The president’s proposed fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget for the EPA totals $4.16 billion, a 54% decrease from the FY 2025 enacted budget level, according to the FY 2026 EPA Budget in Brief. If enacted, it will represent the smallest budget the Agency has seen in 50 years.
The FY 2026 budget supports 12,856 full-time equivalents (FTEs)—a decrease of 1,274 FTEs from the 2025 level, which represents the lowest staffing levels in the past 40 years, according to law firm Holland & Knight LLP.
Deep cuts to enforcement efforts listed in the proposed budget include:
- Completely eliminating funding for environmental justice enforcement
- 49% to criminal enforcement
- 35% in compliance monitoring
- 30% in civil enforcement
“Since there exists significant EPA discretion in how to deploy its enforcement resources irrespective of the levels at which Congress ultimately funds these activities, a significant slowdown in EPA enforcement efforts could result in an increase in citizen suits seeking to compel enforcement of alleged violations of environmental statutes,” Holland & Knight cautions.
The largest area of reductions is the catastrophic cuts to programs supporting state and local infrastructure, with the Budget in Brief stating these cuts encourage states to take responsibility for funding their own infrastructure projects.
Several states have expressed concern over the proposed cuts, including California, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.
“Water infrastructure funding faces cuts of nearly 90 percent: Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) would be cut by $1.5 billion from $1.64 billion (90.5 percent reduction), Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) by $976.1 million from $1.13 billion (87 percent reduction), and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act funding by $64.3 million from $72.3 million (89 percent reduction),” Holland & Knight explains. “All but three categorical grants to states would be eliminated entirely, with only Underground Injection Control, Tribal General Assistance Program and Tribal Air Quality Management grants left in place (and at approximately FY 2025 levels). … The proposal would also cut more than $83 million from regional water quality ‘geographic programs,’ with the largest reductions affecting San Francisco Bay (76 percent cut), Lake Pontchartrain (54 percent cut), Puget Sound (47 percent cut) and Lake Champlain (37 percent cut).”
Changes to the proposed budget are expected as it makes its way through Congress.
“I and many of my colleagues have long been vocal about the importance of federal assistance for water infrastructure through the (SRFs),” said Chairman Shelley Moore Capito during the May 21 Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing, according to WaterWorld magazine.
Capito encouraged cooperation during the budget process to ensure public water systems are adequately supported and funded.
She also questioned EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin about deep cuts to funding for SRFs.
“Administrator Zeldin stated he wants to investigate congressionally directed earmarks that take away from the SRFs but didn’t expand on what the cuts would mean for the agency and water infrastructure,” WaterWorld adds.
The Environmental Protection Network (EPN) has condemned the entire budget.
“The cuts are part of a broader administration agenda to put the interests of large polluters ahead of public health and the environment,” said Michelle Roos, EPN executive director, in the organization’s media advisory. “They have already halted enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other bedrock environmental laws and eliminated environmental justice programs and funding that ensure everyone has the right to breathe clean air and drink clean water.
“EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has timed this news to coincide with a buyout offer in the hopes that thousands of EPA staff will voluntarily head for the exits and not wait to see what Congress does,” the EPN media advisory adds. “‘EPA staff fight every day for our health, and it’s our turn to fight for them,’ said Roos. ‘When the next toxic disaster strikes, who will answer the phone and respond?’”