On March 11, 2009, the President signed the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 ( P.L. 111-8 , H.R. 1105 ). The omnibus law contained regular appropriations for FY2009 of $27.59 billion for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. In earlier action, on February 17, 2009, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ( P.L. 111-5 , H.R. 1 ). This broad economic stimulus legislation contained $10.95 billion in emergency funds for FY2009 for some of the accounts within agencies typically funded by the annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations laws. Taken together, the two laws provided a total of $38.54 billion for FY2009. The annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill includes funding for agencies and programs in three separate federal departments, as well as numerous related agencies and bureaus. It provides funding for Department of the Interior (DOI) agencies (except for the Bureau of Reclamation, funded in Energy and Water Development appropriations laws), many of which manage land and other natural resource or regulatory programs. The bill also provides funds for agencies in two other departments—the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture, and the Indian Health Service (IHS) in the Department of Health and Human Services—as well as funds for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Further, the annual bill includes funding for arts and cultural agencies, such as the Smithsonian Institution, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Humanities, and for numerous other entities and agencies. In former years, the appropriations laws for Interior and Related Agencies provided funds for several activities within the Department of Energy (DOE), including research, development, and conservation programs; the Naval Petroleum Reserves; and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. However, at the outset of the 109 th Congress, these DOE programs were transferred to the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees covering energy and water, to consolidate jurisdiction over DOE. At the same time, jurisdiction over the EPA and several smaller entities was moved to the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees covering Interior and Related Agencies. This change resulted from the abolition of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies, which previously had jurisdiction over EPA. Since FY2006, appropriations laws for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies have contained three primary titles. This report is organized along these lines. Accordingly, the first section (Title I) provides information on Interior agencies; the second section (Title II) discusses EPA; and the third section (Title III) addresses other agencies, programs, and entities. A fourth section of this report discusses cross-cutting topics that encompass more than one agency. Entries in this report are for major agencies (e.g., the National Park Service) and cross-cutting issues (e.g., Everglades restoration) that receive funding in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. For each agency or issue, we discuss some of the key funding changes enacted for FY2009, or proposed by the George W. Bush Administration, that have been of interest to Congress. We also address related policy issues that tend to occur in the context of considering appropriations legislation. Presenting such information in summary form is a challenge. For example, budget submissions for some agencies number several hundred pages and contain innumerable funding, programmatic, and legislative changes for congressional consideration. Further, appropriations laws provide funds for numerous accounts, activities, and subactivities, and the accompanying explanatory statements provide additional directives and other important information. For information on programs funded in the bill but not directly discussed in this report, please contact the key policy staff members listed at the end of the report. In general, in this report the term appropriations represents total funds available, including regular annual and supplemental appropriations, as well as rescissions, transfers, and deferrals, but excludes permanent mandatory budget authorities. This report contains final FY2009 appropriations levels for agencies, programs, and activities as enacted in the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 ( P.L. 111-8 , H.R. 1105 ). These funds generally are referred to as omnibus funds, or funds provided by the omnibus law. Increases and decreases generally are calculated on comparisons between these FY2009 omnibus funding levels and those requested by President Bush for FY2009 and enacted for FY2008. An overview of emergency funding for FY2009 provided in broad economic stimulus legislation ( P.L. 111 - 5 , H.R. 1 ) is discussed in the introduction to this report. This law contained additional FY2009 funding for some of the agencies and programs typically funded by the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. These funds also are discussed in the pertinent sections throughout the report, in both the text and accompanying tables. They generally are referred to as stimulus funds, or funds provided by the stimulus law. The House Committee on Appropriations is the primary source of the funding figures used throughout the report. Other sources of information include the Senate Committee on Appropriations, agency budget justifications, and the Congressional Record . References to the "Explanatory Statement" for the omnibus law refer to the statement published in the February 23, 2009, Congressional Record . References to the "Explanatory Statement" for the stimulus law refer to the statement published in the February 12, 2009, Congressional Record , together with the tables published in the February 13, 2009, Congressional Record . In the tables throughout this report, some columns of funding figures do not add to the precise totals provided due to rounding. Table 1 , below, shows appropriations for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies for FY2004-FY2009. Funding for earlier years is not readily available due to the changes in the makeup of the Interior appropriations bill. The FY2009 omnibus funding represented a $265.5 million increase (1%) over the FY2004 level in current dollars, or an 11% decrease in constant dollars (assuming the Congressional Budget Office's inflation estimate of 2.2% for 2008 and projection of 1.5% for 2009). See Table 29 for a budgetary history of each agency for FY2004-FY2009. On March 11, 2009, the President signed the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 ( P.L. 111-8 , H.R. 1105 ). The omnibus law contained regular appropriations for FY2009 of $27.59 billion for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. This funding was $1.78 billion (7%) over the FY2009 Bush Administration request of $25.81 billion, but $825.9 million (3%) below the FY2008 level of $28.42 billion. This FY2008 level included $1.82 billion in emergency appropriations, most of which was for fighting wildfires on federal lands ($1.74 billion) with the remainder ($75.0 million) for FWS construction. While the FY2009 omnibus level included increases over FY2008 for many agencies, it contained decreases or level funding for others. The enactment of the regular appropriations for FY2009 followed the enactment of emergency funds for FY2009 in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ( P.L. 111-5 , H.R. 1 ). This broad economic stimulus legislation contained $10.95 billion in emergency funds for FY2009 for some of the accounts within agencies typically funded by the annual Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations laws. In general, the funds were made available for obligation until September 30, 2010 (the end of FY2010). These funds are discussed in the next section (below). Taken together, the omnibus law and the stimulus law provided a total of $38.54 billion for FY2009 for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies for FY2009. Regular appropriations for FY2009 were not enacted for Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies before the October 1, 2008 start of the fiscal year. Accordingly, on September 30, 2008, President Bush signed the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009 (FY2009 CR, P.L. 110-329 ). Division A, Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2009, generally extended funding for accounts in the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill at the amounts provided in the FY2008 regular appropriations law. Funds were available under the terms and conditions provided in the FY2008 law, except where otherwise specified. The FY2009 CR provided appropriations from October 1, 2008 through March 6, 2009, and continuing appropriations were later extended through March 11, 2009 ( P.L. 111-6 ). The FY2009 CR contained additional provisions related to Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. For instance, the law provided an additional $2.0 million to the National Park Service for security for the Presidential inauguration. It removed the prohibitions on spending funds for oil and gas leasing activities in certain regions of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), which had been controversial (see the "Minerals Management Service" section). The law also removed the prohibition on using funds to prepare final regulations regarding a commercial leasing program for oil shale or to conduct a commercial oil shale lease sale (see the "Bureau of Land Management" section). Further, the law contained provisions on funding for the Modified Water Deliveries Project, which pertains to water deliveries to Everglades National Park (see the "Everglades Restoration" section).