FY06 FUNDING CUTS COULD THREATEN EPA OZONE PROTECTION PLANS

The Bush administration's fiscal year 2006 budget proposal to slash funding by over 30 percent for EPA's program protecting the stratospheric ozone layer could force the agency to terminate key initiatives and damage U.S. credibility regarding the Montreal Protocol, a former top EPA official and other sources warn. The threatened efforts, these sources say, include a skin cancer prevention program at schools and a phase-out of an ozone-depleting chemical, HCFC-22, which is widely used as a refrigerant in window air-conditioning...