part of the Agency's goal to advance equity and environmental justice. Consistent enforcement of federal civil rights laws for recipients of federal funds will prevent decisions that can overburden underserved communities and create or exacerbate significant inequities in human health protection and environmental pollution. In FY 2024, the Budget provides a total of $31.5 million and 144 FTE, an increase of $18.6 million and 77.2 FTE above the FY 2023 enacted level, to build civil rights capacity across the Agency and to reduce the backlog of civil rights cases such as claims of discrimination in communities and pre-award and post-award compliance activities. In the long term, the vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws will address historical and systemic barriers that contribute to the environmental injustice affecting vulnerable communities. Enforce Environmental Laws and Ensure Compliance Ensuring compliance and enforcement of the Nation's environmental laws is foundational to achieving EPA's mission. The Agency will hold bad actors accountable for their violations, with a particular focus on protecting communities with multiple pollution sources and ensuring a level ------- playing field in the marketplace for regulated sources and parties. In FY 2024, EPA will provide $757 million and 3,354 FTE to strengthen compliance with the Nation's environmental laws and hold violators accountable. The FY 2024 Budget provides an increase of $22.6 million and 38.3 FTE above the FY 2023 enacted levels to rebuild the inspector corps, which is EPA's highest enforcement priority. The inspector corps will be able to be more efficient attributable to the resources provided in the IRA that are targeted for improving enforcement technology and inspection software and for other related purposes. EPA also will leverage funding from the IRA for enhanced tools (such as the Integrated Compliance Information System, ICIS) and technical assistance to the regulated community to support understanding and compliance with environmental laws. EPA will implement a comprehensive action plan in FY 2024 for integrating environmental justice and climate change considerations throughout all aspects of its enforcement and compliance assurance work. The Agency will increase the percentage of inspections impacting overburdened communities and provide greater public access to compliance data to help a community better understand and manage risks. In addition, EPA will advance its efforts to address climate change mitigation and adaptation issues through targeted inspections, compliance monitoring, and technical assistance directed to sources with the most potential for noncompliant emissions of GHGs that contribute to climate change. The FY 2024 Budget includes $165 million for the Compliance Monitoring Program, an increase of $50.9 million and 41.5 FTE above the FY 2023 enacted, to support enforcement and compliance assurance efforts with a focus on incorporating environmental justice considerations into programmatic work. EPA will leverage its resources to expand software solutions for field inspectors to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of compliance inspections and continue the data system modernization effort, including enforcement and compliance assurance data systems. These resources will complement those provided to EPA under the IRA that are targeted for improving enforcement technology, inspection software, and other related purposes. In FY 2024, EPA will provide robust targeted oversight and support to tribal, state, and local programs. The Agency will prioritize work with states to develop methods that successfully leverage advances in both monitoring and information technology to increase the availability of information about environmental conditions in disadvantaged communities. EPA's Civil Enforcement Program is designed to protect human health and the environment by ensuring compliance with the Nation's environmental laws. The Budget provides $246 million for civil enforcement efforts, which includes funding to increase enforcement efforts in communities with high pollution exposure and to prevent the illegal importations and use of HFCs in the United States. These resources also include an additional $3.4 million and 7 FTE over the FY 2023 enacted level to support compliance and enforcement of the Coal Combustion Residual (CCR) Program. The CCR Program ensures that coal ash disposal units do not present dangerous structural stability issues that could put surrounding communities at risk, in particular, those in rural and underserved areas. These resources will allow the Agency to continue analyzing groundwater monitoring data and ensuring facility corrective action and closure efforts are complying with the regulatory requirements and adequately addressing coal ash disposal risks. Together, these resources will enable EPA to incorporate environmental justice and climate change considerations into all phases of case development without displacing other important enforcement and compliance assurance work. For example, EPA may focus on opportunities to reduce GHG emissions while providing co-benefits in underserved communities, expand inclusion of GHG mitigation and climate ------- resilience remedies, and prioritize environmental justice concerns in case resolutions where appropriate. Overburdened and underserved communities are more often victims of environmental crime. EPA's FY 2024 Budget supports the development of a specialized Criminal Enforcement Initiative focused on addressing environmental justice issues with other Agency priority National Compliance Initiatives in partnership with the Department of Justice (DOJ). The Criminal Enforcement Initiative focuses on the prioritization of investigative resources to overburdened communities and vulnerable populations, while maintaining case initiation standards and reducing the impact of pollution. The FY 2024 Budget includes $75.1 million and 296 FTE to support the Criminal Enforcement Program by targeting investigations on the most egregious environmental cases. In FY 2024, EPA will continue to advance efforts to protect fenceline communities at risk to environmental health hazards from nearby oil and chemical facilities and underground storage tank releases. Fenceline communities are often low-income and/or communities of color facing disproportionate risks from environmental health hazards, particularly in light of severe weather events caused by a changing climate. The FY 2024 Budget invests additional resources to advance protection of these communities by increasing inspections and compliance assistance to ensure nearby facilities are adhering to regulations designed to protect vulnerable populations. This investment also will be used to create and expand programs to improve environmental protections and increase monitoring capability in fenceline communities. Ensure Clean and Healthy Air for All Communities Providing clean and healthy air for all communities is a central tenet of EPA's mission. Long-term exposure to elevated levels of certain air pollutants has been associated with increased risk of cancer, premature death, and damage to the immune, neurological, reproductive, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, while short-term exposure can exacerbate asthma and lead to other adverse health effects and economic costs.5 Relying on the latest science, EPA will continue work to reduce emissions of the six National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) pollutants— particulate matter (PM), ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead—and air toxics from mobile and stationary sources. In FY 2024, EPA will leverage approaches including regulatory tools, innovative market-based techniques, public and private-sector partnerships, community-based approaches, voluntary programs that promote environmental stewardship, and programs that encourage adoption of cost-effective technologies and practices. The FY 2024 Budget includes approximately $1.4 billion and 2,207 FTE to advance EPA efforts in protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollution. Building upon the work under the ARP and IRA, the FY 2024 Budget requests an additional investment of $100 million to develop and implement a community air quality monitoring and notification program to provide real-time data to the public in areas with greatest exposure to harmful levels of pollution, such as smoke pollution from wildfires. In FY 2024, the Agency will continue to work closely with tribes, states, and local air quality agencies to develop the most effective approaches to meet community concerns. The Budget includes resources to fulfill the 5 For more information, please visit https://www.epa.gov/air-research/research-health-efrects-air-pollution. ------- President's commitment to engage meaningfully with overburdened and vulnerable communities during the entire rulemaking process, from pre-proposal through final promulgation and implementation. In FY 2024, EPA will make critical resource investments in air regulatory development and implementation work, particularly to support NAAQS review and implementation activities. The President directed EPA to review the 2020 PM NAAQS and the 2020 Ozone NAAQS in accordance with Executive Order 13990: Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.6 An increase of $89.9 million and 193 FTE over the FY 2023 enacted is requested to develop and implement climate and clean air regulations and programs, including supporting NAAQS review and implementation work. Critical to successful NAAQS implementation are activities such as timely issuance of rules and guidance documents, ongoing outreach to states and other entities, development of NAAQS implementation and permitting- related tools, and taking timely action on State Implementation Plans (SIPs) and reducing the SIP backlog. In total, the FY 2024 Budget provides $367 million and 1,080 FTE, an increase of $208 million and 200 FTE above FY 2023 enacted levels, for the Federal Support for Air Quality Management Program. The FY 2024 President's Budget also provides $47.5 million and 165 FTE for the Federal Stationary Source Regulations Program to finalize the review of standards for power plants, as well as rules to limit GHG emissions from new and existing sources in the power sector and new and existing facilities in the oil and gas sector. The Budget provides $47.6 million and 71.4 FTE for the Reducing Risks from Indoor Air Program to expand technical assistance to community- based asthma programs to reduce asthma disparities, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and provide technical support to high-risk, low-income communities to reduce lung cancer risk. The Agency also will seek to address the air quality challenges presented by wildfires. Wildfire smoke can vary from year to year but can typically make up approximately 30 percent of total PM2.5 emissions in some regions of the U.S., aggravating heart and lung disease and causing premature death. Climate change has already led to a marked increase in wildfire season length, wildfire frequency, and burned area.7 The FY 2024 Budget includes $7 million for Wildfire Smoke Preparedness, and EPA will continue to work with the U.S. Forest Service and other federal, state, and community agencies and organizations to identify ways to improve public notification and reduce the public health risk from air pollution resulting from wildfires. The Agency is also committed to protect both the climate system and the stratospheric ozone layer, which shields all life on Earth from harmful solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The FY 2024 Budget will include $72.2 million and 52.2 FTE for Stratospheric Ozone: Domestic Programs to implement the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act of 2020 to phase out climate- damaging hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), building on the successful work with manufacturers and phase-out methodologies that have led to progress restoring the ozone layer. 6 Executive Order 13990: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order- protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/. 7 For more information on climate impacts, risk and adaptation in the United States visit: https://nca201.8.globalch.aiige.gov/. ------- The Agency also will provide $423 million in financial support through Categorical Grant Programs to EPA's tribal, state, and local partners, an increase of $158 million over the FY 2023 enacted level, to further their efforts in implementing air quality management programs. These programs are critical for EPA's state, tribal and local partners to support implementation of environmental laws in states and tribal lands across the county and assure tangible progress for historically overburdened and underserved communities through sustained financial support. Funding for state and tribal support has been largely flat since 2018, while the need and expectations from EPA partners has only increased. In FY 2024, EPA provides $400 million for the State and Local Air Quality Management Program to provide grants to tribes and states that will support on-the-ground efforts to address GHG emissions and continuing core work, such as state and local air quality monitoring networks, air permitting programs, emission inventories, air quality forecasts, air quality training, visibility improvements, and air toxic monitoring efforts. In FY 2024, EPA also includes $23.1 million for the Categorical Grant: Tribal Air Quality Management Program. Funding will assist tribes to develop and implement air pollution control programs for Indian Country to prevent and address air quality concerns, including mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. EPA will work with tribes to assess environmental and public health conditions in Indian Country by developing emission inventories and, where appropriate, expanding the siting and operating of air quality monitors. Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities EPA's most recent clean and drinking water needs assessment surveys, published in 2016 and 2018, respectively, determined that the country would need to invest more than $743 billion over the next 20 years to maintain, upgrade, and replace critical drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.8 In FY 2023, EPA will finalize the seventh Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA). This survey provides a 20-year capital investment need for public water systems that are eligible to receive funding from state Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Programs. The survey also informs the DWSRF allocation formula as required under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Beginning in FY 2024, early framework activities for the eighth DWINSA will begin. Today, up to 10 million homes in America and more than 400,000 schools and childcare centers rely on drinking water distribution lines that contain lead—a clear and present danger to the health of children. Replacing these lead pipes and adapting America's water infrastructure to be more resilient to climate change is critical to keeping communities healthy and safe, consistent with the President's Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan.9 As the climate warms, more extreme rainfall and flooding events could damage or overwhelm water systems, leaving entire communities without safe water supplies for days or weeks. While there are significant funds from IIJA, there is still more demand and the FY 2024 Budget builds on the $8.83 billion available to State Revolving Funds (SRFs) in FY 2024 from the law. The Budget also includes $268 million and 1,056 FTE for the Surface Water Protection Program, an increase of $43.5 million and 46.1 FTE over the FY 2023 enacted level, to support efforts to protect, improve, and restore the quality of our Nation's coastal waters, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and streams. 8 For more information on EPA's Clean Water and Drinking Water Needs Survey Reports, visit: https://www.epa.gov/cwns and https://www.epa.gov/dwsrf/epas-6th-drinkiiig-water-iiifrastructure-needs-survey-and-assessment. 9 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/16/fact-sheet-the-biden-haiTis-lead-pipe-and-paint- action-plan. ------- The Budget provides $219 million for two grants dedicated to remediating lead contamination in water - Reducing Lead in Drinking Water and Lead Testing in Schools - an increase of $163 million over the 2023 enacted level. The Budget also funds other grants and loans that can be used for lead service line replacements. The Budget updates the cross-government Lead Pipe Replacement Funding Inventory that was published for the first time with the 2023 President's Budget. EPA's water infrastructure financing programs will advance the Agency's ongoing commitment to infrastructure repair and replacement and also build climate resilience into the water sector. At the same time, these investments will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs across the country.10 The Budget provides more than $4 billion for water infrastructure, an increase of $1 billion over the 2023 enacted level. These resources would advance efforts to upgrade drinking water and wastewater infrastructure nationwide, with a focus on underserved and rural communities that have historically been overlooked. The Budget also funds all of the authorizations in the original Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA) of 2021 and includes funding levels of $2.8 billion for EPA's State Revolving Funds (SRF), which complements funds provided for water infrastructure programs in the bipartisan IIJA. Also included is approximately $1.2 billion for grant programs authorized in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act of 2016, the America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018, and DWWIA. These resources are intended to upgrade aging infrastructure, invest in new technologies, and provide assistance to communities. Another goal of the Agency's infrastructure repair and replacement efforts is to address lead and other contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, especially in small and underserved communities. AWIA strengthened many existing programs within EPA, including programs authorized by the WIIN Act, while creating new programs to tackle significant public health and environmental concerns. DWWIA, as authorized under IIJA, builds on the foundation of AWIA and WIIN to strengthen the federal government's ability to upgrade the Nation's drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. These investments will enable the Agency to increase water infrastructure resilience and sustainability, provide assistance for underserved communities, and reduce lead in drinking water. By September 30, 2023, in support of Goal 5, Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities and Goal 6, Safeguard and Revitalize Communities, EPA expects to provide technical assistance to at least 10 communities to help achieve clean and safe water, an Agency Priority Goal for FY 2022 - 2023 to Clean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities. In FY 2024, EPA provides $150 million and 554 FTE, an increase of $22.9 million and 15.1 FTE, to support Drinking Water Programs to better protect communities, especially overburdened and underserved communities. This includes efforts to finalize the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) regulation, which aims to strengthen the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) issued in 2021 to more proactively replace lead service lines and more equitably protect public health. In August 2022, EPA released Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Service 10 Jobs created estimates are based on the U.S. Water Alliance: The Value of Water Campaign: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Water Infrastructure. ------- Line Inventory11 to support water systems with their efforts to develop inventories and to provide states with needed information for oversight and reporting to EPA. This guidance will help water systems comply with the LCRR requirement to prepare and maintain an inventory of service line materials by October 16, 2024. Resources also will support reducing public health and environmental threats from PFAS by finalizing the new drinking water standards in FY 2024. An additional $56.5 million is provided to accelerate progress on EPA's PFAS Strategic Roadmap,12 and enable EPA to move more quickly on policy, regulatory, and enforcement actions across multiple statutory authorities, and to support states and tribes in taking action on PFAS. EPA will continue its efforts in FY 2024 to develop analytical methods, drinking water health advisories, toxicity values, effluent limitation guidelines, as well as risk communication and other tools to support states, tribes, and localities in managing PFAS risks in their communities. Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Programs The FY 2024 Budget includes $1.64 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Program to capitalize state revolving loan funds in all 50 states and Puerto Rico to finance infrastructure improvements for public wastewater systems and projects to improve water quality. It represents the largest source of federal funds for states to provide loans and other forms of assistance for water quality projects including construction of wastewater treatment facilities, water and energy efficiency projects, and green infrastructure projects. In addition to capitalizing the CWSRF Program, a portion of the Budget will provide direct grants to communities in tribal nations and territories. The sanitation infrastructure in these communities often trails the rest of the country, causing significant public health concerns. EPA's DWSRF is designed to assist public water systems in financing the costs of drinking water infrastructure improvements needed to comply with SDWA requirements, protect public health, and support tribal, state, and local efforts to protect drinking water. The FY 2024 Budget includes $1.13 billion for the DWSRF to help finance critical infrastructure improvements to public water systems. States have considerable flexibility to tailor their DWSRF Programs to their unique circumstances and needs and to consider how best to achieve the maximum public health protection and infrastructure development that benefits all people living in the United States. Infrastructure within the water sector goes beyond repair and replacement to include the safety and reliability of the IT systems used to monitor clean and safe water. In FY 2024, EPA provides $25 million for a grant program to advance cybersecurity infrastructure capacity and protections within the water sector. An additional $19.6 million is provided to implement regulatory action to mitigate the risks of cyberattacks in the water sector as well as increase the Agency's ability to respond to incidents. Cybersecurity represents a substantial concern for the water sector, given the prevalence of state-sponsored and other malevolent attacks on the sector as well as the sector's inherent vulnerability and limited technical capacity to address cyber issues. 11 https://www.epa.gov/systeiii/files/documents/2022-08/Inventory%20Guidance August%202022_508%20compliant.pdf. 12 https://www.epa. gov/pfas/pfas-strategic-roadmap-epas-commitments-action-2021.-2024. ------- Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) The WIFIA Program, created in 2014, is a critical tool to increase water infrastructure investments by leveraging public and private sources of funds to maximize the reach of federal funds. As of February 2023, EPA had issued 100 WIFIA loans to communities across the country totaling over $17 billion in credit assistance to help finance more than $36 billion for water infrastructure projects.13 WIFIA loans for these projects have saved communities nearly $5 billion, which can be used for additional infrastructure investment and to keep rates affordable for water system users. These WIFIA-financed projects have created over 123,000 jobs and benefited more than 50 million people, demonstrating that WIFIA credit assistance is an effective tool to help address a variety of water infrastructure needs to support communities nationwide. The FY 2024 Budget supports WIFIA with $80.4 million in total funding. Geographic Programs Beyond water infrastructure, the Agency recognizes the important role federal assistance provides to protect water bodies of special ecological and economic importance to our Nation. Through EPA's Geographic Water Programs, the Agency assists state and multi-state partners and tribes to accelerate and manage the restoration of the ecological health of these water bodies. In total, the FY 2024 Budget provides $682 million for EPA's Geographic Water Programs to advance work on proj ects that target the most significant environmental problems in these important water bodies and watersheds. In FY 2024, EPA will continue to provide resources to accelerate ecological restoration and sustainable management for the Chesapeake Bay, Columbia River, Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Lake Pontchartrain, Long Island Sound, Northwest Forest Watershed, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, South Florida, and Southeast New England. Funding will help monitor and restore these ecological treasures and enable sustainable use for years to come. These important geographic efforts also will benefit from the $343 million provided by the IIJA to create synergies for EPA's Geographic Programs in FY 2024. Categorical Grants The Agency will provide $493 million in financial support through Categorical Grant Programs to EPA's tribal, state, and local partners to support their efforts in implementing key provisions of the Clean Water Act. Within this amount, $279 million is provided to the Section 106 Grants Program, an increase of $42.4 million from the FY 2023 enacted budget, which funds state, interstate, and tribal water pollution control programs to support actions to identify and take actions to assess and mitigate PFAS in the environment, and is a critical funding source to establish, expand, and implement water quality programs to protect and restore water resources (e.g., rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, and groundwater). Also included is $189 million for the Section 319 Grants Program, which will continue to focus on implementing watershed projects and maintaining current Nonpoint Source Management Programs to restore impaired waterbodies to meet water quality standards and protect unimpaired waters. In addition, EPA provides $133 million for the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) Program, which helps support state drinking water programs and technical assistance providers in achieving and maintaining compliance at drinking water systems, amplifying best practices, strengthening state capacity, and certifying drinking water operators. EPA's efforts under this program will help deliver clean drinking water, improve public health, and support environmental justice for overburdened and underserved communities, including rural and tribal communities. 13 https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-amiounces-100th-wifia-loan-investiiig-l 15-million-improve-resilience-extreme. ------- Safeguard and Revitalize Communities Preventing and cleaning up environmental damage that harms communities and poses a risk to public health and safety continues to be a top priority for the Administration. Cleaning up contaminated lands so that they can be redeveloped and returned to productive use is a challenge faced by many communities. Cleaning up America's most contaminated land and reducing exposure to toxic substances are critical components of the Agency's strategy to address human health impacts, particularly in underserved communities where many of these sites are located. Approximately 22 percent of Americans live within three miles of a Superfund site. Recent research shows Superfund cleanup actions lowered the risk of elevated blood lead levels by roughly 13 to 26 percent for children living within 1.2 miles of a Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) site where lead is a contaminant of concern.14 Remediating contaminated land and restoring it to productive use is not only an environmental imperative but presents an economic opportunity as well. A peer reviewed study found that residential property values within three miles of Superfund sites increased between 18.7 and 24.4 percent when sites were cleaned up and removed from the NPL.15 The FY 2024 Budget enables the Agency to continue efforts to clean up hazardous waste sites in communities across the Nation, including those where vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, and economically disadvantaged individuals, reside. These hazardous sites also are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, making remediation even more urgent. Federal data in a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report suggests that approximately 60 percent of Superfund sites overseen by EPA are in areas that are vulnerable to wildfires and different types of flooding—natural hazards that climate change will exacerbate.16 The Agency is working to clean up these sites considering climate change implications to protect at-risk populations. The Budget provides approximately $350 million for the Superfund Program to continue cleaning up some of the Nation's most contaminated land and respond to environmental emergencies and natural disasters, in addition to an estimated $2.5 billion in Superfund tax receipts that will be available to EPA in 2024. The Superfund tax receipts will allow the Agency to continue critical Superfund pre-construction work such as site characterization, construction design, and community outreach/engagement, as well as critical remedial actions to clean up sites as described above, which supports the Administration's Justice40 Initiative. Additionally, this funding will allow the Superfund Emergency Response and Removal Program to effectively and efficiently address situations that require emergency response and removal actions such as chemical releases, fires or explosions, natural disasters, and other threats to people from exposure to hazardous substances including from abandoned and uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. Investing in brownfields cleanup and redevelopment can revitalize main streets, neighborhoods, and rural communities, increase residential property values, and create good-paying jobs. The 14 Details can be found at https://www.epa.gov/enviromiiental-economics/research-enviromiiental-economics-ncee-workiiig- paper-series. 15 Shanti Gamper-Rabindran and Christopher Timmons. 2013. "Does cleanup of hazardous waste sites raise housing values? Evidence of spatially localized benefits," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 65(3): 345-360, littp: //dx. doi. org/1.0.1.01.6/j. j eeni.201.2.1.2.001.. 16 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-73. ------- Budget provides $217 million for EPA's Brownfields Program to provide technical assistance and grants to communities so they can safely clean up and reuse contaminated properties, as well as $20 million for the new Alaska Contaminated Lands Program. These programs support the President's Cancer Moonshot initiative by addressing contaminants that lead to greater cancer risk. Approximately 143 million people live within three miles of a brownfields site that receives EPA funding.17 In FY 2022, EPA leveraged 14,170 jobs and $1.8 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funds and made 662 additional brownfields sites ready for anticipated use (RAU). Activities undertaken in FY 2024 will leverage approximately 13,400 jobs and $2.6 billion in other funding sources.18 By September 30, 2023, in support of Goal 6, Safeguard and Revitalize Communities and Goal 5, Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All Communities, EPA expects to provide technical assistance to at least 10 communities to help achieve reduced exposures to hazardous substances, an Agency Priority Goal for FY 2022 - 2023 to Clean up contaminated sites and invest in water infrastructure to enhance the livability and economic vitality of overburdened and underserved communities. In FY 2024, the Agency will continue to invest in domestic recycling and solid waste infrastructure that build a circular economy, one where reuse and recycling is the norm. According to the U.S. EPA Recycling Economic Information Report, the U.S. recycling industry supports 680,000 jobs and provides $5.5 billion annually in tax revenues. In addition to these human resources and financial returns, the materials themselves hold great value, as recent data indicate that materials worth $9 billion are thrown away each year. The FY 2024 Budget includes $12.7 million and 53.4 FTE in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Waste Minimization and Recyling Program to better support the sustainable management of resources, in addition to a $10 million for Solid Waste Infrastructure in grant funding under State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG). This funding will advance efforts to strengthen the U.S. recycling system, address the global issue of plastic waste, engage communities, and prevent and reduce food loss and waste. The Agency has a statutory role to ensure that contamination is quickly and effectively cleaned up while ensuring protection of human health and the environment from releases of hazardous substances. Additional resources are provided to help increase protection of fenceline communities from hazardous substance releases from facilities and underground storage tanks. In FY 2024, the Budget includes $37.4 million in the Federal Facilities Program to enable EPA to address critical gaps in its ability to oversee federal agencies/facilities cleanup, including Department of Defense PFAS cleanup under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The Agency also will assist with homeland security goals by investing in critical resources to replace the outdated Portable High-Throughput Integrated Laboratory Identification System (PHILIS) equipment. PHILIS is EPA's mobile laboratory asset for the on-site analysis of chemical warfare agent and toxic industrial compound contaminated environmental samples. Resources also will be provided to upgrade the Chemical Incident and Radiological Reconnaissance on Unmanned Systems (CIRRUS) with the Airborne Spectral Photometric 17 U.S. EPA, Office of Land and Emergency Management 2020. Data collected includes: (1) Superfund, Brownfield, and RCRA Corrective Action site information as of the end of FY 2019; (2) UST/LUST information as of late-2018 to mid-2019 depending on the state; and (3) 2015-2018 American Community Survey (ACS) Census data. 18 U.S. EPA, Office of Land and Emergency Management Estimate. All estimates of outputs and outcomes are supported by the data that is entered by cooperative agreement recipients via EPA's Assessment, Cleanup, and Redevelopment Exchange System (ACRES) database. ------- Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) airborne screening capability to more effectively and efficiently support emergency response. Ensure the Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment The FY 2024 Budget provides additional resources to build Agency capacity to manage chemical safety and toxic substances. EPA has significant responsibilities under amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to ensure the safety of chemicals in or entering commerce and addressing unreasonable risks to human health or the environment. Chemicals and toxic substances are ubiquitous in our everyday lives and are often released into the environment from their manufacture, processing, use, or disposal. EPA's work in managing chemical safety and toxic substances is particularly important to vulnerable populations, including low-income, minority, and indigenous populations, as well as children, who may be disproportionately affected by, and particularly at risk from, exposure to chemicals. Based on five years of implementing TSCA since enactment of the bipartisan Lautenberg Act, the Agency has determined that additional FTE are required to increase the capacity of the Program to address the heavy workload associated with chemical risk evaluations and risk management to better support the Agency's ability to meet statutory mandates. Increased funding for the TSCA Program is needed in FY 2024 to advance implementation of the law's requirements. While the Program received additional funding in FY 2023, the full request of $131 million is needed in FY 2024, else achieving the TSCA goals will be a challenge. The FY 2024 Budget for TSCA implementation supports over 535 FTE with appropriated resources and represents a $47.9 million increase over the FY 2023 enacted level. EPA will continue to emphasize quality of work, adherence to statutory intent and timelines applicable to pre-market review of new chemicals, chemical risk evaluation and management, data development and information collection, and review of Confidential Business Information (CBI) claims. The Agency also has significant responsibility under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to screen new pesticides before they reach the market and ensure that pesticides already in commerce are safe. In addition, EPA is responsible for complying with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and ensuring that federally endangered and threatened species are not harmed as a result of the use of pesticides. Endangered species risk assessments involve consideration of risks for approximately 1,200 active ingredients in more than 17,000 pesticide products to the more than 1,600 listed endangered species and 800 designated critical habitats in the United States. Given the complexity of evaluating potential effects to diverse listed species under ESA, EPA has been subject to numerous litigation challenges for registration and registration review actions. To continue making progress toward meeting ESA mandates in FY 2024, EPA requests an additional $27 million and 22.5 FTE to provide a total of $77.7 million and 282 FTE for the Pesticides: Protect the Environment Program. The Agency's Budget also provides $29 million and 69.2 FTE for the Pollution Prevention Program to support businesses, states, tribes, and other partners to promote and facilitate the adoption of approaches to improve multimedia environmental conditions and climate impacts through reductions in pollutants and other hazardous materials. In this Program, $7.9 million and 9 FTE is provided to a new grant program to help small businesses transitioning to TSCA compliant practices to mitigate economic impacts. ------- As part of the President's commitment to tackling PFAS pollution, the Budget provides approximately $170 million for EPA to continue working toward commitments made in the 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap, including: increasing our knowledge of PFAS impacts to human health and ecological effects; restricting use to prevent PFAS from entering the air, land, and water; and remediating PFAS that have been released into the environment. Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-based Decision Making Delivering rigorous scientific research and analyses to guide the Agency's policy and regulatory process and inform evidence-based decision making is one of EPA's cross-agency strategies. Scientific and technological information, data, and evidence-based decision making are central to the development and iterative improvement of sound policies and to the delivery of effective and equitable programs. Environmental challenges in the 21st century are increasingly complex. For example, the interplay between air quality, climate change, and emerging energy options requires new approaches and solutions than those used in the past. These solutions require research that transcends disciplinary lines and involve EPA regions and programs working together with tribal, state, and local partners, stakeholders, and communities. The FY 2024 Budget includes $643 million and 1,868 FTE for EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). EPA requests an increase of $37.4 million and 34.7 FTE to the Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program, which will substantially advance research to assess the impacts of climate change on human health and ecosystems. EPA also requests an increase of $11.3 million and 28.5 FTE to the Chemical Safety for Sustainability Research Program, which will be focused on modernizing the chemical toxicity and assessment process and incorporating scientific advances in new chemical evaluations under TSCA. This funding will lead to the development and translation of science to inform regulatory and policy decisions by the Agency and external partners that increase access to clean and safe air, land, and water for all communities across the Nation. Continue to Restore EPA's Core Capacity Ensuring the Agency has the work force it needs to carry out its mission to protect clean air and water, tackle the climate crisis, and promote environmental justice is essential. The Budget adds more than 1,960 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) relative to 2023 levels, for a total of more than 17,000 FTEs, to help rebuild the Agency's capacity. This FTE level remains below EPA's workforce for much of the 1990s and early 2000s, while today the Agency faces a growing workload and set of statutory responsibilities. Restoring staffing capacity across the Agency would enable EPA to better protect our Nation's health by helping cut air, water, and climate pollution and advancing environmental justice. EPA strives to provide modern and efficient workforce services and serve as a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. In FY 2024, the Agency will continue to support this goal by providing funding to enhance diverse hiring practices, expand EPA's intern program, and strengthen agency-wide capacity to increase staff levels in key offices and programs. Effective workforce management is critical to EPA's ability to accomplish its mission. EPA's efforts in human resource functions are focused on strengthening the workforce, retaining critical expertise, and capturing institutional knowledge. EPA continues developing ------- mechanisms to ensure that employees have the right skills to successfully achieve the Agency's core mission today and in the future. The FY 2024 Budget provides the funding needed for critical Agency infrastructure that all programs require to maintain operations and meet various mandates. In FY 2024, EPA funds new and rising costs to adequately fund mission support functions across EPA programs and regional offices, including Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) and data management, and support agency-wide implementation of OMB and DHS cybersecurity mandates. In FY 2024, EPA will continue to implement the actions identified in the Agency's DEIA Strategic Plan. This includes working to ensure that Agency recruitment, hiring, promotion, retention, professional development, performance evaluations, pay and compensation policies, reasonable accommodations access, and training policies and practices are equitable. The FY 2024 Budget also provides robust support for implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. EPA has embarked on a multi-year effort to strengthen how the Agency identifies, prioritizes, and undertakes evidence-building activities and develops evidence-building capacity to inform its policies and decisions, consistent with the Evidence Act. An additional $6.4 million and 7.2 FTE above the FY 2023 enacted level is included for evaluation work to support implementation of the Evidence Act. The FY 2024 Budget will continue to promote program evaluation as an essential component of federal evidence building. This effort will advance an evaluation culture through a bottom-up approach and increase agency-wide engagement in program evaluation. By restoring EPA's core capacity and ensuring that mission support services are adequately funded, the FY 2024 Budget will enable the Agency to carry out its mission effectively while being a good steward of federal resources. In FY 2024, the Agency will continue to reconfigure its workplaces to ensure the physical footprint can accommodate a growing and increasingly hybrid workforce. For example, EPA will continue the space optimization projects at the Agency's laboratories in Ada, Oklahoma, Athens, Georgia, and Corvallis, Oregon to achieve potential long-term cost and energy savings. EPA will consider all opportunities for supporting the future of work, in line with OMB Memoranda M-21-25, including the potential for releasing underutilized space or sharing with other federal agencies, investing in facility enhancements to assess utilization and inform future consolidations or releases, and converting workspaces to support hoteling and hybrid collaboration. In FY 2024, the Budget includes additional resources in the Buildings and Facilities account to pursue critical and backlogged repairs and improvements across EPA, initiate and complete climate resiliency and sustainability projects across EPA-owned facilities, and invest in cutting edge EPA lab facilities, including to support PFAS research. Support for the Cancer Moonshot Reducing exposure to environmental contaminants that are known or suspected to cause cancer is embedded in much of EPA's programmatic work. EPA uses cancer incidence as one of the indicators in its Report on the Environment19 to help answer questions relating to trends in the condition of the Nation's air, water, and land. To support the Administration's Cancer Moonshot initiative, EPA will renew focus on its scientific research and regulatory agenda in FY 2024 to 19 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/leam-about-roe-program. ------- better prevent and mitigate cancer-related exposure. The Agency will accomplish this work with a focus on addressing environmental injustice, disparity, and inequities in prevention of and exposure to environmental hazards that can cause cancer. Below are some examples of EPA's work in FY 2024 to support this important initiative. • Research to Understand and Address Environmental and Toxic Exposures. EPA conducts extensive assessments on chemical hazards related to cancer outcomes and has developed a variety of tools for evaluating health hazards posed by chemicals.20'21'22 These programs provide toxicity information and toxicity values for contaminants of concern and have formed the scientific foundation for many of EPA's air and water quality standards and the Superfund Program. • Risk Evaluations of Toxic Substances and Pesticides. In FY 2024, EPA will continue to conduct TSCA risk evaluations on new and existing chemicals to determine if they present an unreasonable risk to human health and the environment. The Agency has authority to order manufacturers to provide information on a chemical's carcinogenicity. In addition, the Pesticide Programs generates an annual list of cancer classifications for all pesticides. • Air Toxics and Radon. EPA implements programs to improve air toxics data, characterize potential cancer risk, and issue regulations to lower emissions and reduce health risk for people across America. The FY 2024 Budget will continue to support work for air toxics and address emerging issues and likely carcinogens such as PFAS. EPA will also continue its efforts to prioritize strategies to reduce radon risk in underserved communities. • Drinking Water Regulations Aimed at Reducing Cancer Risks. The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations include primary standards and treatment techniques for drinking water that remove carcinogens and prevent cancer cases. The PFAS drinking water regulation may prevent additional cancer cases since PFAS exposure is associated with increased risk of prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers. The FY 2024 Budget will continue to support efforts to finalize the PFAS Rule. • Remediation at Superfund Sites to Reduce Exposure to Harmful Contaminants. EPA's Superfui ram cleans up contaminated land to reduce human exposures to harmful contaminants that lead to greater risk for cancer and other health complications. In FY 2024, EPA will continue to oversee federal agencies and facilities cleanup, including Department of Defense PFAS cleanup under CERCLA. • Childhood Cancer Prevention. In FY 2024, EPA will continue to help prevent childhood cancer by expanding the education provided to health care providers, parents, and communities about how to identify cancer clusters, key exposures to carcinogens, and the relationship between environmental exposures and childhood cancer or cancer due to exposures in childhood. 20 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/iris. 21 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/pprtv/basic-iiifoniiation-about-provisioiial-peer-reviewed-toxicity- values-pprtvs#basicinfo. 22 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa. gov/isa. ------- Supplemental Funding Resources in the FY 2024 Budget are complemented by the supplemental funding provided under the landmark Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the transformative Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) The bipartisan IIJA makes historic investments in tackling climate change, protecting public health, creating jobs in communities across the country, and delivering a more equitable future. The IIJA appropriated to EPA approximately $60 billion over a five-year period from FY 2022 through FY 2026. In FY 2024, $11.6 billion of IIJA funding will be available to EPA for upgrading drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, replacing lead pipes, addressing emerging contaminants such as PFAS, protecting critical water bodies, cleaning up longstanding pollution at Superfund and brownfields sites, making improvements to waste management and recycling systems, decarbonizing the Nation's school bus fleet, and advancing the Pollution Prevention Program. The IIJA also invests in strengthening the work of our tribal and state partners and helping create good-paying jobs and increasing climate resilience throughout the country. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) The IRA appropriated $41.5 billion for EPA over the next decade to reduce harmful air pollution in places where people live, work, play, and go to school. With these resources, EPA will target climate change and harmful air pollution while supporting the creation of good jobs and lowering energy costs for families. The Agency will accelerate work on environmental justice and empower community-driven solutions in overburdened neighborhoods by dedicating resources specifically for environmental and climate justice efforts in underserved and overburdened communities. The IRA also contains funding for various grants to assist state, local, and tribal governments with creating their own such programs to address issues affecting their homes. Allocating Resources to Strategic Goals and Objectives In accordance with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, the FY 2024 Budget identifies resources aligned with the strategic goals and objectives of the Agency's FY 2022 - 2026 EPA Strategic Plan. The Budget also allocates agency-wide mission and science support resources and FTE across the goals and objectives. These resources provide support for multiple goals to achieve their objectives. This support involves the provision of foundational agency-wide and cross-agency research and development, science, and essential mission assistance services by the EPA Offices of the Administrator (OA), Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), General Counsel (OGC), Inspector General (OIG), Mission Support (OMS), and Research and Development (ORD). The resource summaries by Strategic Goal and Objective within this Submission provide the total of both direct and allocated resources. ------- |