Ken CroninNational Tribal Environmental

Council

2008 NTF

Effective Tribal Participation in the EPA

Budget Process and Beyond

Big Picture: Tribal Share

• About 3% of overall EPA budget

• Percentage has stayed roughly the same since FY04

• Roughly $250M

EPA Tribal Budget Breakdown

Approx. 80% is

for water programs

Interesting trend: STAG v EPM

$100,000.00

$120,000.00

$140,000.00

$160,000.00

$180,000.00

$200,000.00

$220,000.00

FY04 FY 05 FY 06 FY07 FY08 Pres $28,000.00

$30,000.00

$32,000.00

$34,000.00

$36,000.00

$38,000.00

$40,000.00

FY04 FY 05 FY 06 FY07 FY08 Pres

$201,870.00 $198,509.90 $183,431.30 $184,395.00$160,303.70

$34,204.90 $32,934.80 $33,377.70 $36,963.10 $39,123.90

$-

$50,000.00

$100,000.00

$150,000.00

$200,000.00

$250,000.00

FY04 FY 05 FY 06 FY07 FY08 Pres

STAG

EPM

• STAG funds have decreased while EPM has increased

STAG EPM

Tribal Air Funding

• Has stayed relatively steady $10.7 - $11.05M• FY09 Presidential Request shows $2.5M increase

over FY08 (for R8 Tribes with Energy production increases))

EPA’s 2010 internal Budget Process• Budget and Planning Meetings

– March, 2008 Goal Meetings. EPA’s Deputy Administrator and Chief Financial Officer meet with each Assistant Administrator to discuss progress toward the Agency’s strategic goals. Regions provide input through their Deputy Regional Administrators. Issues are identified for discussion at the upcoming Planning Meeting.

– May, 2008 EPA’s Annual Planning Meeting. All Regional Administrators and Assistant Administrators meet to discuss FY 2010 planning and budget issues. The NTOC usually makes a presentation at this meeting.

– July, 2008 The Budget Forum. All Regional Administrators and Assistant Administrators attend the Agency Budget Forum to discuss budget initiatives. The TOC usually makes a presentation on tribal budget needs.

– August, 2008 EPA works with OMB on our budget proposal. The TOC usually meets with OMB at this time.

• After EPA’s work is done:– January, 2009 The President announces his FY 2010 budget proposal,

usually a week or so after the State of the Union Address.– October, 2009 Congress passes the Agency’s FY 2010 budget.

Congress often passes one or more Continuing Resolutions, or temporary budgets, before passing the final.

Opportunities for Participation in the EPA budget process

• Government-to-Government• RTOCs / Regional Tribal Programs

– Each region sets own priorities

• National Tribal Operations Committee– Has direct access to EPA leaders

• Media Committees - NTAA, NTWC, TPPC, etc– Has the expertise in each media– Recently included in NTOC process

Opportunities Beyond EPA

• Direct Tribal participation in Appropriations process– “Impact Weeks”

• NCAI– Meets in November/December to prepare State of

Indian Country Address– NTEC as “Environmental Arm” of NCAI helps to

prepare NCAI– Requires researched and quantified data for

proposed numbers

Election year – Transition Papers

• 2008 Elections mean that 2010 Budget request is largely irrelevant

• New Administration will review all budget requests

• Will have to be done quickly• Tribes need to be prepared with Transition

Documents highlighting tribal needs and priorities

• NTAA is currently working towards this for air

Baseline Assessments

• Tribes have been barred from effective participation in the annual budget planning (and strategic planning process) through the lack of reliable national tribal baseline assessment data

• AIEO has spent over 10 years and $10M on Tribal Baseline assessment project, but has not released results

• EPA also started but did not follow up on Tribal Environmental Indicators (TREIS)

• NTEC is looking towards doing and independent baseline environmental and environmental health assessments

Examples of possible research avenues for successful air

budget increase• Correlations of tribal air quality to tribal

health issues– Asthma, Diabetes

• Connection between tribal lifeways and exposure pathways for air pollution deposition

• Representative Analysis of national air monitoring programs

Effective Participation - Summary

• Early and Frequent participation by tribes

• Baseline Data– To measure progress

• *Consistent numbers for use within and without EPA process– Coordination with Tribes, NTOC, RTOC’s,

NTEC, NCAI, and intertribal consortia

• Transisiton papers for new administration

For more information

Ken CroninBudget Analyst

National Tribal Environmental Council

kcronin@ntec.org

505-507-9376