A Republican-authored House spending bill that would cut the fiscal 2013 budgets of both U.S. EPA and the Fish and Wildlife Service by about a fifth and slash a conservation fund by 80 percent sailed through subcommittee yesterday, destined for a bruising markup by the full Appropriations Committee.

The Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee approved the $28 billion bill in a voice vote after a hearing that consisted of little more than a series of opening statements and tributes to retiring Appropriations Committee ranking member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.).

Republicans touted the spending plan as a bold effort to rein in federal spending and regulatory overreach with a battery of policy riders designed to block Obama administration air, water and mountaintop-mining regulations. Democrats reacted with disgust, saying the cuts would damage the environment and calling the riders inappropriate.

Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) said the subpanel made "very difficult choices" in preparing the bill and that the riders rightfully seek to derail the administration's regulatory agenda. And more will be coming, he added.

"I fully expect us to see additional efforts to rein in the EPA in the full committee and on the floor," Simpson said.

Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) declared himself "particularly proud" of the Interior and Environment subpanel's efforts to boost congressional oversight of the administration's "activist environmental regulations," which he said "fly in the face of public opinion, congressional intent, and economic and scientific common sense."

Rogers highlighted the 17 percent cut to EPA's 2013 budget, which would roll back agency funding $3.2 billion since 2010.

"This represents the strong concerns of this Congress over the EPA's unprecedented effort to drive certain industries to extinction with a cocktail of burdensome regulations, questionable guidance policies, and arbitrary enforcement measures -- all designed to shut down the permitting process for energy exploration and production," Rogers said.

Rogers zeroed in on the coal industry, which he said EPA had "singled out" with its crackdown on mining permits and its utility MACT air rules that he called "destined to kill coal-fired power plants."

Opting to postpone a fight over the details of the bill until the full committee markup, subcommittee ranking member Jim Moran (D-Va.) said the proposed cuts "affect almost every program, and the fact is they're just so numerous -- too numerous, really -- to even address here today."

He noted that policy riders included "do not belong in the bill" and would "undermine important environmental law."

"Protecting the public's health did not cause the recession," Moran said, "and suspension of these laws will not sustain a recovery."

The Republican legislation would fund EPA at $7 billion, which is below the amount appropriated to EPA in fiscal 1998, and includes dramatic cuts to Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds that help states finance upgrades to aging, failing wastewater and drinking water systems.

Although overall spending on the Interior Department would remain essentially flat -- increasing by 1 percent -- the department's Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey would see dramatic cuts of 21 percent and 10 percent, respectively, while the Land and Water Conservation Fund would be cut 80 percent to 1968 levels.

The bill also targets climate change programs, cutting funding throughout the bill by nearly a third to $101 million and targeting EPA's proposal to regulate greenhouse gases emitted from power plants for the first time. The administration's controversial forthcoming stream protection rule was also among the many regulatory policies whose funding would be zeroed out by the bill (E&ENews PM, June 19).

Republican Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) distanced himself slightly from his party's proposal, citing three parts of the bill that "cause me concern" -- the cuts to conservation spending and the drinking and wastewater revolving funds.

LaTourette said he hoped a boost to conservation funding would come through as part of the ongoing bicameral negotiations over the transportation bill. The Senate version of the highway bill includes $1.4 billion for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (E&ENews PM, March 8).

LaTourette also called the EPA revolving funds "critical not only for job creation but also making sure people have safe water to drink."

The hearing also included a series of impassioned, bipartisan tributes to Dicks, who gave tearful thanks before blasting the GOP-authored proposal.

"You're trying to soften me up, Simpson, but you know what's coming," Dicks said at the start of his comments, provoking laughs all around.