United States Environmental Protection Agency Fiscal Year 2025 Justification of Appropriation Estimates for the Committee on Appropriations Tab 00: Overview EPA-190R24002 March 2024 www.epa.gov/cj ------- United States Environmental Protection Agency FY 2025 Budget Overview EPA's Mission 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, 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. Persistent challenges like climate change and environmental injustice have made it clear that protecting our communities has never been more urgent. The FY 2025 President's Budget puts forth the Agency's plans to confront these challenges and advance the priorities described in the FY 2022 2026 EPA. Sir ate sic Plan. deepening EPA's commitment to protecting human health and the environment for all people, with an emphasis on historically overburdened and underserved communities. The FY 2025 President's Budget for the EPA totals $10,994 billion, representing a $858 million or eight and a half percent increase from the FY 2024 Annualized Continuing Resolution (ACR) level. Note that at the time of budget development the Agency was operating under a continuing resolution and so funding requests are compared against the ACR. The Budget supports 17,145 full-time equivalents (FTE), an increase of 2,023 FTE above the 2024 ACR level, to continue rebuilding the Agency's core capacity to carry out its vital mission. These resources will advance EPA's efforts to clean up air, land, and water pollution, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, return contaminated land to productive use, regulate chemicals in commerce, and position the Agency with the workforce required to address emerging and ongoing challenges. The Budget includes 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 tribal, state, and local partners to respond to this shared challenge. The Agency will continue to prioritize environmental justice in its activities by investing across all programs in support of environmental justice and ensuring compliance with civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance from EPA. The FY 2025 Budget for the EPA will continue to build on the historic progress and investments made by this Administration, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA),1 also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).2 The Budget will fund the Agency's core operating accounts and balance annual appropriations with the significant supplemental resources to ensure that EPA, tribes, and states have the support needed to effectively implement these new or significantly expanded programs. The FY 2025 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 1 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/infrastructure 2 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/iiiflfltion-reduction-act 1 ------- Equity. These principles form the basis of the Agency's mission 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 2025 Funding Priorities Tackle the Climate Crisis The FY 2025 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.3 Recent natural disasters, like the devastating wildfire in Maui, Hawaii, the hazardous smoke and air pollution stemming from summer wildfires, and the catastrophic flooding in the West, reinforce the significance of the EPA's role in addressing and mitigating the effects of climate change nationally and in our local communities. 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 change mitigation and adaptation are essential components of the Agency's 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 2025, EPA will drive reductions in emissions that significantly contribute to climate change through regulation 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. In FY 2025 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 includes an increase of $77.5 million and 40.6 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR, for a total of $187.3 million and 256.7 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. The increase would enable EPA to take strong action on CO2 and methane, as well as high-global warming potential climate pollutants, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), restore the capacity of EPA's climate partnership programs, and strengthen EPA's capacity to apply its modeling tools and expertise across a wide range of high priority work areas including supporting U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement and the Climate-Macro Interagency Technical Working Group. Resources are also requested for EPA to continue to implement regulations in FY 2025 to enhance reporting of GHG emissions from U.S. industrial sectors, including methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector. Also included in this increase is $5 million for EPA to provide administrative support to implement a historic $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, enacted through the IRA. EPA recently released funding opportunities for three grant competitions: the $14 billion National Clean 3 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/climate-iiidicators 11 ------- Investment Fund, the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, and the $7 billion Solar for All competition.4 With enhanced administrative support provided by the additional funding request, EPA will be able to more effectively and efficiently 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 benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities. The Agency is requesting an additional $68.5 million and 46.8 FTE for a total of $185.9 million and 370.3 FTE for the Federal Vehicle and Fuels Standards and Certification Program. 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 2025, EPA will begin implementing a final rulemaking under the Clean Air Act to establish new GHG emissions standards for heavy-duty engines and vehicles beginning with Model Year (MY) 2027. EPA will invest significant resources to address a myriad of new technical challenges to support two sets of long-term rulemakings, which will include added light-duty vehicle and heavy- duty vehicle testing and modeling capabilities at the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory (NVFEL). EPA will also begin implementing the multi-pollutant emissions standards, including for GHG emissions, for light- and medium-duty vehicles beginning with MY 2027 and extending through and including at least MY 2030. In support of Executive Order 14037: Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks,5 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. The FY 2025 Budget requests $100 million for the Diesel Emission Reduction (DERA) grant program, which complements the significant IIJA resources to fund the replacement of existing school buses with low- and zero-emission buses. More than 25 million children ride a school bus to school each day, some breathing polluted air from diesel school buses. By deploying electric and lower emission school buses, fewer children will face increased asthma risks and other associated health problems linked to diesel air pollution. As of January 15, 2024, EPA awarded nearly $1.84 billion in grants to 652 school districts spanning 50 states, Washington, DC, and several tribes and U.S. territories.6 The grants will help school districts to replace over 5,100 existing school buses with low- and zero- emission vehicles that will improve air quality for children and their families in and around schools and communities. 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 Budget includes an additional $18 million and 16 FTE to support tackling the climate crisis abroad. Through a collaborative approach with international counterparts, EPA 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 4 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/greenhouse-gas-reduction-fund/about-greenhouse-gas-reduction-fund. 5 Executive Order 14037: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefiiig-room/presidential-actions/2021/08/05/executive-order-on- strengthening-american-leadership-in-clean-cars-and-trucks/. 6 For total Clean School Bus Program awards, go to https://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/clean-school-bus-program-awards. Ill ------- international partners that America is doing its part to reduce global emissions. In FY 2023, EPA implemented 10 international climate engagements resulting in individual partner commitments or actions to reduce GHG emissions, adapt to climate change, or improve resilience in a manner that promotes equity, building on the work of eight engagements in FY 2022. The Agency 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 federal partners, tribes and indigenous communities, states, territories, local governments, environmental justice organizations, community groups, and businesses as they anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to the impacts of climate change. In FY 2022 EPA assisted 110 federally recognized tribes and 242 states, territories, local governments, and communities in taking such actions. The FY 2025 Budget includes an additional $19.3 million and 14.5 FTE for climate adaptation efforts to increase resilience of EPA programs and strengthen the adaptive capacity of tribes, states, territories, local governments, communities, and businesses. In FY 2025, EPA will continue to implement the updated version of its Climate Adaptation Action Plan as well as the 20 Climate Adaptation Implementation Plans developed by the EPA Program and Regional Offices. The plans accelerate and focus on five priority actions the Agency will take by FY 2026 to increase human and ecosystem resilience as the climate changes and disruptive impacts increase. To support the economic revitalization of coal, oil, gas, and power plant communities (Energy Communities), the Budget requests an additional $5 million and 3 FTE for stakeholder engagement and cross-agency coordination, including resources to increase the number of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) from three in FY 2023 to at least 10 by the end of FY 2025. To improve work on climate change modeling, an additional $3 million is requested across multiple programs to support the Agency's participation in the Climate-Macro Interagency Technical Working Group and the Assessments of Federal Financial Climate Risk Interagency Working Group. Further, the Agency will continue development of open-source data and economic models, including sector-specific cost models and those that assess the macroeconomic and fiscal impacts of climate change and the risk of extreme weather events. Advance Environmental Justice and Civil Rights The communities hardest hit by pollution and climate change are most often communities of color, indigenous, rural, and economically disadvantaged. 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. All people in the United States should realize the full protection of our environmental laws. 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. iv ------- EPA will continue to take bold steps in FY 2025 and prioritize efforts to deliver environmental justice in communities across the United States, including implementing the President's Justice40 Initiative and keeping up the momentum of the historic IIJA and IRA environmental justice investments. Since the establishment of the pilot programs, EPA expanded the number of Justice40 covered programs to include programs funded by the IIJA that match the criteria for Justice40 originally set in July 2022. EPA is focusing on these pilot and IIJA-funded programs as the first phase of full Justice40 implementation at EPA. In November 2023, EPA updated the current list of Agency programs covered under Justice40 to include many programs funded by the IRA.7 EPA announced 79 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.8 EPA is currently exploring ways to ensure the delivery of benefits to disadvantaged and underserved communities to achieve the 40-percent goal within existing legal authorizations. EPA is also developing and refining methodologies to track and report the benefits going toward these communities. Advancing the Administration's environmental justice priorities is a foundational component of the Agency's FY 2025 Budget. 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. In FY 2025, the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) will continue to lead the agencywide effort to maximize the benefits of the Agency's programs and activities to underserved communities. By September 30, 2025, EPA intends to apply cumulative impacts analysis and practice across agency programs, finalize and deploy external civil rights guidance, and apply at least 10 indicators to drive disparity reductions in environmental and public health conditions, to meet the FY 2024-2025 Agency Priority Goal to Implement guidance, tools, and metrics for EPA and its tribal, state, local, and community partners to advance environmental justice and external civil rights compliance. In order to make investments that benefit historically underserved communities, EPA has worked to broaden the reach of its opportunities and fund nontraditional stakeholders. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, EPA has opened 17 Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (TCTACs) at universities and environmental justice organizations to help small, minority- owned businesses and not-for-profit and nongovernmental organizations be competitive in applying for federal dollars and successful in implementing projects and reporting results.9 Three of the 17 TCTACs are dedicated to assist tribes, with the goal of strengthening EPA's partnership with tribal nations to deliver much-needed infrastructure investments to tribal communities. The FY 2025 Budget will continue 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. $323.6 million and 264.6 FTE, an increase of over $216 million and 41 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR level, is requested for the Environmental 7 For more information, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/ll/Justice40-Initiative-Covered- Programs-List v2.0 1.1..23 FINAL.pdf" 8 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/environmentaliustice/justice40-epa 9 For more information, please visithttpsV/www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/environmental-justice-thriving-communities- technical-assistance-centers V ------- 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. Included in this funding is a $36.5 million increase to scale up capacity-building grants to more communities, governmental partners, and academic institutions. EPA also proposes to invest $69.7 million and 39.3 FTE to continue building out the TCTACs established in FY 2023, ensuring that the network provides coverage across the United States. The Budget also proposes a new $25 million categorical grant program to develop Direct Implementation Tribal Cooperative Agreements, with the goal of $13 million of this funding being used to assist tribes in becoming more resilient to climate impacts. This unique funding vehicle would fund tribes to carry out agreed upon federal implementation activities to assist EPA in implementing federal environmental programs in Indian Country. Once established, this Program is expected to at least double the number of tribes receiving EPA assistance for direct implementation activities while providing needed multi-media environmental protections. Further, with a total FY 2025 investment of $35.1 million and 166.9 FTE, which more than doubles the amount in the FY 2024 ACR, EPA will strengthen efforts to support nationwide core work in the Tribal Capacity Building Program. This investment expects to reduce disparities in compliance rates between Indian Country and the national average, disseminate best practices for community engagement by tribal governments, reduce the ratio of grants per project officer for tribal grants, strengthen partnerships with tribes with "more time per tribe" for technical assistance, and improve efficiency and use of the EPA grant performance management system. In addition, EPA will fully 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 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. 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 has set the goal that all state recipients of EPA financial assistance have foundational civil rights programs in place by the end of FY 2026. In FY 2023, 58 percent of required civil rights procedural safeguard elements had been implemented by state permitting agencies that are recipients of EPA financial assistance, up from 33 percent in FY 2022. 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 create or exacerbate significant inequities in human health protection and environmental pollution for overburdened and underserved communities. In FY 2025, the Budget includes a total of $32.2 million and 145.6 FTE, an increase of $19.4 million and 79.2 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR 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. vi ------- 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 regulates more than 1.2 million facilities subj ect to a variety of environmental statutes, as well as a wide range of products, from automobiles to pesticides. In FY 2025, EPA's Budget proposes nearly $769 million and 3,429 FTE to strengthen compliance with the Nation's environmental laws and hold violators accountable to ensure protection of human health and the environment. These levels represent an increase of over 200 FTE over the FY 2024 ACR for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance (OECA). In FY 2025 the Agency will invest $67.3 million and 128.3 FTE to address the most serious environmental violations through the development and implementation of National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECIs), including to mitigate climate change, address exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination, protect communities from coal combustion residuals, address hazardous air pollution, provide for clean and safe drinking water, and reduce the risk of deadly chemical accidents.10 In FY 2023, the Agency issued 203 drinking water orders to public water systems, of which eight were emergency orders. EPA also will leverage funding from the IRA that is targeted for improving enforcement technology and inspection software (such as the Integrated Compliance Information System, ICIS) and technical assistance to the regulated community. 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 Budget includes $171.7 million and 544.6 FTE for the Compliance Monitoring Program, an increase of $57.3 million and 65.7 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR level, to support enforcement and compliance assurance efforts with a focus on incorporating environmental justice considerations into programmatic work. To complement the resources from IRA that are targeted for improving enforcement technology, inspection software, and other related purposes, EPA will leverage additional resources to expand software solutions for field inspectors to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of compliance inspections conducted by EPA and authorized states. Smart Tools software allows EPA to use its compliance monitoring resources more efficiently and to make inspection reports more quickly available to regulated entities and to the public in affected communities. In FY 2025, EPA will provide robust targeted oversight and support to tribal, state, and local programs, including an increase of $2 million to support the Agency's Compliance Advisor Program, which reduces noncompliance at small public water systems (PWSs) and small wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs) by providing hands-on technical assistance. As a result, the percentage of Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permittees in significant noncompliance with their permit limits decreased to 9.3 percent in FY 2023, down from more than 20 percent in FY 2018. In 2023, Compliance Advisors assisted and trained 195 small PWSs and 61 small WWTFs nationwide, with 84% in communities with potential environmental justice concerns. The Agency will prioritize work with states to develop methods that successfully leverage advances in both monitoring and information technology to 10 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/national-enforcement-and-compliance-initiatives. vii ------- 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 requests nearly $260 million and 1,096.7 FTE for civil enforcement efforts, an increase of $50.5 million and 98.6 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR level. These resources will allow the Agency to focus its enforcement efforts on the most serious environmental violations through the NECIs that seek to improve air quality, provide for clean and safe water, and ensure chemical safety. The increase also will allow the Interagency HFC Task Force to expand its work on ensuring compliance with the AIM Act. 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. To protect public health and ensure that private, public, and federal facilities are held to the same standard, EPA will rebuild and train headquarters and regional inspectors. EPA will pursue enforcement actions at public, private, and federal facilities where significant violations are discovered to protect the health of surrounding communities. In FY 2023, EPA reduced, treated, or eliminated 1.21 billion pounds of pollutants and waste through concluded enforcement actions. Finally, this increase in resources will provide additional support to the drinking water NECI as EPA works to become the lead federal agency for responding to drinking water emergencies. These resources will help EPA build capacity to address multiple water emergencies and provide regional staffing of field support and oversight during drinking water emergencies. Overburdened and underserved communities are more often victims of environmental crime. In FY 2025, EPA, in partnership with the Department of Justice will continue to prioritize criminal enforcement resources for investigations which involve vulnerable communities or those that have historically been overburdened by pollution. The Criminal Enforcement Program 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 Budget includes $76.7 million and 299.4 FTE, an increase of $6 million and 30.1 FTE to support the Criminal Enforcement Program by targeting investigations on the most egregious environmental cases. In FY 2025, 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 Agency set a goal of conducting 55 percent of annual EPA inspections at facilities that affect communities with potential environmental justice concerns by FY 2026. EPA exceeded that goal in FY 2023 with 61 percent of inspections conducted at those facilities and will continue to prioritize this in FY 2025. The 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. Short-term exposure can exacerbate asthma and lead to other adverse health effects and economic costs.11 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. In FY 2025, 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 Budget includes nearly $1,312 billion and 2,231 FTE to advance EPA efforts in protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollution. In FY 2025, 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.12 The Federal Support for Air Quality Management Program includes $269.4 million and 1,079.7 FTE, an increase of $110.4 million and 200.4 FTE over the FY 2024 ACR level, 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 the FY 2023 ozone season, NOx emissions from electric power generation sources were 293,519 tons, down from 389,170 tons in FY 2019. Further, the Budget includes $47.9 million and 165.3 FTE for the Federal Stationary Source Regulations Program, an increase of $17.5 million and 40.8 FTE from the FY 2024 ACR level, 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 requests nearly $47.8 million and 71.4 FTE for the Reducing Risks from Indoor Air Program to expand technical assistance to community-based asthma programs, reducing asthma disparities, particularly in vulnerable 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. Climate change has already led to a marked increase in wildfire season length, wildfire frequency, and burned area.13 The Budget includes $7 million for Wildfire Smoke Preparedness, and EPA will 11 For more information, please visit https://www.epa.gov/air-research/research-health-effects-air-pollution. 12 Executive Order 13990: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefiiig-rooiii/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order- protecting-public-health-and-environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/. 13 For more information on climate impacts, risk and adaptation in the United States visit: https://nca201.8. globalchange. gov/. IX ------- 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 Budget includes an increase of $65.3 million and 24 FTE, for the Stratospheric Ozone: Domestic Programs to continue implementing the American Innovation in Manufacturing (AIM) Act to continue phasing out the production and import of HFCs, building on the successful work with manufacturers and phase-out methodologies that have led to progress restoring the ozone layer.14 By September 30, 2025, EPA expects that annual U.S. consumption of HFCs will be 40 percent below the baseline of 302.5 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 and meeting the FY 2024-2025 Agency Priority Goal to Phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Increasing Support for Air Grants to EPA Partners The Agency also requests $423.3 million in financial support through Categorical Grant Programs to EPA's tribal, state, and local partners, an increase of $157.9 million over the FY 2024 ACR level, to further their efforts in implementing air quality management programs. These programs are critical to provide sustained financial support for the Agency' s state and tribal partners to support implementation of environmental laws across the country and assure tangible progress for historically overburdened and underserved communities. 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 2025, EPA's request includes $400.2 million for the State and Local Air Quality Management Program to provide grants to states that will support on-the-ground efforts to address GHG emissions and continuing core work (e.g., 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). 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 The United States has made great progress over the past 50 years protecting and restoring water resources through legislation such as the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). In FY 2023, approximately 93% of the population served by community water systems (CWSs) (including 84% of the population in Indian Country served by CWSs) received drinking water that met all applicable health-based drinking water standards. While progress is being made to ensure clean and safe water for all, it is clear that the Nation still faces significant barriers and challenges achieving this goal, including access to safe and clean water, aging 14 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/hfc- allowances#:—: text=Ilie%20AIM%20Act%20dipxts%20the.attowaiice%20attocatioii%20aiid%20teidiiig%20prograiii. X ------- infrastructure, replacement of lead pipes, cybersecurity threats to water systems, climate change, and management of public health risks of emerging contaminants. In FY 2023, EPA finalized the seventh Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA). This survey identifies a 20-year capital investment need of $625 billion for public water systems that are eligible to receive funding from state Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Programs and estimated there is a total of 9.2 million lead service lines across the country.15 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 Biden-Harris Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan.16 In FY 2023, EPA awarded over $50 million in Small Underserved Disadvantaged Communities Grants to aid compliance with drinking water rules, $30 million for the Reducing Lead in Drinking Water Grants in disadvantaged communities and schools, and $58 million for the Lead Testing and Remediation in Schools and Childcare Program. 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. 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 and leverage non-federal resources to grow the effect of EPA investments. In FY 2023, the Agency's water infrastructure finance programs leveraged $11.4 billion in non-federal dollars.17 The Budget builds on the $9.23 billion in IIJA funding available to State Revolving Funds (SRFs) in FY 2025. The Budget includes $2,366 billion for EPA's Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRF) and $334 million for a range of grant programs authorized or modified in the American's Water infrastructure Act (AWIA), the Water Infrastructure Improvement for the Nation (WIIN), and the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA). Included in these resources is nearly $101 millionfortwo grants dedicated to Reducing Lead in Drinking Water and Lead Testing in Schools. This investment, along with other programs at EPA that can be used for lead projects, builds on the historic $15 billion in direct funding for lead pipe replacement through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and underscores the President's commitment to ensuring access to safe drinking water and creating good-paying jobs in the process. This funding also represents a $111.8 million increase for DWWIA programs over the FY 2024 ACR level and focuses on programs that support priorities for the Administration, including lead reduction in drinking water, environmental justice, and drought resilience. 15 For more information, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dwsrf/epas-7th-drinkiiig-water-iiifrastructure-needs-survev-and- assessment. 16 For more information, please visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/16/fact-sheet-the- biden-harris-lead-pipe-and-paint-action-plan. 17 Jobs created estimates are based on the U.S. Water Alliance: The Value of Water Campaign: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Water Infrastructure. XI ------- In FY 2025, EPA will continue implementing the WIIN, AWIA, and DWWIA programs to address water infrastructure challenges throughout the Nation. 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, 2025, EPA will increase the number of lead service line replacements funded to 500,000, to meet the FY 2024-2025 Agency Priority Goal to Reduce harmful lead exposure in drinking water through the replacement of lead service lines in communities. In FY 2025, the Budget requests $151 million and 554.5 FTE, an increase of $24.2 million and 15.1 FTE, to support Drinking Water Programs to better protect communities, especially overburdened and underserved communities. This includes efforts to finalize and implement the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) regulation, which aims to strengthen the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) issued in 2021 to replace lead service lines more proactively and more equitably protect public health.18 In June 2023, EPA released the Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory: Small Entity Compliance Guide19 that complements the Guidance for Developing and Maintaining a Service Line Inventory20 released in August 2022. These guidances will help water systems comply with the LCRR requirement to submit an initial inventory of service line materials to their state or primacy agency by October 16, 2024. Resources will support the Agency's efforts to reduce public health and environmental threats from PFAS by finalizing the new drinking water standards in FY 2024. An additional $42.8 million and 22 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR level is requested to advance EPA's PFAS Strategic Roadmap,21 which will allow EPA to accelerate its efforts to develop various methods and tools to support, tribes, states, and localities in managing PFAS risks, particularly in small and underserved communities. EPA will continue its efforts in FY 2025 to develop analytical methods, drinking water health advisories, toxicity values, effluent limitation guidelines, as well as risk communication and other tools to support tribes, states, and localities in managing PFAS risks in their communities. In FY 2025 the Agency includes an additional $30 million and 30 FTE to respond to the increasing number of water incidents across the Nation. These resources will enable EPA to expand its capacity to respond to drinking water and wastewater emergencies where water quality poses a risk to public health, and to ensure the community has access to safe and clean water in a timely or effective manner. Additionally, these resources are necessary for EPA to develop capabilities in the event the President designates EPA as the Lead Federal Agency (LFA) for a water 18 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/gromd-water-and-drinkiiig-water/proposed-lead-and-copper-rule- improvements. 19 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023- 06/Final%20Small%20System%20Entity%20Inventory%20Guide 508.pdf 20 https://www.epa.gov/systeni/files/documents/2022-08/Inventory%20Guidance_August%202022_508%20compliant.pdf. 21 The PFAS Strategic Roadmap may be found at: https://www.epa.gov/pfas/pfas-strategic-roadmap-epas-commitments-action- 2021-2024. Xll ------- emergency. As the LFA, the Agency may be expected to perform multiple complex and time critical duties to provide safe and clean water in the event of an emergency. The Budget includes $270.6 million and 1,056.4 FTE for the Surface Water Protection Program, an increase of $46.1 million and 46.1 FTE over the FY 2024 ACR level, to carry out work to protect, improve, and restore the quality of our Nation's coastal waters, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and streams. Another critical aspect of ensuring clean water is ongoing support for the capitalization of state programs to build and repair water infrastructure, including through EPA's two state revolving funds. Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Programs The Budget includes $1.239 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. The Agency has helped reduce the number of community water systems in Indian Country still in noncompliance with health-based standards from 110 in March of 2021, to 54 at the end of FY 2023. 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 Budget includes $1,126 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 information technology systems used to monitor clean and safe water. In FY 2025, EPA requests $25 million for a grant program to advance cybersecurity infrastructure capacity and protections within the water sector against cyberattacks and cyberthreats. 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. 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 December 2023, EPA had issued 120 WIFIA loans to communities across the country totaling over $19 billion in credit assistance to help finance more than $43 billion for water infrastructure projects. In FY 2025, EPA will continue to use the SRF and WIFIA investments to improve the ------- reliability, accessibility, and resilience of the Nation's water infrastructure. The Budget supports WIFIA with a total funding of $80 million. 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 tribes, state, and multi-state partners to accelerate and manage the restoration of the ecological health of these water bodies. In total, the Budget includes $681.8 million for EPA's Geographic Water Programs, slightly above the FY 2024 ACR level, to advance work on projects that target the most significant environmental problems in these important water bodies and watersheds. Since FY 2022, 27,632 square miles of watershed with surface water met standards that previously did not meet standards. In FY 2025, 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 2025. Categorical Grants The Agency requests $509.5 million, an increase of $65.2 million above the FY 2024 ACR level, 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, $288.7 million is provided to the Section 106 Grants Program, an increase of $51.7 million from the FY 2024 level, 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, an increase of $7 million, 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. This includes a $7.3 million increase for the Wetlands Program Development Categorical Grant for a total of $22 million which will be targeted towards helping states implement programs to protect wetlands that have lost federal protection following the Sackett Supreme Court decision. In addition, EPA requests $132.6 million for the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) Program, an increase of $11.1 million, 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. xiv ------- 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.22 In FY 2023, the Agency completed 49 Superfund cleanup projects that addressed lead as a contaminant. 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.23 The FY 2025 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.24 The Agency is working to clean up these sites considering climate change implications to protect at-risk populations. The Budget includes approximately $661 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 the Superfund tax receipts available to EPA in 2025. 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 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. In August 2023, EPA issued approximately $159.8 million in realized tax collections from the prior year to advance priority work across the Agency's Superfund programs. Some of the major program investments include $30 million for emergency work in East Palestine, $42.7 million to focus on additional lead soil removal and ensure protection at established levels, and 22 Details can be found at https://www.epa.gov/enviroimental-economics/research-enviromneiital-economics-ncee-workiiig- paper-series. 23 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.. 24 For more information, please visit https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-73. XV ------- more than $20.6 million to expand capacity to complete additional Superfund removals arising from State referrals and lead. In addition, more than $26.1 million has been invested in the Superfund Enforcement and Superfund Federal Facilities Enforcement programs to continue the Agency's "enforcement first" approach at private sites before turning to a Fund-lead cleanup, and to address current needs and emerging challenges regarding Superfund enforcement work at federal facilities, such as per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) contamination at and near many federal facility National Priorities List (NPL) 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 Budget provides $207.5 million for EPA's Brownfields programs, an increase of $34.1 million from the FY 2024 ACR level, 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. Approximately 143 million people live within three miles of a brownfields site that receives EPA funding.25 In FY 2023, grants from the Program helped clean up 169 brownfields, complete 1,894 site assessments, make 736 sites ready for anticipated use, and leverage 17,441 jobs and $3.76 billion. In FY 2025, the Agency will continue to invest in domestic recycling and solid waste infrastructure further contributing to 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 2025 Budget includes $15.8 million and 68.4 FTE in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Waste Minimization and Recyling Program to better support the sustainable management of resources. 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 resulting in the 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 2025, the Budget includes $37.7 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). In FY 2025, EPA requests an additional $22.1 million and 1.8 FTE to modernize the Chemical Incident and Radiological Reconnaissance on Unmanned Systems (CIRRUS) program and to overhaul the aging Portable High-Throughput Integrated Identification System (PHILIS) capability, EPA's mobile laboratory asset for on-site analysis of chemical warfare agent and contaminated environmental samples. This funding also supports the development of rapid, mobile analytical capabilities for biological agents. EPA will participate in the development of limited, 25 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. ------- scenario-specific exercises and regional drills designed to assess national emergency response management capabilities, including response to biological incidents. Ensure the Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment The FY 2025 Budget provides additional resources to build Agency capacity to successfully carry out the 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. The FY 2025 Budget includes $131.9 million and 534.8 FTE for the TSCA Program, an increase of $49 million and 174 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR level. The increase in funding will advance implementation of the law's requirements, address ongoing staff shortages as noted in a recent GAO report,26 and continue making progress in the manner envisioned by Congress. In FY 2025, EPA expects to conduct risk assessments and make affirmative determinations on risks for more than 500 new chemical notice and exemption submissions. The Agency 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 1,700 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 2025, the Budget includes an additional $29.2 million and 22.5 FTE for a total of $80.2 million and 282.1 FTE for the Pesticides: Protect the Environment Program. The Agency's Budget also includes $29.2 million and 69.2 FTE for the Pollution Prevention Program to support businesses, tribes, states, and other partners to promote and facilitate the adoption of approaches to improve multimedia environmental conditions and address climate impacts through reductions in pollutants and other hazardous materials. These practices focus on reducing the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering a waste stream or released into the environment prior to recycling of discarded material, treatment, or disposal, as well as conserving the use of natural 26For more information, please visit: EPA Chemical Reviews: Workforce Planning Gaps Contributed to Missed Deadlines I U.S. GAO. xvii ------- resources. The FY 2025 Budget requests $7.8 million and 9 FTE for 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 PF AS pollution across various agency programs, the Budget includes approximately $170 million, an increase of nearly $66 million above the FY 2024 level, 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. Support for State and Tribal Partners The FY 2025 Budget advances EPA's commitment to working alongside our tribal, state, and local partners to ensure a safe and healthy environment across the entire Nation. In FY 2025 EPA proposes more than $4,528 billion in State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) funding to support partners in tackling multi-faceted environmental issues, such as cleaning up land, air, and water, providing technical assistance, and infrastructure investments. Included in the STAG funding is $2,366 billion for EPA's State Revolving Funds (SRF), which enable the states to provide low- cost loans and grants to municipalities for infrastructure construction. The FY 2025 Budget continues to request the resources needed to increase federal support for our tribal, state, and local partners. The budget includes $1.465 billion for categorical grants, to directly support tribal, state, and local partners. This represents an increase of $304.5 million above the FY 2024 ACR level to support our co-implementing partners in managing rising costs and advancing progress across core environmental programs. Of the total request, over $400 million will support the State and Local Air Quality Management Grants, an increase of $151.2 million above the FY 2024 ACR level. These grants assist air pollution control agencies in developing and implementing programs for the prevention and control of air pollution and for the implementation of NAAQS set to protect public health and the environment. Additionally, a total of $653.5 million, an increase of $74.5 million above the FY 2024 ACR level, is requested for categorical grants that support tribal and state implementation of CWA and SDWA. The categorical grants also provide resources to directly support tribes, tribal governments, and those living in Indian Country. In FY 2025, over $85 million in the Tribal General Assistance Program provides tribes with a foundation to build capacity to address environmental issues on Indian lands assess environmental conditions, utilize available federal and other information, and build and administer environmental programs tailored to their unique needs. Over $23 million will support the Tribal Air Quality Management Program to develop and implement tribal air quality management programs and to build tribal air quality management capacity. As mentioned above, the Budget also requests $25 million to establish a new Direct Implementation Tribal Cooperative Agreements Categorical Grant. This new program will provide funding to tribes to carry out agreed upon federal implementation activities that will assist EPA in implementing federal environmental programs in Indian Country. ------- Ensure Scientific Integrity and Science-Based Decision Making Delivering rigorous scientific research and analyses to 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. 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 2025 Budget includes nearly $676 million and 1,902 FTE for EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD), an increase of $46.5 million and 164.4 FTE above the FY 2024 ACR level. This includes an increase of $39.9 million and 36.7 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 $13.7 million and 38.7 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. The FY 2025 Budget also includes an additional $18.3 million to fund the replacement of the 60-year-old Lake Explorer II Great Lakes research vessel, which is at the end of its life, securing the future of Great Lakes water quality and biological monitoring and research. 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 2,023 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) relative to the estimated 2024 level, for a total of more than 17,145 FTEs, to help rebuild the Agency's core 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 2025, the Agency will continue to support this goal by providing funding to enhance diverse hiring practices, expand EPA's paid internship 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 2025 Budget provides the funding needed for critical Agency infrastructure that all programs require to maintain operations and meet various mandates. In FY 2025, EPA funds new xix ------- and rising costs for mission support functions across EPA programs and regional offices, including Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA), data management, and Agency-wide implementation of OMB and DHS cybersecurity mandates. In FY 2025, EPA will continue to implement the actions identified in the Agency's DEIA Strategic Plan and Work Environment 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. In addition, the Budget includes resources to support and facilitate meaningful, in-person work across agency offices. The Agency will commit an additional $3.8 million to expand on existing paid internship program across the Agency to strengthen talent and workforce acquisition. The paid internship program focuses on expanding federal work experience opportunities for underrepresented and underserved populations which may have experienced barriers to applying or fully participating in existing opportunities. EPA's program will provide a total of approximately 180 four-month paid internship opportunities across EPA programs and regional offices. Additionally, EPA will implement a plan to convert eligible interns to permanent federal service based on performance and completing program requirements. The FY 2025 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 2024 ACR is included for evaluation work to support implementation of the Evidence Act. The FY 2025 Budget will continue to promote program evaluation as an essential component of federal evidence building. Advancing an evaluation culture through a bottom-up approach and increasing agency-wide engagement in program evaluation is a key strategy. In FY 2025, the Agency will continue to reconfigure its workplaces with the goals of facilitating meaningful in-person work, reducing long-term rent costs, increasing EPA facility sustainability to combat the effects of climate change, and ensuring a space footprint that accommodates a growing workforce. Space reconfiguration enables EPA to reduce its footprint to create a more efficient, collaborative, and technologically sophisticated workplace. Each move requires initial funding to achieve long-term cost avoidance and sustainability goals. The FY 2025 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. The Budget requests an additional 4 FTE to implement Executive Order 14110, Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.27 EPA will encourage the use of AI in the federal space, and do so with transparency, responsibility, safety, and ethical standards. The Agency will maintain EPA's current AI Inventory and develop a compliance plan, strategy, and 27 For more information, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/10/30/executive- order-on-the-safe-secure-and-trustworthy-development-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence/. XX ------- AI governance committee. EPA forecasts that workforce demand for AI tools and training will increase and is addressing this need through the development of training and pilot programs. 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 Environment28 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 continue its scientific research and regulatory work in FY 2025 to 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 2025 to prevent and reduce cancer-related exposure: • 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.29 3a31 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 2025, 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 2025 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 2025 Budget will continue to support efforts to finalize the PFAS Rule. 28 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/leam-about-roe-program. 29 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/iris. 30 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/pprtv/basic-information-about-provisional-peer-reviewed-toxicity- values-pprtvs#basicinfo. 31 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa. gov/isa. XXI ------- • Remediation at Superfund Sites to Reduce Exposure to Harmful Contaminants. EPA's Superfund Program32 cleans up contaminated land to reduce human exposures to harmful contaminants that lead to greater risk for cancer and other health complications. In FY 2025, EPA will continue to oversee federal agencies and facilities cleanup, including Department of Defense PFAS cleanup under CERCLA. • Childhood Cancer Prevention. In FY 2025, 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. Supplemental Funding Resources in the FY 2025 Budget are complemented by the supplemental funding provided under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It's important to note that these supplemental sources do not fund the everyday operations of the Agency and are targeted for specific purposes. 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 2025, $12 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, helping create good-paying jobs, and increasing climate resilience throughout the country. Since the IIJA was enacted, great strides in achieving these goals have been made.33 EPA has so far provided over $11 billion to support water infrastructure. Every state and Puerto Rico has received SRF grants, $7.7 billion in drinking water grants, funding 350 projects, and $3.4 billion in clean water grants, funding 155 projects. More than $6.5 billion has been made available to find and replace lead pipes in communities across the nation. The Clean School Bus Program has awarded nearly $2 billion, funding approximately 5,000 electric and low-emission school buses to replace dirty diesel buses, reducing greenhouse gas pollution and positioning America as a leader in developing and deploying clean vehicles. Funding has also contributed to cleaning up legacy pollution for 152 Superfund sites, while clearing the backlog of sites on the National Priority List. In FY 2023, 76% of Superfund funding was obligated for sites with environmental justice concerns, emphasizing the Agency's commitment to protect the most vulnerable communities. 32 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/superfund. 33 For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/systeiii/files/documents/2023-ll/bil_secondamiiversaryreport nov2023 v-5.pdf. ------- Through implementation of IIJA, EPA will continue to invest in infrastructure improvements across the country that reach all communities and ensure benefits for decades to come. 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. Since the legislation was signed into law, EPA has moved swiftly to put these historic resources to work to reduce emissions, build a clean economy, lower energy costs for American households and businesses, create good-paying union jobs, and advance environmental justice across the country. In FY 2025 the Agency will continue to build on year one achievements, including $30 million to expand community air monitoring in 37 states, $25 million in clean air grants to improve air quality across the country, and three grant competitions under the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. As of December 15, 2023, EPA has completed the review panel and initial evaluation stage for all eligible applications as part of the review and selection process for the National Clean Investment Fund and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator competitions. EPA will continue to launch numerous additional cutting-edge IRA programs to curb harmful methane emissions, reduce air pollution at ports and in surrounding communities, promote low-carbon construction materials, improve air quality at schools, and put more clean vehicles on America's roads. 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 2025 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. ------- |