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Executive Summary

At a time of record budget deficits, fiscally wasteful and environmentally harmful spending continues to be rampant in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, industry and its allies in Congress and the White House are demanding even more taxpayer dollars for programs that pollute our air and water, and scar our public lands. As a defender of American taxpayers and the environment, the Green Scissors Campaign is standing up to polluting interests and fighting to cut wasteful and environmentally harmful spending from the federal budget.

“The Green Scissors 2002 report provides a common sense road map that allows us to protect the environment, cut wasteful spending and maintain the trust of the American people.”

In a letter sent by Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Rush Holt (D-N.J.), Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Robert Simmons (R-Conn.) on the release of the Green Scissors 2002 report, May 24, 2002

Introduction

The Green Scissors Campaign calls on political leaders to make fiscal and environmental health a national priority. Instead of bowing to the pressure of corporate interests and jeopardizing the long-term economic stability of our domestic resource base, Congress and the administration should commit to eliminating environmentally harmful and fiscally wasteful programs.

Recommendations offered in Green Scissors 2003 outline a clear path toward fiscal and environmental responsibility. It is time for the 108th Congress and the administration to implement the important spending cuts proposed in this report. Green Scissors 2003 outlines 68 recommendations that would do much to protect our natural resources, reduce unnecessary government spending by more than $58 billion, and help guide our nation towards a more sustainable economic and ecological future.

Federal Surplus or Deficit
Fiscal years 2000 through 2008, In $ billions

Source: The White House Office of Management and Budget

A Call for Fiscal Responsibility
In the past three years, Congress and the administration have increased discretionary spending by almost 25 percent, while reducing federal revenues. Unfortunately, many of these spending increases have included funding for projects and programs that please special interests, but needlessly waste taxpayer dollars. During the same period, our national budget surplus of $5.6 trillion has vanished and our nation now faces a $1.8 trillion deficit over the next 10 years. This massive and continuing draw on the federal treasury undermines our economic security and threatens the stability of essential government programs that many Americans rely on for their basic human needs.

Instead of rising to the challenge of fiscal responsibility, Congress continues to spend money without regard for its long-term effect. As such, we now face a projected federal deficit of more than $300 billion for each of the fiscal years 2003 and 2004, with continued deficits totaling $1.8 billion into the next decade. Given these downward trends, and with cost estimates of the war in Iraq in excess of $80 billion, federal lawmakers should embrace every opportunity to cut unnecessary and harmful spending.

A Call for Environmental Responsibility
While the government’s economic policies will leave its fiscal ledgers in the red for another 10 years, its environmental policies are proving no less damaging. Indeed, it is as if the administration and Congress are colluding to undermine environmental protections—one tearing down long enshrined environmental laws, and the other dipping into the public purse to dole out massive handouts to polluting industries.

The environmental impacts of these devastating policies are just as stark as the economic ones. More than 131 million Americans live in areas where smog pollution makes their air unsafe to breathe, and every year over 45,000 lives are cut short by air pollution. Thirty years after the Clean Water Act was enacted, more than 40 percent of our rivers, lakes, and estuaries remain unsafe for swimming and fishing. The National Academy of Sciences estimates that every year 60,000 children may be born at a significantly increased risk of neurological defects primarily due to mothers eating mercury-contaminated fish. Logging, mining, road building, and other development activities have destroyed more than half of our national forests. Scientists throughout the world agree that global climate change looms as a devastating threat to the future of the planet.

Despite these distressing trends, Congress continues to fund industries and programs that put undue pressure on our health, our environment, and our economy. At a time in history when security is on the minds of all Americans, our leaders appear to be actively working to cultivate financial and environmental insecurity. This report details the appropriate steps that can place us on an alternate path.

The Campaign
Led by Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the Green Scissors Campaign works with Congress and the administration to end wasteful and environmentally harmful spending. With strong bipartisan support, the campaign has succeeded in cutting funding for wasteful federal programs by more than $26 billion.

Green Scissors 2003 Methodology
Members of the Green Scissors Campaign selected the programs in this report in consultation with a variety of experts and advocates from the field. The campaign evaluated programs based on a combination of factors including: cost to taxpayers, negative environmental consequences, and current political status. Many of the programs highlighted in this report involve complex issues, and are part of a broader debate. The recommendations offered here were developed in consensus with Green Scissors coalition members.

The published Green Scissors 2003 report is structured to give a brief analysis of each program, and is grouped by category—-agriculture, energy, international and military, public lands, roads and highways, and water. Full-page articles that offer a more in-depth analysis of Green Scissors recommendations can be found online at www.greenscissors.org. The organizations and coalitions championing these reforms are excellent sources of additional information on these issues. To learn more about a given project, please consult the contact persons listed for each issue.

Additionally, while we are pleased with the diversity of issues covered in Green Scissors 2003, we would like to acknowledge that this report is not a definitive list of environmentally harmful and fiscally wasteful federal programs.

How Savings Are Estimated
Unless otherwise indicated, the figures in Green Scissors 2003 represent a project’s total cost to federal taxpayers over the life of the project. Where this information is not available, the savings are estimated based on the five-year program cost (i.e. multiplying the current year cost by five). Where appropriate, a distinct and suitable time period is used in place of a five-year estimate. Because of the many variables involved in arriving at a precise dollar value for each of these programs, savings figures are generally intended to be illustrative rather than definitive. These are conservative estimates, and program phase-in periods are usually not accounted for unless Congressional Budget Office estimates are used.

“$N/A” is used for recommendations for which no reliable savings estimate is available, or when funding mechanisms are complex and indirect, and thus difficult to discern.

New to Green Scissors 2003
Green Scissors 2003 reflects our most recent research and responds to current events and initiatives, adding four new programs to the list this year. New issues profiled are:

• Factory Farm Subsidies

• FreedomCAR Initiative

• Stewardship Contracting for Forests

• Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant

Choice Cuts
Among the 68 programs and subsidies described in Green Scissors 2003, the Green Scissors Campaign selected seven priorities or “choice cuts” for immediate reform or elimination. These programs include:

• Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative

• Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Navigation Systems

• Bonneville Power Administration

• Indianapolis-to-Evansville (I-69) Highway (Indiana)

• Oil Royalty Exemptions

• Superfund Reauthorization

• Timber Roads Construction

Victories
Working together, taxpayers and environmentalists have proven that they can beat special interests and pork barrel politics-as-usual. During the 107th Congress, the Green Scissors Campaign won two massive victories that saved taxpayers billions of dollars, prevented degradation of our national waterways, and stymied a multi-billion dollar government giveaway to nuclear and fossil fuel industries.

Defeat of the House and Senate Energy Legislation
During the 107th Congress, energy issues dominated the nexus between environmental and taxpayer issues. The Green Scissors Campaign scored a major victory by helping to kill energy legislation proposed by the administration and voted on in Congress. The energy bill passed by the House of Representatives (H.R. 4) would have handed out more than $28 billion to the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries. The Senate energy bill would have given away more than $10 billion to the same industries. The House of Representatives and the Senate were unable to agree on the final energy legislation before the end of the Congress. Although this was an important victory, Congress continues the energy debate. In April 2003, the House of Representatives passed HR. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2003, and the Senate is beginning debate on similar legislation. Both the House and Senate bills threaten to give billions of dollars to the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear power industries.

Defeat of the Army Corps of Engineers Authorizing Bill
In 2002, the House of Representatives attempted to pass the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) to authorize Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) projects. However, the proposed legislation ignored a host of reform proposals that had previously been brought to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s attention in both legislation and testimony. Instead, the bill would have greatly expanded unnecessary subsidies by authorizing nearly $4 billion worth of new water projects. At the same time, the legislation did nothing to correct serious problems with the Corps’ planning process, which include a lack of accountability and oversight resulting in unjustifiable projects that waste taxpayers’ dollars and damage the environment. The Green Scissors Campaign and other Corps reform advocates were able to stall this biennial legislation in 2002 because congressional committees failed to include real reform for the embattled agency. Although a victory, WRDA and Corps reform are likely to be key issues in the 108th Congress.