A new report by a watchdog organization details the deep budget cuts to environmental agencies nationwide over the last decade.

Many environmental advocates view the cuts in funding as a troubling trend.

“I have clearly seen a loss of services from the (Department of Environmental Quality) in the past eight years,” said Heather Deck, executive director of Sound Rivers. “There just isn’t enough staff to do all they are asked to do, from permitting new and existing facilities to enforcing current regulations. This has led to many instances where pollution problems continue for long periods of time before being resolved.”

North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality ranks No. 4 on the list of budget cuts. From 2008 to 2018, the department’s budget, adjusted for inflation, was decreased by 34%, topped only by Wisconsin (36%), Texas (35%) and Louisiana (35%), according to “The Thin Green Line,” a report by The Environmental Integrity Project, described as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in 2002 by former EPA enforcement attorneys advocating for effective enforcement of environmental laws. California was the only U.S. state that increased funding over the past decade, nearly doubling the budget of the California Environmental Protection Agency.

The budget cuts can be attributed to both political parties, as they have occurred in states controlled by Democrats and Republicans alike. On the federal level, cuts to EPA funding happened under both political parties, as well, with the Trump administration eliminating 448 EPA positions between 2017 and 2019, and the Obama administration eliminating 2,139 positions in the prior eight years. From 2008 to 2018, federal funding to EPA enforcement programs also dropped by 17%.

At North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, 376 jobs — many dedicated to providing enforcement of environmental regulations — were eliminated over the decade, even as the North Carolina budget increased by 8%.

“At a time when the overall state spending grew, officials cut funding for pollution control programs at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality from $136 million in fiscal 2008 to $90 million in 2018, when adjusted for inflation,” reads the breakdown of North Carolina’s spending.

While North Carolina’s budget cuts place a strain on the ability of NCDEQ to monitor and investigate air pollutants and water pollution in rivers, streams, and lakes, groundwater and drinking water supplies, of particular concern is the state’s inability to process permit applications.

“To get around this personnel problem, state officials have imposed a ‘shot clock’ of 30 to 60 days for DEQ to automatically approve many permit applications. That means, in effect, that many permits will be rubber stamped because of inadequate time and personnel,” according to the report.

Another hard-hit program at NCDEQ has been wetlands protection: staff was reduced from nine workers to none over the last decade. Wetlands not only serve as a filter, “cleaning” the water that goes through them, they protect coastal communities from flooding, serving as a buffer to flood water — of particular concern in eastern North Carolina.

To Deck, the report is a call for action.

“If residents care about clean water and clean air, then they must speak up and seek greater investment in the protection of our natural resources and public health,” she said.