EPA was established in 1970 to consolidate federal pollution control responsibilities that had been divided among several federal agencies. EPA's responsibilities grew significantly as Congress enacted an increasing number of environmental laws as well as major amendments to these statutes. Among the agency's primary responsibilities are the regulation of air quality, water quality, pesticides, and toxic substances; the management and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes; and the cleanup of environmental contamination. EPA also awards grants to assist states and local governments in complying with federal requirements to control pollution. On April 15, 2011, the President signed the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 ( P.L. 112-10 , H.R. 1473 ). Division B of P.L. 112-10 provided funding for the remainder of FY2011 for those agencies typically funded under 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills, including the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies bills which has provided funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since FY2006. Title VII of Division B under P.L. 112-10 provided $8.68 billion for EPA for FY2011, including an across-the board rescission of 0.2%, and a $140.0 million rescission of unobligated balances. The final EPA FY2011 appropriations was $1.61 billion (16%) less than the FY2010 appropriation of $10.29 billion, and $1.34 billion (13%) less than the $10.02 billion included in the President's FY2011 budget request submitted to Congress on February 1, 2010. Congress and the President did not complete action on any of the 12 regular appropriations bills for FY2011 prior to the end of FY2010. Beginning October 1, 2010 (the start of FY2011), EPA and other federal departments and agencies were funded under a series of seven interim CRs, generally at or below FY2010 funding levels. Although no stand-alone bill to fund the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies for FY2011 was introduced, House and Senate appropriations committees and various authorizing committees held hearings in the 111 th Congress to consider the President's FY2011 budget request for EPA, and Congress continued to debate a variety of EPA funding and policy issues during consideration of the FY2011 Interior appropriations through the end of the end 111 th Congress and the beginning of the 112 th . Early during the first session of the 112 th Congress, the House passed H.R. 1 , the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, on February 19, 2011. As amended and passed, Division B of H.R. 1 would have provided adjusted funding levels through the end of FY2011 for 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills, including the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill which funds EPA. Additionally, House-passed H.R. 1 included more than 20 provisions that would have restricted and prohibited the use of appropriated funds to implement various regulatory activities under EPA's jurisdiction. On March 9, 2011, the Senate did not pass the House-passed version of H.R. 1 and did not agree to a subsequent substitute amendment to the bill ( S.Amdt. 149 ) that omitted the House-passed provisions related to EPA regulatory activities. Two other bills enacted during the second session of the 111 th Congress included provisions related to EPA appropriations. Title II of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010 ( P.L. 111-212 , H.R. 4899 ) enacted July 29, 2010, provided $2.0 million in supplemental funding for EPA within the Science and Technology (S&T) appropriations account for research of the potential long-term human health and environmental risks and impacts from the releases of crude oil, and the application of chemical dispersants, washing agents, and other measures to mitigate these releases. Sections 311-313 of Title III of P.L. 111-226 , as enacted August 10, 2010, rescinded FY2009 funds made available to EPA under Title VII of Division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA; P.L. 111-5 ): $2.6 million from Hazardous Substance Superfund; $9.2 million from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program; and $10.0 million from Environmental Programs and Management. Since FY2006, Congress has funded EPA programs and activities within the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Within the framework of an annual congressional budget resolution, the Natural Resources and Environment Function (Budget Function 300) outlines funding for several federal land management agencies and EPA. The budget resolution sets forth total levels of spending and revenues for at least five fiscal years, and basically sets a cap on discretionary spending provided in the annual appropriations bills for the upcoming fiscal year. The programmatic assumptions underlying such totals, such as how much Congress intends to provide for EPA and other related agencies for the upcoming fiscal year, however, are not binding. Rather, funding levels for individual agencies and their programs and activities are set through the appropriations process. Congress did not complete action on a budget resolution for FY2011. EPA's funding over the long-term generally has reflected an increase in overall appropriations to fulfill a rising number of statutory responsibilities to carry out the agency's primary mission of protecting human health and the environment. Without adjusting for inflation, appropriations enacted for EPA have risen from about $1.0 billion when the agency was established in FY1970 to a peak level of $14.86 billion in FY2009. This peak funding level included both the $7.64 billion in "regular" fiscal year appropriations provided in the Omnibus Appropriations Act for FY2009 ( P.L. 111-8 ), and the $7.22 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations provided in the ARRA of 2009 ( P.L. 111-5 ). Appendix B provides a five-year funding history by EPA appropriations account and Figure B -1 depicts historical funding trends for the agency based on information readily available from OMB back to FY1976. In general, the term appropriations used in this report refers to total discretionary funds made available to EPA for obligation, including regular fiscal year and emergency supplemental appropriations, as well as any rescissions, transfers, and deferrals in a particular fiscal year, but excludes permanent or mandatory appropriations that are not subject to the annual appropriations process. This latter category of funding constitutes a very small portion of EPA's funding. The vast majority of the agency's funding consists of discretionary appropriations. Since FY1996, EPA's appropriations have been requested by the Administration and appropriated by Congress within eight statutory appropriations accounts. Appendix A briefly describes the scope and purpose of the activities funded within each of EPA's eight statutory appropriations accounts. FY2011 enacted appropriations amounts as presented in this report are based on information provided by the House Appropriations Committee reflecting the across-the-board 0.2% resci ssion included in P.L. 112-10 . The amounts presented for the President's FY2011 budget request are as reported in EPA's FY2011 Annual Performance Plan and Congressional Justification (referred to throughout this report as the EPA FY2011 budget justification), and the President's Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011 , issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FY2010 appropriations are as reported in the conference report ( H.Rept. 111-316 ) accompanying the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY2010 ( P.L. 111-88 ; H.R. 2996 ). Funding increases and decreases noted in this report generally are calculated based on comparisons between the enacted FY2011 appropriations, the FY2010 appropriations provided in P.L. 111-88 (and any supplemental appropriations or other adjustments; see discussion under "Congressional Action on FY2011 Appropriations," which follows), and funding levels requested by the President for FY2011. This report also includes information on funding levels enacted for FY2009 for certain EPA programs and activities, including both the regular fiscal year appropriations provided in P.L. 111-8 and the emergency supplemental appropriations provided in P.L. 111-5 , the latter of which is referred to throughout this report as ARRA or Recovery Act funding. Comparisons with the funding levels proposed in House-passed H.R. 1 and S.Amdt. 149 are not included in this report but are presented in see CRS Report R41698, H.R. 1 Full-Year FY2011 Continuing Resolution: Overview of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Provisions , by [author name scrubbed]. With the exception of the historical funding presented in Figure B -1 in Appendix B , the enacted appropriations for prior fiscal years presented throughout this report have not been adjusted for inflation. In some cases, small increases above the prior-year funding level may reflect a decrease in real dollar values when adjusted for inflation. The following sections of this report provide a brief overview of the FY2011 appropriations, and examination of funding levels and relevant issues for selected EPA programs and activities that have received more prominent attention. Appropriations are complex, and accordingly not all issues are summarized in this report. OMB's budget documentation and EPA's budget justification number more than 1,000 pages and present an array of funding, programmatic, and legislative proposals for congressional consideration. Further, the appropriations bills and accompanying committee reports identify funding levels for numerous programs, activities, and sub-activities that are beyond the scope of this report, and the committee reports may provide specific direction to the agency in terms of how the funds are to be spent to implement a certain activity. There was no committee report accompanying P.L. 112-10 . Table 1 presents a comparison of EPA's FY2011 enacted appropriations included in P.L.