Restoring Funding for the EPA’s Office of Environmental Education

This $9.2 million funding cut threatens once again to completely eliminate the EPA’s Office of Environmental Education (OEE), as well as the estimated $3 million in grants and $1.8 million in contracts that the OEE distributed to the environmental education (EE) field last year alone.

Last year, nearly thirty EE member organizations came together in March 2005 to voice their support for the OEE in a letter to the leadership of the House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees. Together, our message demonstrated a diverse, yet unified, show of support for the OEE.

EE champions in Congress also played a vital role in our efforts to protect the OEE’s funding.

• A key letter by Representatives Boehlert (R-NY) and Walsh (R-NY) to Chairman Taylor (NC) of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee brought to our cause the credibility and weight of two widely-respected Republicans.
• Another key bi-partisan support letter from Senators Clinton (D-NY), Bond (R-MO), and Chaffee (R-RI) was delivered to leadership of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. Along with a grassroots letter-writing campaign, these efforts succeeded in convincing Congress to restore this funding.

In the FY2007 Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Environmental Education (OEE) has been zeroed out for the fifth year in a row, eliminating resources for a key environment education program in the United States. In previous years, the relevant House and Senate Subcommittees have nonetheless appropriated funds for the operation of the OOE.  

Such bipartisan support is earned only by those issues that are popular with voters on both sides of the aisle. Congress has embraced the idea that, without environmental knowledge, citizens cannot safeguard public health, protect natural resources, or support energy conservation efforts. Our champions in Congress played a truly vital role in our past efforts to protect the OEE’s funding, and we need to encourage them to do so again this year. 

This is where your help is needed! We are asking members of the environmental education community to contact their representatives and voice their support for restoring the $9.2 million funding level for EPA’s Office of Environmental Education.