[Budget of the U.S. Government]
[V. Creating Opportunity, Demanding Responsibility, and Strengthening Community]
[3. Protecting the Environment]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 
                     3.  PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                
  None of our children should have to live near a toxic waste dump or eat food poisoned by pesticides. Our      
grandchildren should not have to live in a world stripped of its natural beauty. We can and we must protect the 
environment while advancing the prosperity of the American people and people throughout the world.              
                                                                                                                
                                      President Clinton                                                         
                                      April 22, 1996                                                            
                                                                                                                

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
   The President believes that the Nation does not have to choose 
between a strong economy and a clean environment. In fact, while the 
President's policies have contributed greatly to four years of strong 
economic growth with low inflation, they also have produced a cleaner, 
healthier environment.
   The Administration has helped ensure that the air is cleaner for tens 
of millions of people. It has protected Yellowstone, one of our national 
treasures and our first national park, from the ravages of nearby 
mining. It also has cleaned up more toxic waste sites in its first three 
years than the previous two administrations did in 12 years. Meanwhile, 
American industry has continued reducing toxic emissions, which have 
fallen 43 percent in the last decade.
   While Americans want a Government that helps protect the environment 
and our natural resources, they do not want to burden business unduly, 
choke innovation, or waste taxpayer dollars. The Administration has 
reinvented the regulatory process, cutting excessive regulation and 
targeting investments in programs that will have the biggest impact on 
improving the environment, protecting public health, providing more 
opportunities for outdoor recreation, and enhancing natural resources. 
The President's strategy for environmental protection is reflected in 
not just the creative approaches the Administration is pursuing, but in 
the priorities that the budget proposes to fund.

New Approaches for Environmental Success

   Working with Congress on a bipartisan basis whenever possible, the 
Administration has pioneered ways to protect the environment that are 
cleaner, cheaper, and smarter, while preserving natural resources for 
current and future generations.

   Reinventing Drinking Water Legislation: In August 1996, the President 
signed the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, fulfilling the goals he 
outlined in 1993--to reinvent the Nation's safe drinking water 
legislation to better protect public health, and to authorize the 
creation of new Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) to help 
hundreds of communities protect their citizens from harmful 
contaminants.
   In several respects, the new law is a model for regulatory reform. It 
gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) more flexibility to act 
on contaminants of greatest risk, and to analyze costs and benefits 
while maintaining public health as the paramount concern. It institutes 
a cost-effective, community-based approach for ensuring safe drinking 
water. Further, it affirms the right of all Americans to know the 
quality of their drinking water and the potential threats to its safety, 
and it authorizes resources to address Federal mandates under the law.

   Reforming Food Quality Protection: Also in August, based on his 
proposal of 1993, the President signed legislation to revolutionize 

[[Page 68]]

the way our food supply is protected from harmful pesticides. The law 
overhauls the system that kept harmful pesticides on the market too long 
and safer alternatives off the market, and it will ensure that families 
have the safest possible food on the dinner table. Specifically, the law 
replaces conflicting and outdated pesticide residue standards with a 
single, health-based standard for all food. It provides incentives for 
swift approval of safe, new pesticide alternatives for farmers. And, it 
includes provisions to better protect children from pesticide risks.
   ``Greening'' America's Farm Programs: The 1996 Farm Bill, which the 
President signed in April 1996, was the most conservation-oriented farm 
legislation ever enacted. It created five new mandatory conservation 
programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) 
that consolidates four cost-sharing conservation programs into one and 
focuses cost-sharing and technical assistance on locally-identified 
conservation priority areas, and to areas where agricultural and natural 
resource management improvements will help meet water quality goals. The 
law provides $200 million in 1998 ($1.3 billion from 1996 to 2002) for 
EQIP, dedicating half of the funds to conservation associated with 
smaller livestock operations. It also authorizes the Wildlife Habitat 
Incentives Program to help landowners improve wildlife habitat on 
private lands.
   Enhancing the National Park System: Although the budget provides 
higher funding for parks, available resources can barely keep up with 
the system's new responsibilities and with ongoing needs to maintain an 
aging infrastructure. Consequently, the National Park Service is using 
creative new approaches to manage the parks, enabling it to protect our 
natural and cultural treasures with limited resources.
   The 1996 Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act includes 
several examples of these creative approaches. It will, for instance, 
establish the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas as a 
partnership with a private group that owns most of the land--at far less 
cost than establishing a traditional park. Also, at the Presidio in San 
Francisco, a government corporation will be able to lease and manage 
hundreds of unused buildings in a manner consistent with park purposes, 
but which reduces the burden on taxpayers. In addition, the budget 
supports other partnership arrangements by including funds, matched by 
non-Federal sources, to implement newly authorized non-Federal heritage 
areas and to restore historic structures at historically black colleges 
and universities.

   Creating a New National Monument: The budget provides funds for 
start-up activities at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, 
which the President created by proclamation in September 1996, in the 
pristine canyonlands of south-central Utah. The National Monument 
encompasses 1.7 million acres of public lands and will preserve for 
future generations hundreds of millions of years of geologic and 
cultural history. Over the next three years, the Bureau of Land 
Management will consult with State, local, and Tribal governments; the 
private sector; the public; and other Federal agencies in preparing a 
land use management plan for the Monument.
   Reinventing Regulation: In March 1995, the President announced a 
comprehensive program to improve the regulatory system and move toward a 
better environmental management system for the 21st Century. One 
prominent element is Project XL (for Excellence and Leadership), which 
fulfills the President's challenge to EPA and industry to make it easier 
for businesses to better protect the environment. This national pilot 
program enables a limited number of regulated entities to adopt 
alternative strategies to current regulations, as long as they produce 
superior environmental results.
   For example, Intel's new computer chip manufacturing plant in 
Chandler, Arizona--which recently signed a Project XL agreement with 
EPA--will adopt a five-year Environmental Management Plan that outlines 
specific steps to meet tough standards of superior environmental 
performance. The agreement will eliminate the red tape of the normal 
permit modification process, enabling Intel to quickly change its 
manufacturing operations and, in turn, better compete in its fast-paced 
industry.

[[Page 69]]

   Establishing Performance Partnerships: In April 1996, Congress 
enacted the President's proposal for EPA Performance Partnership Grants, 
allowing States or Tribes to combine several categorical grants--each of 
which addresses only air, water, hazardous waste, or similar programs--
into a multimedia environmental grant. Twenty States used this approach 
in 1996, and 24 States have expressed interest for 1997. As more States 
recognize the benefits, we expect most, if not all, to participate. The 
grants build on the National Environmental Performance Partnership 
System, which EPA established with the States in 1995 to give them more 
leeway to achieve environmental results and emphasize less-intensive EPA 
oversight for States that show strong performance. Six States 
participated in 1996 and 28 more have expressed interest for 1997.
   Restoring the Everglades: The budget supports the continued Federal, 
State, local, and Tribal efforts to implement the restoration project 
for the South Florida ecosystem, which the Administration began in 1993 
and which Congress authorized in the 1996 Water Resources Development 
Act. During 1999, the Army Corps of Engineers will complete the Central 
and Southern Florida Comprehensive Review Study, providing long-term 
direction for restoration efforts.
   Along with improved water management, the budget recognizes the need 
for more science and for land acquisition to restore the Everglades' 
hydrologic functions. The Administration is re-proposing a four-year, 
$100 million-a-year Everglades Restoration Fund to provide a steady 
source of funding, mainly for land acquisition. It is also re-proposing 
a one-cent per pound assessment on Florida-produced sugar to help 
finance the Fund. The budget proposes $331 million, 163 percent more 
than Congress approved in 1997.

   Making the Endangered Species Act Work: The Endangered Species Act 
(ESA) gives Federal, State, and local governments, and the private 
sector the flexibility to protect endangered species and conserve 
habitat, while allowing for development, by establishing Habitat 
Conservation Plans (HCPs). From 1983 to 1992, such parties created only 
14 HCPs. But the Administration recognized that, to reduce conflict 
between the needs of conservation and development, it should more fully 
utilize HCPs. As a result, from 1993 to 1997, the number of HCPs issued 
or under development soared to 300--covering 8.4 million acres in the 
Pacific Northwest alone.
   Creating Sustainable Fisheries: Last October, the President signed 
the Sustainable Fisheries Act, reinventing the way the Nation addresses 
the problems facing its commercial and recreational fisheries. The Act 
brings the Nation closer to achieving the vast long-term benefits of 
sustainable fisheries with new measures to prevent overfishing and to 
ensure that already depressed stocks are rebuilt to levels that produce 
maximum sustainable yields. The Act also establishes a new national 
standard to minimize the unintentional catch of non-target fish, and 
highlights the long-term importance of habitat to fish stocks by 
requiring fishery management plans to identify essential fish habitat.
   Protecting the Northwest Forests: The President's Forest Plan--a 
balanced, science-based blueprint--is protecting natural resources and 
providing new economic opportunities in the Pacific Northwest. It 
represents the first region-wide application of ecosystem management on 
the part of Federal, State, and local agencies; Tribes; non-governmental 
organizations; and individuals. The Administration is offering 
sustainable volumes of timber sales, restoring thousands of acres of key 
habitat and watersheds, providing training and short-term jobs to 
displaced timber workers, spurring small business through grants and job 
training, and strengthening local economies. The Federal Government 
plans to spend $369 million in the region in 1997 through the 
coordinated efforts of 12 Federal agencies, and the budget proposes to 
increase this level of support to $408 million in 1998.
   The recent expiration of the July 1995 timber ``rider'' to a 1995 
spending bill restores public participation in the salvage timber 
program. As the timber program again faces the full range of 
environmental laws, the Administration will address the concerns that 
its 1996 Interagency Salvage Review Report identified. The budget 
modifies the use of the Forest Service Salvage Sale Fund, establishes a 
new Forest Ecosystem Management Fund, and provides more funding for 
wildlife 

[[Page 70]]

and fish management (especially sensitive species), watershed improvements, and monitoring.

   Saving Yellowstone Park: To protect Yellowstone, the Federal 
Government last August agreed to exchange Federal land or other assets 
for Crown Butte, Inc.'s interest in the New World Mine. The development 
of the gold mine posed a severe environmental threat to Yellowstone's 
unique landscape and wildlife resources. The agreement protected Crown 
Butte's property rights while preserving one of the crown jewels of the 
National Park System. Following the exchange with the Federal 
Government, Crown Butte will dedicate $22 million to clean up 
contamination at the site from earlier mining activities. The 
Administration is working to identify appropriate assets to execute the 
agreement, and to appraise their value in order to ensure a fair 
exchange.
  Protecting Headwaters Forest: The Federal Government and California 
agreed in September 1996 to negotiate an exchange of land and other 
assets with a private company, enabling them to jointly acquire 7,500 
acres, including the Headwaters Grove in northern California--the 
largest privately-owned grove of old-growth redwoods--to protect it from 
timber harvesting. The negotiations involve complex issues, including 
asset appraisals and the development of Habitat Conservation Plans for 
endangered species. The Administration believes that all parties are 
working in good faith to negotiate a fair and equitable exchange, and is 
fully committed to taking all necessary steps to reach a successful 
conclusion.
   Providing a Fair Return for Taxpayers: The Administration proposes a 
five-percent royalty fee on the ``net smelter return'' from producing 
hardrock minerals on Federal lands. The royalties would go into a new 
reclamation fund to finance the restoration of abandoned mine sites on 
Federal lands. The budget also proposes to eliminate the percentage 
depletion tax allowance for non-fuel mineral rights acquired from the 
Federal Government for only nominal cost under the 1872 Mining Act. In 
addition, the budget would continue the moratorium on patenting hardrock 
mineral rights on Federal lands.

Environmental and Natural Resource Investments

   The budget proposes to boost funding for high-priority environmental 
and natural resources programs to levels that would be 17 percent over 
those in place when the President took office (see Table 3-1).

   Kalamazoo Initiative: The President announced a new national 
commitment last August to protect communities from toxic pollution by 
the year 2000, and the budget provides almost $800 million in 1998 to 
help carry it out. The key components are:
   Accelerating Superfund Cleanups: The budget proposes $2.1 
          billion for Superfund, including a $650 million increase over 
          1997 to begin meeting the President's pledge to nearly double 
          the pace of Superfund cleanups (see Chart 3-1). The 
          Administration proposes to clean up another 500 sites in the 
          next four years, meaning that about two-thirds of the Nation's 
          worst toxic waste dumps would be cleaned up by the year 2000. 
          To ensure available funding, the budget proposes to extend the 
          Superfund taxes that have expired. The budget also funds the 
          ``orphan share'' cleanup costs, which are attributable to 
          insolvent parties.
   Expanding Brownfields Redevelopment Initiative: The budget 
          proposes a major expansion of the President's brownfields 
          initiative, which promotes local cleanup and redevelopment, by 
          providing a $75 million increase. First, the budget proposes 
          that EPA receive a $50 million increase, to nearly $88 
          million, to expand grants to communities for site assessment 
          and redevelopment planning, and to support revolving loan 
          funds to finance brownfield cleanup efforts of contaminated 
          and abandoned urban properties at the local level. Second, the 
          budget proposes $25 million in Department of Housing and Urban 
          Development funding to leverage State, local, and private 
          funds to redevelop the cleaned-up sites and create jobs. Also, 
          the President again proposes a targeted tax incentive to spur 
          the cleanup of brownfield sites.

[[Page 71]]

                                 Table 3-1.  ENVIRONMENTAL/NATURAL RESOURCE INVESTMENTS AND OTHER HIGH-PRIORITY PROGRAMS                                
                                   (Discretionary budget authority unless otherwise noted; dollar amounts in millions)                                  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                        Percent  Percent
                                                                                                             1993     1997      1998    Change:  Change:
                                                                                                            Actual  Estimate  Proposed  1993 to  1997 to
                                                                                                                                          1997     1998 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):                                                                                                                  
  Operating Program......................................................................................    2,767     3,109     3,402     +12%      +9%
                                                                                                                                                        
   State Revolving Funds (SRFs):                                                                                                                        
     Clean Water\1\ .....................................................................................    1,928       625     1,075     -68%     +72%
    Drinking Water \1\...................................................................................       --     1,275       725       NA     -43%
  Superfund..............................................................................................    1,589     1,394     2,094     -12%     +50%
  Other..................................................................................................      639       396       349     -38%     -12%
                                                                                                          ----------------------------------------------
      Subtotal, EPA......................................................................................    6,923     6,799     7,645      -2%     +12%
                                                                                                                                                        
Department of the Interior (DOI):                                                                                                                       
  National Park Service Operating Program................................................................      984     1,155     1,220     +17%      +6%
  Bureau of Land Management Operating Program............................................................      638       673       688      +5%      +2%
   Fish and Wildlife Service Operating Program...........................................................      531       524       562      -1%      +7%
                                                                                                          ----------------------------------------------
     Subtotal, DOI (Select programs).....................................................................    2,153     2,352     2,470      +9%      +5%
                                                                                                                                                        
Department of Agriculture (USDA):                                                                                                                       
  Forest Service Operating Program.......................................................................    1,319     1,275     1,342      -3%      +5%
  Investment Non-Operating Program (NW Forest Plan, infrastructure, other)...............................      276       241       211     -13%     -12%
   Rural Water and Wastewater \2\........................................................................      508       565       555     +11%      -2%
   Wetlands..............................................................................................      115       212       213     +84%      +*%
   Environmental Quality Incentives Program (Mandatory)..................................................       --       200       200       NA      +*%
   Wetlands Reserve Program (Mandatory)..................................................................       --       128       176       NA     +38%
   Conservation Reserve Program (Mandatory)..............................................................    1,579     1,862     1,943     +18%      +4%
                                                                                                          ----------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, USDA (Select programs).....................................................................    3,797     4,483     4,640     +18%      +4%
                                                                                                                                                        
Land Acquisition: LWCF (DOI/USDA) and Everglades Restoration Fund (DOI)..................................      286       149       301     -48%    +102%
Other Everglades Restoration (DOI, Corps, USDA, DOC, EPA)................................................       70       114       196     +63%     +72%
                                                                                                                                                        
Department of Energy (DOE):                                                                                                                             
  Energy Conservation and Efficiency.....................................................................      592       550       688      -7%     +25%
  Solar and Renewable Energy R&D.........................................................................      257       270       330      +5%     +22%
  Federal Facilities Cleanup (Environmental Management)..................................................    6,396     6,027     7,246      -6%     +20%
                                                                                                          ----------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, DOE (Select programs)......................................................................    7,245     6,847     8,264      -5%     +21%
                                                                                                                                                        
Department of Defense (DOD):                                                                                                                            
  Cleanup................................................................................................    1,604     2,043     2,114     +27%      +3%
  Environmental Compliance/Pollution Prevention/Conservation.............................................    2,227     2,411     2,486      +8%      +3%
  Environmental Technology...............................................................................      393       182       171     -54%      -6%
                                                                                                          ----------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, DOD (Select programs)......................................................................    4,224     4,636     4,771     +10%      +3%
                                                                                                                                                        
Department of Commerce (DOC)/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):                                                                    
  Fisheries and Protected Species........................................................................      232       297       313     +28%      +5%
  Ocean and Coastal Management...........................................................................      121       128       154      +6%     +20%
  Ocean and Atmospheric Research.........................................................................      138       222       223     +61%      +*%
                                                                                                          ----------------------------------------------
    Subtotal, DOC/NOAA (Select programs).................................................................      491       647       690     +32%      +7%
                                                                                                                                                        
California Bay-Delta Ecosystem Rest. (DOI, DOC, EPA, Corps, USDA)........................................       20        70       213    +250%    +204%
Pacific Northwest Forest Plan (USDA, DOI, EPA, DOC, DOL).................................................       --       369       408       NA     +11%
Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Program (wetlands)....................................................       86       101       112     +17%     +11%
Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (DOE, DOC, NSF, EPA, DOT)...................................       --       263       281       NA      +7%
U.S. Global Change Research (NASA, DOE, NSF, DOC, others)................................................    1,464     1,810     1,878     +24%      +4%
 Climate Change Action Plan (EPA, DOE, USDA).............................................................       --       183       277       NA     +51%
GLOBE--Global Environmental Education (DOC, NASA, EPA, NSF)..............................................       --        13        15       NA     +15%
Montreal Protocol (State/EPA)............................................................................       25        40        49     +60%     +23%
Global Environment Facility (Treasury)...................................................................       --        35       100       NA    +186%
Multilateral and Bilateral Assistance (Funds Appropriated to the President/AID)..........................      272       264       314      -3%     +19%
Border Environmental Activities (State/Treasury).........................................................       30        83        88    +177%      +6%
                                                                                                          ==============================================
     Total \3\...........................................................................................   25,295    26,334    29,485      +4%     +12%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Reflects a one time transfer of clean water funds to drinking water in 1997.                                                                        
\2\ Excludes funding for Rural Community Advancement Program grants to States; 1998 funding would be nine percent higher otherwise.                     
\3\ Total adjusted to eliminate double counts and mandatory spending.                                                                                   
 NA = Not applicable.                                                                                                                                   
 *Less than 0.5 percent.                                                                                                                                

[[Page 72]]
                                     


   Improving Americans' Right to Know About Toxics: The budget 
          proposes $49 million to expand the information that people can 
          get about toxic threats to their families--without imposing 
          more reporting requirements on anyone. It would make the 
          information available for the 75 largest metropolitan areas in 
          the country through a comprehensive monitoring system, with 
          computer links to schools, libraries, and home computers.

   EPA Operating Program: The budget proposes $3.4 billion, a nine-
percent increase over 1997, for EPA's operating program, which includes 
most of EPA's research, regulatory, partnership grants (with States and 
Tribes), and enforcement programs. The program represents the backbone 
of the Nation's efforts to protect public health through standard 
setting, enforcement, and other means, ensuring that our water is pure, 
our air clean, and our food safe.
   Within the operating program, the budget proposes important increases 
to carry out recently-enacted legislation to protect drinking water and food quality. It proposes significant investments to assess the health risks to children, identify new ways to apply advanced technology to 
environmental needs, and provide urban areas with tools to develop 
community-based solutions to environmental issues. It also maintains a 
strong environmental enforcement program to ensure that polluters find 
an environmental cop on the beat, and fully funds EPA's part of the 
Climate Change Action Plan.

   Water Quality Infrastructure: The budget proposes $725 million in 
capitalization grants for the new Drinking Water State Revolving Funds 
(SRFs), which make low-interest loans to municipalities to help them 
meet the requirements of the new Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments. 
These funds will help ensure that Americans have a safe, clean drinking

[[Page 73]]

water supply--our first line of defense in protecting public health.
   EPA also proposes $1.1 billion in capitalization grants to Clean 
Water SRFs to help municipalities comply with the Clean Water Act, thus 
helping to reduce beach closures and keeping our waterways safe and 
clean. In addition, the budget proposes targeted wastewater funds for 
areas facing unique circumstances--$100 million for Boston Harbor, $150 
million for Mexican border projects, and $15 million for Alaskan Native 
villages. The Administration will request a final $100 million of 
special Federal assistance for Boston Harbor for 1999--provided EPA 
finds that the project still requires the funds.

   Department of Agriculture (USDA) Water 2000: The budget proposes to 
continue funding the USDA's Water 2000 initiative--to bring safe 
drinking water to 2.5 million rural Americans with some of the Nation's 
most serious problems of water availability, dependability, and 
quality--within its $1.3 billion for rural water and wastewater loans 
and grants. In addition, the budget proposes to fund, through the Rural 
Community Advancement Program (RCAP), rural development grants that 
States can use to meet their particular rural development needs. With 
proposed RCAP funding eight percent above the 1997 levels, the 
Administration expects to fund 227 new water treatment systems in 1998.
   California Bay-Delta Ecosystem Restoration: In December 1994, Federal 
and California officials signed the historic Bay-Delta Accord, calling 
for a comprehensive series of steps to restore and protect the San 
Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem while 
strengthening the State's long-term economic health. With Administration 
support, Congress then adopted the California Bay-Delta Environmental 
Enhancement and Water Security Act in 1996 to authorize more Federal 
spending for restoration activities in the ecosystem. Later that year, 
California voters approved a $995 million bond issue to cover State 
cost-sharing for past and future Bay-Delta restoration and other water-
related activities. The budget proposes $213 million for Bay-Delta 
ecosystem restoration activities, a 204-percent increase over 1997. As 
it did for 1998, the Administration plans to request the fully 
authorized amount under the 1996 law for 1999 and 2000.
   Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP): The WRP is a voluntary USDA program 
in which willing sellers receive the fair market value to permanently 
retire wetland acres from farm production. Under the 1996 Farm Bill, WRP 
will use permanent easements on one-third of the acres enrolled, 30-year 
easements on another third, and cost-sharing agreements on the remaining 
third. In this last category, landowners will agree to restore wetlands 
on cropland without an easement, receiving only cost-sharing assistance. 
For 1998, the budget proposes to enroll 212,000 acres, an increase of 
82,000 acres over 1997, bringing cumulative WRP enrollment to over 
655,000 acres by the end of 1998. Retiring cropland through the WRP will 
directly benefit the recovery of threatened or endangered species, 
almost 35 percent of which depend on wetlands (see Chart 3-2).

                                     


   Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): The CRP pays producers to 
temporarily retire from production environmentally sensitive lands. 
Producers sign 10-year CRP contracts and agree to convert their enrolled 
acres to approved conservation uses, receiving rental payments in 
return. After the contracts expire, producers can return lands back to 
production. The 1996 Farm Bill enables USDA to maintain a 36-million-
acre CRP, or roughly the current CRP level. Contracts on about 21 
million acres will expire in 1997 and USDA will hold a sign-up to begin 
to replace them in early spring 1997. Through new program rules, the 
Administration will seek to enroll land with the highest environmental 
benefits and release from the CRP less erodible land that is better 
suited for production. CRP's benefits have been significant--after 
falling by 35 to 50 percent in the 1970s and 1980s, wild-duck 
populations bounced back with a 12-percent increase in the mid-1990s.

                                     


   National Parks: The budget proposes over $1.2 billion for park 
operations and maintenance, six percent more than in 1997. This level 
would maintain current services at existing parks and support 
commitments for new parks and responsibilities under the 1996 Omnibus 
Parks and Public Lands Management Act. Budgeted funds alone, however, 
cannot 

[[Page 74]]

meet the growing demand for recreational and visitor services, as 
illustrated in Chart 3-3.
   Consequently, the Administration is using its temporary demonstration 
fee authority to finance facility and resource management improvements. 
Not only do user fees raise funds for repairs and improvements that 
enhance the visitor experience, they give parks an incentive to please 
their customers by improving their facilities and operations. The 
Administration will seek permanent fee authority and legislation to 
reform park concessions--to increase competition between companies that 
want to conduct business in the parks, and to give parks an added 
incentive to negotiate higher returns from concessioners by allowing the 
National Park Service to keep all new receipts.

   Salmon Recovery: Salmon runs throughout the Pacific Northwest are a 
major part of the region's ecosystem and economy. Salmon runs that 
originate in the Columbia/Snake River have declined so much that the 
Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service lists three runs 
as endangered. The Administration has supported a regional bipartisan 
effort to help restore the runs, including a stable, multi-year 
contribution from the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) customers 
because BPA's hydro-power operation has helped to foster the decline. 
The Administration is carrying out an agreement with congressional and 
regional interests under which BPA customers would pay, on average, up 
to $435 million a year for salmon recovery.
   The budget also provides funds to fully implement the 1992 Elwha 
River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act. The Elwha River, a major 
waterway within Olympic National Park in Washington State, holds 
tremendous potential for restoring abundant salmon runs. The budget 
provides $25 million in funding for 1998--enough to complete acquisition 
of the river's two dams and perform planning and design activities 
associated with 

[[Page 75]]

their removal--and seeks future-year funding at levels that would complete dam removal and river restoration.

   Multilateral and Bilateral Environmental Assistance: The budget 
proposes $314 million, 19 percent more than in 1997, for bilateral and 
multilateral environment assistance. Bilateral assistance includes 
Agency for International Development activities to address climate 
change, biodiversity, and sustainable agriculture in developing 
countries. Multilateral assistance funds U.S. voluntary contributions to 
the U.N. environment system and other international organizations to 
address various international environmental activities.
   Global Environment Facility (GEF): U.S. participation in the GEF is a 
cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy on the environment. The GEF has 
become the world's leading institution for protecting the global 
environment and avoiding economic disruption from climate change, 
massive extinction of valuable species, and dramatic collapse of the 
oceans' fish population. The $100 million budget proposal would meet the 
1998 portion of the U.S. pledge to the GEF's four-year (1995-1998) 
funding program, and doing so is vital to maintaining U.S. leadership of 
the program.
   Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: The budget proposes $688 
million for energy conservation and efficiency programs, and $330 
million for solar and renewable energy programs, increases of 25 percent 
and 22 percent, respectively. These Energy Department (DOE) programs 
reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants by increasing energy 
efficiency and expanding the use of non-fossil-based energy sources. The 
energy conservation programs include both near-term efforts to 
demonstrate and promote the best available technologies, and longer-term 
efforts to develop breakthrough technologies and products. A prominent 
example of the latter is the Partnership for a New Generation of 
Vehicles, a joint 

[[Page 76]]

government-industry effort to develop cars with triple the fuel economy of today's models. The solar and renewable energy research and development activities include substantial support for reducing the costs of photovoltaics, wind energy, and biofuels.
   Federal Facilities Cleanup and Compliance: The Federal Government 
continues to face an enormous challenge in cleaning up Federal 
facilities contaminated with radioactive or hazardous waste. DOE faces 
the most complex and costly problems from over 40 years of research, 
production, and testing of nuclear weapons. The Defense Department's 
(DOD) problems include hazardous wastes similar to those found at 
industrial and commercial sites.
   The budget proposes over $7.2 billion for DOE's Environmental 
Management program, 20 percent more than in 1997, including over $1 
billion to implement a privatization strategy to cut costs and speed 
cleanup and waste disposal. In 1998, DOE will accelerate the Formerly 
Used Sites Remedial Actions Program (FUSRAP), which is cleaning up 
private properties contaminated during the weapons production process in 
order to allow their speedier return to productive use. By the end of 
1998, DOE will complete clean-up at 28 of 46 FUSRAP sites and 44 of 86 
other DOE sites and facilities.
   DOD, which operates one of the Nation's most diverse and successful 
environmental programs, is focusing its cleanup efforts on reducing 
relative risk at its active and closing installations. It is conducting 
studies or cleanups at 15,240 sites on 770 military installations and 
2,641 formerly-used properties. Moreover, it has determined that 10,970 
other sites require no further action. DOD also is making real progress 
in its compliance/pollution prevention, conservation, and environmental 
technology programs. The budget proposes over $4.7 billion for all DOD 
environmental activities, three percent more than in 1997.