Regulators from both red and blue states are pushing back on President Donald Trump’s proposed funding cuts to state environmental agencies, which they say could force them to relinquish federal permitting authorities.
Officials from Mississippi, South Carolina, Oregon and New Mexico warned EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin that a White House proposal to eliminate the agency’s categorical grants would “incapacitate” state programs and hurt economic development.
In an early sign of bipartisan pushback to the budget, state officials said the cuts would jeopardize federal permitting programs that EPA has delegated to state regulators in the spirit of “cooperative federalism.” Many Republicans, including Zeldin himself, have called for delegating more federal permitting authorities to states.
“If Congress were to adopt the White House recommendation for discretionary spending, states may be required to terminate primacy, delegation, or authorization agreements and return full program implementation to EPA,” the state officials said in the letter Saturday. “This would overwhelm EPA and have detrimental impacts to economic development.”
