THE PROVERBIAL TOUGH CHOICES stemming from a squeeze on state finances had to show up somewhere in Gov. Maura Healey’s budget proposal, and one of those places is in the Bay State’s environmental programs.
Healey’s opening salvo to fiscal year 2027 budget negotiations proposes a roughly 4 percent cut to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, amounting to a nearly $20 million reduction. That would bring EEA to its lowest funding level in at least four years even after it was cut by more than $7 million last year.
Almost half of the proposed reductions would be borne by the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s state parks division, along with other potential cuts to the state’s environmental justice, recycling and solid waste, Clean Air Act, and toxic waste programs. Healey is set to defend her proposal before lawmakers on Wednesday.
In a $63.4 billion budget, the potential trimmings at EEA might not seem like much, especially in a tricky budget environment due to climbing health care costs and eroding federal support. But the cuts proposed by Healey can still diminish key functions of state government, said David Melly, senior policy director at the Environmental League of Massachusetts, which is part of a larger coalition that criticized the budget request.
“Residents and municipalities – really everybody — benefit from this tiny little fraction of the state budget that is delivering us so much in terms of public health and quality of life. This funding supports the recreation economy and the clean energy economy that makes people want to live and work in Massachusetts,” Melly said. “What can be perceived as a marginal cut really disproportionately impacts these small but critical agencies.”
The impact of the federal reconciliation package enacted by President Trump last year is deep and sweeping. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation projected that the law’s health care changes will collectively reduce federal funding to the Bay State by more than $24 billion over the next decade. The left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates the law will take away health care for more than 200,000 residents, raise grocery costs by hundreds of millions of dollars, increase energy prices, and cut food assistance from more than 100,000 people in Massachusetts.
Those dynamics coupled with slower growth are forcing Healey to reexamine funding for significant safety net programs. But EEA is not immune from the shifting budget landscape, either.
“Like other states and agencies, we are experiencing fiscal constraints due to federal rollbacks,” Danielle Burney, an EEA spokesperson, said in a statement. “Governor Healey’s proposed budget ensures we can keep our important energy and environmental work moving forward. We continue to invest in resources that allow us to protect clean air, safe drinking water, and our natural resources. In the face of federal attacks, Massachusetts will stick to our values and seek opportunities to grow.”
After Healey celebrated that her budget in fiscal year 2025 hit her target of allocating 1 percent to EEA, that number hasn’t been hit since and slides farther in this most recent proposal.
For Melly, the proposed cuts to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which manages state parks, trails, playgrounds, pools, and dams, carry a particular sting. The Healey administration had increased DCR’s budget over time until its current proposal, which would slash the department below its fiscal 2024 appropriation.
A 2021 special report on DCR’s performance found the office had a backlog of $1 billion in deferred maintenance and had reduced its full-time staff by 25 percent since 2009.
“We are digging ourselves out of the hole that has persisted for two decades,” he said. “It’s disappointing to have made such slow, methodical progress in order to undo the effects of chronic underfunding, only to erode on that progress now.”
Other changes include potential modest reductions to programs like agricultural resources administration, division of marine fisheries, and hazardous waste cleanups. Healey’s budget also calls for small increases to the dam safety office, the watershed and stormwater management program, and emergency food assistance.
“The lost federal funding has just made it difficult, without other progressive revenue options, to fully fund all these programs that we need in the budget,” said Jessica Troe, deputy director of research and policy analysis at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.