Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here this afternoon to discuss President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2006 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency. I am accompanied by Mr. Charlie Johnson, the Agency’s Chief Financial Officer, and the rest of EPA’s leadership team, and we would be pleased to respond to your questions after my brief remarks. Mr. Chairman, if it would please the Committee, I request that my full written statement be included in the record.

Mr. Chairman, as you know, the President has requested a budget of $7.6 billion for EPA and its partners for Fiscal Year 2006. We are all well aware of the need for discipline in our Federal budget, and this budget request reflects the need to be a good steward of the taxpayer’s dollars. At the same time, I am certain that the President’s budget will allow us to continue the progress we’ve made in protecting public health and the environment.

This budget engages a full range of partners – not just federal, state, tribal, and local partners, but also businesses, interest groups, and educational institutions – to help leverage federal monies. Let me give you an example. The President’s Budget contains a request for $15 million for the Clean Diesel Initiative. These funds will be used to expand the retrofitting of diesel engines in new sectors of the economy, such as construction, agriculture, mass transit and the nation’s ports, and in fire and emergency response. These funds are expected to leverage significant additional investments from businesses and other sources to replace older, dirtier equipment, thereby accelerating our efforts to make that “black puff of diesel smoke” a thing of the past. The National Clean Diesel Initiative is expected to reduce PM by 1,200 tons achieving an estimated $360 million in health benefits by reducing premature deaths, heart attacks, chronic bronchitis and asthma episodes.

In fact, through numerous other collaborative networks and partnerships, EPA will be able to leverage billions of additional dollars to improve the nation’s environment. Mr. Chairman, I’d like to highlight just a few programs that illustrate the strong commitment the President is making to a cleaner, healthier America.

First, President Bush is requesting $210 million for the national brownfields program, an increase of $46.9 million over enacted 2005 funding. EPA is working with its state, tribal and local partners to meet its objective to clean up, restore, and revitalize contaminated properties and abandoned sites. These funds – together with the extension of the brownfields tax incentive – will allow EPA to assess over 1,000 brownfields properties and clean up 60 properties using brownfields funding. Federal dollars also will leverage 5,000 cleanup and redevelopment jobs as well as a billion dollars in cleanup and redevelopment.

With respect to the Great Lakes, we are proud of our efforts in the Great Lakes region over the past year, including implementation of the President’s Executive Order calling for a “Regional Collaboration of National Significance.” As you know, we helped initiate the Collaboration with a Conveners’ meeting in Chicago last December, and work is continuing to develop a plan for protecting and preserving the Great Lakes. The President’s FY 2006 budget increases funding for Great Lakes programs and the regional collaboration to $72 million. That amount includes $50 million for the Great Lakes Legacy Act program to remediate the contaminated sediment in areas of concern, such as the Black Lagoon close to Detroit, Michigan.

To help support sustainable wastewater infrastructure, the President’s Budget provides $730 million to continue capitalization of the Clean Water State Revolving Funds. This investment will allow EPA to meet the Administration’s federal capitalization target of $6.8 billion for 2004 through 2011, and it will enable the Clean Water SRF to revolve over time at a level of $3.4 billion a year. To further address wastewater needs, EPA is supporting a range of voluntary efforts to achieve sustainable infrastructure through improved management, full cost pricing, water conservation, and restoration through the watershed approach. To help ensure that water is safe to drink, the FY 2006 President’s Budget requests $850 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

The President’s Budget request also reflects a strong commitment to safeguard human health and the environment with funds to ensure that EPA’s critical role in homeland security remains a top priority. EPA’s request includes $79 million in new resources for homeland security efforts. Among priority activities, $44 million will provide tools and training for all of our largest drinking water systems and will launch, in select cities, a pilot program of monitoring and surveillance to provide early warning of contamination. Environmental decontamination research and preparedness increases by $19.4 million, with an additional $4 million requested for the Safe Buildings research program. Over $11.6 million in new resources will support preparedness in our environmental laboratories.

In summary, this budget will enable us to carry out the goals and objectives as set forth in our Strategic Plan; to meet new challenges; to move forward EPA’s core programs as reflected in the nation’s environmental statutes; to protect our homeland; and to identify new and better ways to carry out EPA’s mission while maintaining our national competitiveness.

Before concluding, Mr. Chairman, I’d like to take just a moment to thank you and Senator Voinovich for your work on the Clear Skies legislation which is currently pending in the Committee, and to pledge to you and other members of the Committee the Administration’s best efforts to help you move this legislation forward. The President continues to believe that Clear Skies legislation is vital, and we know that States and localities are anxious to have Federal and regional tools to meet the standards we have established under the Clean Air Act. Of course, EPA will continue to meet its obligations under existing authorities and agreements, but I want to be certain that we are providing the Committee with all the assistance necessary to facilitate consideration of this important issue.

Mr. Chairman, thank you again for this opportunity to discuss EPA’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2006. At this time I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.