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Washington, D.C.—The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) called on members of the House Appropriations Committee to reject sharp cuts in the fiscal 2014 budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed by the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment.

In a letter, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said the subcommittee’s budget for EPA in the coming fiscal year would not only be 34 percent below the fiscal 2013 level, it would be equivalent to funding levels in the 1980s.

“Reducing EPA’s budget by this magnitude,” Kelley said, “will have a devastating effect on the services EPA provides to the nation.” The agency would be required to absorb $2.8 billion in cuts from current year funding.

She added: “Employees at the EPA work on daily basis to help ensure that all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live and work.” EPA laboratories, she wrote, perform essentially work assessing environmental conditions, and identifying, understanding and solving current and future environmental problems.

The NTEU leader called this work, along with integrating the work of scientific partners such as nations, private sector organizations, the academic world and other agencies “critical to achieving EPA’s mission of environmental protection.”

Kelley urged the full committee to reject the subcommittee proposal and ensure that EPA’s personnel levels are sufficient to protect the country’s health and environment.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.