With the return of budget deficits and the annual political war over spending bills about to begin, yesterday a coalition of taxpayer, environmental and consumer groups identified 78 cuts that Congress and the administration could make to protect the environment, and save taxpayers more than $54 billion.

The Green Scissors 2002 report reveals common sense recommendations to cut environmentally harmful programs that benefit narrow special interests at considerable taxpayer expense. Many of the projects highlighted are products of pork barrel spending for parochial interests.

As lawmakers fiddle, special interests are burning billion-dollar holes in the federal budget. During a time of growing budget deficits and with the economic slowdown potentially continuing, lawmakers need to look for places to cut the budget. A critical first step would be to target programs that benefit corporate polluters and provide few rewards to taxpayers. If Congress gets serious about cutting spending, a balanced budget will become a reality.

Budget battles are almost guaranteed for the months to come, and the administration and Congress will have to make common sense choices when it comes to federal spending. After four consecutive years of budget surpluses, this year the federal budget will run a deficit. Analysts now predict budget deficits continuing in coming years. Rather than continuing down the path of no return, lawmakers need to exercise fiscal discipline.

The Green Scissors 2002 report targets ten “Choice Cuts” and highlights six issues that are new to the report. The report's “Choice Cuts” are programs that Congress will probably act upon in the coming year or that are most in need of reform. Green Scissors 2002's “Choice Cuts” include:

• 1872 Mining Law Reform-Requiring hard-rock mining companies to pay an 8 percent royalty and to post adequate bonds for mining reclamation would raise $519 million over five years.
• Beach Renourishment – Increasing the local cost-share for communities benefiting from the Army Corps of Engineers sand pumping activities would save $3 billion over the lifetime of the projects.
• Bonneville Power Administration Borrowing Authority-Congress should reject Bonneville Power's request to increase its federal borrowing authority by $700 million.
• “Clean Coal” Programs-Expediting the termination of the existing “Clean Coal” Technology Program and stopping new programs from beginning would save taxpayers $253 million.
• Indianapolis-to-Evansville (I-69) Highway-Blocking federal funding for this road could save taxpayers $910 million.
• Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency-Eliminating government subsidies for environmentally destructive projects overseas would save taxpayers $11 million.
• Nuclear Energy Research and Development-Eliminating research and development subsidies for the nuclear power industry would save taxpayers $252 million over five years.
• Petroleum Research and Development- Eliminating the petroleum and coal research programs, which benefit large, profitable fossil fuel companies, would save almost $1.3 billion over five years and reduce subsidies that encourage global warming.
• Timber Roads Construction- Cutting funding for construction, planning and design on new logging roads, saving taxpayers $311.5 million.
• Yucca Mountain High-Level Waste Facility-Shelving the Yucca Mountain Project would relieve taxpayers from subsidizing this $56 billion program.

Recommendations that are new to the Green Scissors 2002 report this year include:

• Dallas Floodway Extension-Denying funding for this project, which will fail to improve flood protection for Dallas, would save taxpayers $76 million.
• Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project- Deauthorizing this outdated irrigation project would save taxpayers $319 million.
• Individual Fishing Quotas-Adopting national standards on new quota programs could prevent the give-away of $15 billion worth of fisheries as well as protect against overfishing.
• Savannah Harbor Expansion-Denying funding for this redundant and environmentally destructive harbor deepening project would save taxpayers $230 million.
• Superfund Tax Reauthorization-Reauthorizing the Superfund tax would eliminate a $4 million-per-day tax break and ensure that toxic waste sites are cleaned up at the expense of the polluters-not taxpayers.
• Wildfire Management– Each year, the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and other federal land management agencies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to extinguish wildfires. Better management of the programs would ensure that taxpayer expenditures on wildfire management are maximized.

Many of the programs Green Scissors highlights are misguided and only retain policies of the past. These programs keep industries on the federal dole, and force the federal government to pick winners and losers in the marketplace – all at taxpayer expense. It's time for Congress and the Administration to take the common sense approach and cut these programs – our nation's fiscal health depends on it.

You can view the Green Scissors 2002 report at www.greenscissors.org