March 11 - Congress passed an “Omnibus Appropriations” Bill yesterday for the second half of FY 2009 that largely continued the level-funding of environmental education programs for the rest of the year. But there were a couple of surprises totaling about $15 million in new funds for the field: A. NOAA: 1. Competitive Educational Grants - $8.5 million, of which $7.5 million is for a new ocean education grant program for non-profit aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The good news is that this is an increase of $3.5 million over last year. The bad news is that NOAA has historically been given latitude to grant these funds to a broader audience than just aquaria. B. EPA Environmental Education Program: $9.0 million (same of FY08) C. NSF: $10 million for a new Climate Change Education program, to be developed in consultation with the National Academies (no further explanation). D. NASA: $10 million for Global Climate Change Education. This is up slightly from the $8.5 million in FY08 (the program’s first year). The Interior Department also received an unspecified increase in funds to “expand opportunities for youth education including internships to instill environmental awareness”. Unfortunately, neither the newly authorized University Sustainability Program or the new Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Grants and Loans program for k-12, higher education, and municipalities were funded in this budget. We will continue to press for funding these programs in the FY2010 budget which is currently being developed.
2. BWET Regional Programs - $7.2 million for the Chesapeake Bay,New England,Pacific Northwest, and Gulf of Mexico programs, as well as $2.5 million for the California B-WET program (same as FY08).
Jim Elder
