300 Natural Resources & Environment:Eliminate EPA Grant Programs and Information Exchange/Outreach
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2016131
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2017131
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2018132
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2019133
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2020136
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2021139
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2022142
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2023146
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2024149
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2025152
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2016-2020663
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2016-20251391
Sources
Savings for eliminating the information exchange/outreach program are expressed as budget authority and were calculated by using the FY 2014 enacted spending levels as found in page 1,003 of EPA, “Fiscal Year 2015: Justification of Appropriation Estimates for the Committee on Appropriations,” March 2014. The 2014 enacted level was then increased at the same rate as discretionary spending for 2016–2025, according to the CBO’s most recent August 2014 baseline spending projections.
×Technical Notes on Scoring
CBO Baseline
Unless otherwise noted, calculations for savings for each recommendation relies on the most recent Congressional Budget Office baseline, as found in “An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024,” published August 27, 2014, has been used.
Savings “Totals”
While totals for the five and 10 year savings are provided by section and for the complete set of recommendations, there are two reasons they should not be viewed as representing total savings for The Budget Book.
First, as noted in the introduction, The Heritage Foundation would recommend that the savings realized in the Function 050 Defense section would stay within the Department of Defense to strengthen the nation’s defense capabilities.
Second, the numbers cannot be deemed to represent the realized savings if every single recommendation were adopted because policy changes made in one program can impact spending levels in other programs. Thus, the numbers in the table do not reflect any potential interactions between the various policy changes affecting spending or savings.
×Rationale:
$18 Trillion in debt & we’re wasting $ on “how to build rain gardens”? Stop the spending.
The EPA should not be funding Environmental Education Grants and other grant programs, such as job-training programs. The EPA has allocated taxpayer money to projects that educate and increase awareness about stewardship. The majority of grants have been awarded to nonprofits with schools being a distant second; the most popular topics are biodiversity and general “environmental literacy.” Past educational projects have included learning how to build “rain gardens,” the significance of urban forests, poster contests on sun protection, asthma awareness and radon, and schoolyard habitat restoration. ((Environmental Protection Agency, “Profiles of Environmental Education Grants Awarded in Wisconsin: 1992–2011,” November 4, 2014, (accessed December 11, 2014).)) From 1992 to 2011, the EPA has granted over $54 million through this program. Even the Obama Administration has recognized a need to cut back on revolving state grants, reducing its FY 2014 budget request.
$18 Trillion in debt & we’re wasting $ on “how to build rain gardens”? Stop the spending.
Contributing Expert

Nicolas (Nick) Loris, an economist, focuses on energy, environmental and regulatory issues as the Herbert and Joyce Morgan fellow at The Heritage Foundation.


Nicolas (Nick) LorisHerbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow
Heritage Experts

Jack Spencer oversees Heritage Foundation research on a wide range of domestic economic issues as director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies. Those topics include federal spending, taxes, energy and environment, regulation and retirement savings.


Jack SpencerVice President for the Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity

Katie Tubb is a Research Associate and Coordinator in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies


Katie TubbResearch Associate and Coordinator
Additional Reading
- Nicolas Loris, “EPA Is Desperately in Need of Budget Cuts. Here’s a Few Places to Start,” The Daily Signal, July 10, 2014.
- The Heritage Foundation, “Environmental Conservation: Eight Principles of the American Conservation Ethic”.