Dive Brief:

• President Obama has threatened to veto, and environmental groups are railing against, a proposal from House Republicans that would cut current funding to the Department of Interior and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by $64 million, and all told, is $1 billion less than requested in the White House's budget proposal, the Hill reports. 
• Almost 100 advocacy groups have sent a letter calling on lawmakers to reject the spending bills, including provisions that would require a reassessment of the use of social costs of carbon, which they say is a vital regulatory tool for accurately assessing health implications.
• The White House's veto threat says the bills would "significantly hamper investments that reduce future costs to taxpayers," and would make it difficult for states and businesses to address climate change and decrease emissions.

Dive Insight:

A spending bill being considered in the House would reduce investments designed to boost energy development and ensure cybersecurity, according to the White House, with adding policy riders aimed to block adminstration rules on water, power plant emissions and coal mining, according to the Hill. 

"These reductions would make it more difficult for States and businesses to plan and execute changes that would decrease carbon pollution and address the challenges facing the Nation from climate change," according to the July 11 veto threat.

The White House added that the legislation includes "numerous highly unacceptable provisions that have no place in funding legislation," including measures that undermine wildlife protections and state abilities to address climate change.

According to The Hill, the House is considering the spending bill this week. If approved, it would be the first time the chamber has approved a EPA and DOI spending bill since 2009.

The environmental groups, including Public Citizen and Greenpeace, say "the bill is filled with dozens of anti-environment policy riders that threaten our air, land, water and wildlife."

In addition to the social cost of carbon provisions, the groups want to see a section removed that would take steps to terminate the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the federal coal leasing program. They say the move "would effectively block the crucial work of updating the antiquated federal coal program by forcing the Department of the Interior to conduct its review on an unrealistic timeline."

They say the bill would also block changes to the valuation rules for federal fossil fuels, freezing a new rule from the Office of Natural Resources Revenue to "stop the predatory undervaluing of coal, oil and gas extracted from public lands and the resulting loss of royalties. This would be a Congressionally-mandated gift of federal resources to fossil fuel companies."