EDF Launches New Ad Campaign on Environmental Protection Agency Budget Cuts

Environmental Defense Fund launched a new six-figure ad campaign urging Members of Congress to oppose the proposed cut of nearly one-third to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget. The dramatic new ad helps illustrate the policy, and political, consequences of such drastic cuts to EPA’s budget.

 

“Members of Congress need to understand that cutting the Environmental Protection Agency by nearly one-third – the largest cut in history –will have real consequences on the health and well-being of Americans,” said Elizabeth Thompson, Vice President Political Affairs, Environmental Defense Fund. “If this happens, people need to get ready for a lot more Flints, a lot more asthma attacks, and a lot more pollution. We will fight to educate Members of Congress about the impact this draconian budget would have and will fight to educate the public about who is responsible if such cuts become law.”

 

President Trump’s budget proposal comes on top of the already dramatic cuts the Environmental Protection Agency has seen in recent years. These cuts have already had an impact, stretching the agency thin and making it hard for them to do their job of protecting public health. The dramatic cuts proposed by the Trump administration would cut EPA’s already small budget (already just 0.2 percent of the federal government) by $2.5 billion, cutting almost one-third of its current budget. 

 

This proposed budget cuts EPA’s Office of Enforcement by 23 percent, cuts EPA grants to states in half, cuts the Office of Research and Development in half, and eliminates programs altogether, including Energy Star. These cuts come on top of related cuts to science elsewhere in the proposed budget, including slashing $5.8 billion from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $900 million from the Office of Science at the Department of Energy and $250 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

 

The ad will air in Washington DC and in Orange County California, starting Wednesday March 21, 2017.