January 29, 2002

The Honorable Christine Todd Whitman
Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460-0001

Dear Administrator Whitman:

We are writing to request that the President’s budget for fiscal year 2003 fully fund at authorized levels the recently enacted brownfields program and the state revolving loan fund for the Safe Drinking Water Act. In addition, we request a very significant increase in funding for the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) program to cleanup more than 150,000 confirmed releases of petroleum and remediate the widespread MTBE contamination affecting drinking water supplies in many areas of our country.

The Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2001, which was signed into law on January 11, 2002, authorizes $200 million per year for the important brownfields site characterization and assessment grants, remediation grants, and grants for revolving loan funds (new section 104(k)(12)). In addition, $50 million per year is authorized in grants for state response programs (new section 128(a)(3)). It is particularly important that there be no reduction from authorized levels in funding the brownfield grants that go directly to addressing contaminated sites in our communities and creating jobs.

With respect to the State Revolving Loan Fund for drinking water, section 1452(m) of the Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes $1 billion for each fiscal year 1995 through 2003. As you are aware, there are huge unmet needs for water infrastructure funding. In February 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency released the results of a comprehensive survey of our Nation’s infrastructure needs. The key finding of the survey is that "$102.5 billion is needed now to ensure the continued provision of safe drinking water."

The LUST program is funded by a direct tax collected on every gallon of gasoline sold in the United States. Currently there is a surplus in the LUST Trust Fund of approximately $2 billion. Clearly the $71.9 million in last year’s budget and appropriations bill is inadequate. We also call to your attention that the energy bill (H.R. 4) passed by the House of Representatives last year contains a provision (section 504) authorizing $200 million from the LUST Trust Fund, specifically for MTBE cleanup activities. Congress established a dedicated tax and a trust fund, which has a huge and evergrowing surplus, for this program and has clearly recognized a significant unmet need. Obviously, the LUST program funding should be significantly increased from previous years.

We trust that the President’s budget will reflect the full authorizations and address the unmet needs in these three programs which are critical to public health and our economy.

Sincerely,

Prepared by the Democratic staff of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
2322 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
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