50 Programs Scrapped at the Environmental Protection Agency

Repost from the San Francisco Chronicle  (This article is a feature of an important SF Chron investigative piece: “Trump Gains, Science Loses.”)

50 PROGRAMS SCRAPPED AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Bayfront Park in Menlo Park is home to the South Bay Salt Pond restoration project, which is to convert 15,100 acres of salt ponds to tidal wetlands and other habitats. Michael Macor / The Chronicle

President Trump proposes a $54 billion increase in military spending, offset by slashing domestic programs. The Environmental Protection Agency would take the biggest hit, a 31 percent cut that would eliminate a quarter of the staff and save $2.6 billion, returning the agency’s budget to 1970s-era levels. Congress dictates spending, however, and some cuts face bipartisan pushback. The agency has begun offering buyouts to workers.

Here is a sample of programs that would be eliminated:

Online resources: Read more at http://bit.ly/2oDjijc

Climate science at other agencies

Trump’s budget request would terminate four key Earth science missions at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration:

    • PACE, an ocean monitoring program.
    • Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3, a satellite under development to study distribution of carbon dioxide on Earth.
    • The Deep Space Climate Observatory
    • The CLARREO Pathfinder that measures heat in the atmosphere.

Note: Trump’s plan would also zero out $250 million in programs at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration that support coastal and marine management and research, including the Sea Grants program.