------------------------------ Subject: Science and Environmental Policy Update (SEPU), February 4, 1999 To: ESANEWS@UMDD.UMD.EDU Status: RO Science and Environmental Policy Update (SEPU), February 4, 1999 A Bi-Weekly Publication of the Public Affairs Office of the Ecological Society of America. The Clinton Administration's release its FY '00 budget on 1 Feb 1999 marks the official start of the budget appropriations process which Congress and the Administration must wrap up by October 1st, the beginning of the new fiscal year. FY 2000 Budget The anticipated budget surplus marked a significant increase in new environmental spending programs that were met with some resistance from GOP leaders. This showdown between the administration and Republicans stems from debate over tax cuts and the appropriate size of discretionary spending increases. Regardless, Clinton's budget proposes $1 billion for the Lands Legacy Initiative, designed to protect and revitalize America's public land resources. This is the largest one-year investment for public lands conservation amounting to a 125% increase over last year which would be mostly used for the purchases of more land adjacent to 17 national parks and monuments. This includes $442 million for national forest and wildlife refuge land in the Northeast; land in the Florida Everglades for major restoration projects; and about 500,000 acres around the Mojave and Joshua Tree national parks in California. Another $588 million would go to state and local government agencies and land trusts for grants to acquire easements for urban parks, recreation areas, wildlife habitat and open spaces. GOP appropriators are not planning to have the federal government acquire any new large tracts of land, preferring instead to focus on releasing private holdings in federal sites with willing sellers. Another element of the Land Legacy Initiative is Clinton's proposed increase of $66 million for the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation fund used to support collaborative species protection strategies between state and local governments. The budget also includes a climate-change package totaling over $4 billion, including $200 million for a new Clean Air Partnership Fund. The budget's environmental funding was earmarked by Clinton's $8.4 billion for a tax and spending combination to combat urban sprawl and preserve green space. Clinton also announced his support for more basic research in information technology. The Administration proposes to add $366 million to the $1.5 billion already in the federal budget this year for information sciences, a 28% increase. Officials have coined this plan as IT2-Information Technology for the Twenty-first Century. If approved, the majority of IT2 funds will go toward peer-reviewed university research aiming to create machines and software that run at faster speeds, assist people interacting with computers to facilitate information retrieval, and prediction and modeling. Some money will be appropriated toward the ethical implications of the information revolutions, including data privacy issues, while other funds will go toward peer-reviewed projects in industry and national labs. The money would be divided amongst six agencies led by the NSF, DOE, NASA, NOAA, NIH and the Department of Defense (DOD). House aids say there is a good chance of bipartisan support on IT2. Other highlights of the President's FY 2000 Budget: * United States Geological Survey (USGS) receives $838.5 million. * Department of Interior (DOI) receives $8.7 billion * National Science Foundation (NSF) receives $4 billion. * Endangered Species Program receives $114.9 million. * National Wildlife System receives $212 million. * Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) receives $7.2 billion. * Bureau of Land Management (BLM) receives $743 million. Executive Order to Combat Invasive Species President Clinton signed an Executive Order on 2/3/99 to coordinate a federal strategy to address the growing environmental and economic threat of invasive plants and animals that are not native to the United States. Clinton proposes an increase of more than $28.8 million in funding to accomplish this goal. He has assigned Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit and Commerce Secretary William Daley to chair the Invasive Species Council now created. Climate Change/ Air Pollution In a 1992 international treaty, the U.S. voluntarily promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. President Clinton, in unveiling his FY '00 budget, requested over $4 billion in program spending and tax incentives to address the risk of global warming. His budget plan includes not only the $1.75 billion slated for the five-year Climate Change Technology Initiative (CCTI) and over $2 billion for climate change research, but also $200 million for a new Clean Air Partnership Fund. This plan would be administered by the Environmental Protection Agency which would assist state and local efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other ground-level pollutant. The project would help finance projects that achieve "accelerated, integrated" reductions in ozone, particulate matter, air toxins and greenhouse gases with the aim of meeting clean air goals earlier than already existing EPA mandates. The CCTI faces some scrutiny on Capitol Hill-mainly from Republicans who believe that the international agreement could cost much more than the Administration suggests. Many congressional panels have already begun planning hearings to review Clinton's climate strategy, including the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Economic Policy Subcommittee, the House Commerce Committee and the House Government Reform Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee. The CCTI funding consists of $382 million worth of tax credits-part of a $3.6 billion proposal through FY '04-and $1.37 billion in mainly research and development spending-part of a $2.7 billion plan. Some House Members have expressed concern that more money should be put into carbon management research and the risks of climate change instead of encouraging the market's adoption of existing, expensive technologies. Despite this, House aids stated that the fate of Clinton's tax package is dependent on Congress being able to compromise on the top-billed issue of Social Security. Specifics of Climate Research Funding: The President's budget proposes 1.8 billion for the U.S. Global Climate Research Program (USGCRP), an increase of $105 million over the FY '99. This would include $828 million for scientific research, a rise of $84 million and $958 million for climate monitoring satellites and ground-based observation systems. A total of $15 million of USGCRP money would be set aside for a new Carbon Cycle Initiative to study the issues of carbon sequestration by forests and farmlands by DOE and USDA. Another $12 million from the USGCRP account will be designated for USDA to study soil-carbon inventory. National Science Foundation NSF's request of nearly $4 billion would be directed on the agency's main focus for cutting-edge research efforts, both as the lead agency in the Administration's Information Technology for the Twenty-first Century (IT2) initiative and for exploring the role of biocomplexity in the environment (BE), an agency wide coordinated activity in environmental science, engineering and education. At the heart of BE is understanding the interdependencies among organisms and their environment. Research will cover three overlapping and highly interactive areas within NSF- Global and Environmental Change, Biodiversity and the Human Dimension. Core research efforts will focus on the idea that research on individual components of environmental systems provides only limited information about their behavior as whole systems. Federal Research Investment Act (FRIA) The FRIA, an authorization bill to double civilian federal R&D funding over 12 years, was introduced in the 106th session of Congress by Senator Bill Frist (R-TN). Last year, the bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent in October, but never made it to the House or to the President's desk. This year, in introducing the bill, Frist expressed his views on the importance of science funding to the nation, the rapid growth of NIH funding and the need to support a broader spectrum of scientific disciplines, as well as areas of interdisciplinary overlap. Largely due to the significant amount of support from the scientific community, the bill has a bipartisan total so far of 20 sponsors. AGU Takes Stance on Climate Change The American Geophysical Union (AGU), a professional society of earth scientists, released a position statement on climate change and greenhouse gases on Friday 29 January 1999. The AGU reaffirmed the findings of previous assessments-that greenhouse gases are increasing in the atmosphere, impacts could be disruptive to society, and that there is a basis for public concern. The AGU statement is the result of a review of hundreds of peer-reviewed articles in journals, and considerable opportunity for AGU member input. Sources: Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington DC; Environment and Energy Weekly Bulletin, Environmental & Energy Study Institute, Washington, DC; USDA News Release, Washington DC; American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News Send questions or comments to esahq@esa.org