Most U.S. States Are Slashing Their Environmental Budgets

Congress and the White House have cut funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by 16 percent and cut 2,699 jobs over the past ten years. With President Trump proposing further cuts, a recent study by the Environmental Integrity Project looked into the extent of budget reductions at environmental agencies in the Lower 48 states. The analysis found that 30 U.S. states reduced funding for their environmental agencies between 2008 and 2018 with 25 of them them imposing cuts of 10 percent or more.

Along with financial cuts, some 40 states have also reduced staffing levels at their environmental agencies over the past decade and 21 scaled their workforces back by at least 10 percent. The only state with significant growth is California where the environmental agency saw its budget go up by 75 percent during the above period with 1,255 staff members added. According to the report, the reductions in funding and staffing occurred despite evidence that many environmental violations are going unpunished. The research also noted that the cuts occurred in states controlled by both Republicans and Democrats.

Wisconsin was the state with the largest percentage cut over the past 10 years and it scaled its budget back from $91 million in 2008 ($107 million when adjusted for inflation) to just $69 million in 2018, a 36 percent decrease. Texas and Louisiana were in second place with 35 percent each while North Carolina and Delaware rounded off the top-5. Illinois and North Carolina topped the list for staffing cuts with 38 percent and 35 percent reductions respectively.