House Natural Resources Chairman Nick J. Rahall today issued a letter in which he harshly criticized the Obama administration’s proposed cuts in the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s budget.
Interestingly, the West Virginia Democrat — who has long complained that OSMRE doesn’t do a very good job — did not object that the funding cuts might keep the agency from carrying out the increased enforcement and oversight Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has promised. Instead, Rahall worried that it would be unfair for states to raise coal taxes to make up for federal enforcement grants that Obama proposed to reduce.
Here’s the text of Chairman Rahall’s letter to Rep. Norm Dicks, chairman of a House Appropriations subcommittee that handles the Interior Department budget:
I am writing to register my vehement opposition to the Administration’s proposed reduction in State and Tribal regulatory grants under the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s (OSMRE) Regulation and Technology appropriation.
These grants are used by States and Tribes with regulatory primacy under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to support surface coal mining permitting actions. In fact, SMCRA made a commitment to the States and Tribes that the federal government would offset 50% of their costs for having primacy over permitting. Yet, today, with a proposed decrease of $11 million, the Administration is backing away from that guarantee. And doing so, I might add, in an environment where the federal government is heaping new reviews and requirements on the coal industry especially in the Appalachian Region.
This proposed decrease – 15% below current funding levels – in the State and Tribal regulatory grants is even more surprising when considering what the Administration stated last year. In presenting its fiscal 2010 budget, the Administration lauded its proposed increase in the grants program and emphasized that, for the first time, the funding level would fully support the State and Tribes funding requests. In its budget justification document at the time, OSMRE stated: “Coal production is projected to increase with continued production at a positive level in future years due to an anticipated increase in export demand. Properly regulating the current and future levels of activity will require adequate funding for State and Tribal regulatory programs.”
Yet, today, we see an abrupt about-face in that position. The Administration not only proposes to reduce federal support of State and Tribal surface coal mining permitting activities, but it pontificates that they should make up the difference by increasing user fees on the coal industry. I would submit that the coal industry, especially in the Appalachian Region, is taxed enough at this time by strenuous permitting reviews by the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and proposals being contemplated by the Interior Department.
Simply put, this budget proposal represents an abdication of federal responsibility to the primacy States and Tribes. It runs counter to the letter and intent of SMCRA. And it does a disservice to those of us working to provide a stable surface coal mining regulatory climate. For these reasons I urge the House Appropriations Committee to discard this proposed decrease and, at the very least, maintain the current year funding level for State and Tribal regulatory grants.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
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Love the photo! Who knew that Obama shot pool with his tie still on.