Budget Bill Stealthily Affects Environment and Energy

Congress took advantage of the pressure to pass a budget bill by adding riders that change rules concerning the environment and energy. Josh Fischman reports. December 23, 2014 | |

In last week’s pre-Christmas rush, the U.S. Congress slammed together the $1-trillion federal budget bill for 2015, just before funds ran out. But the bill wasn’t all about the money. Congress took advantage of the fiscal scramble to , which do not belong in appropriation bills. Normally such changes are encoded in what are called “laws,” and are debated out in the open. But the budget bill is a chance for Congress to slip in controversial rules—called riders—without much debate. If members object, the bill stalls, and the —and no one wants to be blamed for that federal fiasco. So the riders gallop in.

The Environmental Protection Agency got its budget, for instance, but with strings attached: although agriculture is a major source of atmospheric methane, the EPA now is prohibited from using its money to require farmers to report greenhouse gas emissions. And the agency cannot regulate farm ponds and irrigation ditches under the Clean Water Act.

In another example, the Department of Agriculture must speed up permits for companies making genetically modified organisms. And the feds must loan money to firms to build coal-fired power plants overseas. That requirement reverses a previous ban.

These rules and others last through September 2015, when this budget bill runs out. And then, if history is any guide, this whole stealth legislation process starts all over again.

—Josh Fischman