"The proposed cuts to clean water funding would be devastating to the ability of our States and communities to maintain and upgrade water infrastructure and provide clean water for their communities,"wrote Rahall and Oberstar in a letter to the Budget Committee.

     They continued, "The reductions to LWCF would severely hinder efforts to protect special places in our national wildlife refuges, parks and forests and to preserve parks and open spaces for local communities."

     In its Fiscal Year 2006 budget request, the Administration proposes to abandon the Stateside LWCF Program altogether. For the last forty years, this grant program has provided State and Local Parks and Recreation Directors with desperately needed funding to help them preserve dwindling open space and develop needed recreational facilities.

     In addition, the President includes only $146 million in funding for Federal side LWCF Programs. This level cuts by more than half last year’s budget request. Taken together, the President proposes to meet about 16% of his promise to fully fund LWCF, and he consolidates control of that meager 16% firmly in Federal hands.

     "It is disingenuous, at best, to be selling the American people on a budget that claims to be protecting America, while the cuts in this budget violate our partnership with the States and threaten the future of America’s natural heritage," Rahall said.

     Oberstar added, "This budget fails to uphold the Federal responsibility to protect the environment, invest in essential water-related infrastructure, or ensure economic and environmental health and safety for generations to come."

     Rahall and Oberstar also emphasize the need to invest in water infrastructure to provide clean drinking water and recreational opportunities to communities. Despite important progress over the last three decades, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that 40 percent of our nation’s waters are still too impaired for fishing or swimming. The Administration’s budget proposal cuts clean water funding by more than 33 percent.

     In September 2002, the EPA released a Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis which found that there will be a $535 billion gap between current spending and projected needs for water and wastewater infrastructure in the next 15 years if investments are not made now.

     "The Federal government must uphold its share of the responsibility to protect and restore waters that flow throughout the country and across State and local boundaries," wrote Rahall and Oberstar.