A state trust fund that provides money for water pollution cleanup could shrink significantly under the budget proposed by the state House. That's according to Richard Rogers, the Chief Executive of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. He says the House budget appropriates 10 million dollars to the trust fund, 80 percent less than the 50 million proposed by Governor Bev Perdue in her budget.
Richard Rogers: "100 percent of our funding does come from the state of North Carolina and from this appropriation process that we're in the middle of. We won't be a viable entity if we don't get some funding. These needs that are out there will remain unmet."
The Clean Water Management Trust Fund issues grants to local governments, state agencies and conservation non-profits to help finance projects addressing water pollution. Rogers says the Trust Fund currently has application requests totaling 157 million dollars. Many of those requests would be turned down even under current budget levels.