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DEQ: Not ready for FY ’18
The federal budget cuts proposed by President Donald J. Trump will leave the Division of Environmental Quality with half of its workforce and unprepared for fiscal year 2018, according to Bureau of Environmental Coastal Quality administrator Frank Rabauliman.
Rabauliman said the division is absolutely not ready for the 47-percent budget cut that will be implemented if Trump’s proposed budget is passed by U.S. Congress. That cut will directly affect the division’s workforce.
Rabauliman said during an interview that among all the divisions under BECQ, the deepest cut was made to DEQ.
Last year, when a cut was implemented on the federal budget allocated for BECQ, they had to “tighten their belts” on their expenses and programs.
Rabauliman said that because of the huge cuts that would possibly be implemented in fiscal year 2018, “tightening their belts” would no longer suffice. The bureau has looked into major cutbacks in expenses but even so, it still is not enough and a reduction in DEQ’s workforce would still be definite if Trump’s proposal is implemented.
If the cut in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s budget is implemented, DEQ will have to cut its staff in half, leaving the division with 25 individuals on their team.
According to Rabualiman, a staff of 25 at DEQ won’t be enough to run the division. He said that the slash in the division’s workforce would compromise BECQ’s mission in protecting public health.
As of right now, BECQ is still looking at possible ways to prepare for the worst, but Rabauliman hopes Congress will keep an open mind and will lessen the proposed cut to the EPA.
He is also hoping that the local government will help BECQ absorb the impact of the budget cut by devising an alternative to letting go of half of DEQ’s staff.
“No matter what the outcome, a [budget] cut is definite and it will be very difficult, but it’s necessary,” said Rabualiman.
