Calling it "a healthy exercise," the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the environment budget directed Department Director Dianne Nielson on Monday to trim a portion of $550,000 out of each of the six divisions at DEQ and make a list of the possible cuts.
"It's hard for you to do it because it's your agency," said Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo.
But other agencies aren't being asked to calculate cuts, and in fact are seeking healthy increases. Nielson is in a particularly tough position. Her department has suffered more than $6.2 million in cuts since 2002, and its staff level has re- mained steady at about 400, while the requirements for overseeing Utah's air, water and land have increased, along with Utah's population.
She provided the panel a listing that showed the state will not be able to meet its contracts with the federal government to carry out environmental programs if the cuts are made, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal programs will step in and assume control.
"This is an agency that does not have a lot of general funds to begin with," said Nielson, whose office had cut water, sewer and air-monitoring programs in recent years.
"It means EPA will run the programs in lieu of the state, and I don't think that's in the state's best interests."
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has proposed spending $51 million on environmental programs next year, a 3.2 percent decrease from last year. Spending on DEQ accounts for about one-half of 1 percent of the state's $10.7 billion spending plan.
Outside the Capitol, with pollution considered unhealthy for the young, the old and people with heart and lung conditions for the 12th day in a row, there was at least one critic of the budget-cut exercise.
Salt Lake City anesthesiologist Brian Moench called the idea "a disaster." He noted that heart attacks, cancer and other diseases all have a clear environmental component but political leaders "just don't seem to get it."
"If government is not willing to step forward and be willing to be a guardian of public health," he said from the LDS Hospital, where he works, "then I do not understand what government is for."
Legislators and staff could not think of another state agency that has been asked to consider reductions this year in light of the state's record surplus. Transportation, which is overseen by the same subcommittee, could see an increase of nearly $750 million for 2008. Meanwhile, a 10.1 percent increase in spending has been proposed for the offices of the governor and other officials, and a 3.3 percent increase is suggested for lawmakers and their staffs.
fahys@sltrib.com
