Highlights from the President's FY15 Environmental Protection Agency Budget Request

Enacted FY14 funding is used for comparisons unless otherwise noted.

The president’s FY15 budget request of $7.9 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reflects a 3.8 percent decrease from FY14 enacted. However, funding for science and technology programs would increase by 0.6 percent under the budget proposal. Priority funding areas for EPA R&D in FY15 include research in potential endocrine disrupting chemicals, human health risk assessment, air quality, sustainable approaches to environmental protection, and safe drinking water.

For Science and Technology (S&T), including R&D activities, the administration requests $763.8 million (0.6 percent increase). Funding for S&T represents 9.7 percent of EPA’s total budget request.

Funding for EPA’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) and the Greater Research Opportunities fellowship programs will be consolidated as part of a comprehensive reorganization to facilitate a cohesive, national strategy of STEM education programs to increase the impact of federal investment in four areas. This includes K-12 instruction, undergraduate education, fellowships and scholarships, and information education. The president’s budget reflects a decrease of $11.1 million as part of the consolidation.

The Climate Protection program, which includes Energy STAR, Greenhouse Gas Reporting Registry and the Global Methane Initiative (formerly Methane to Markets), is funded at $104 million (9 percent increase) under the president’s budget.