Webinar: Using Communications to Put a Face on the Federal Budget Cuts (recording)

Liz Banse from Resource Media reviews how the media has covered the proposed federal budget cuts to date and the opportunities this presents in getting our message out. She also gives advice on persuasive messaging and how to tell effective stories. Anna Brunner and Jordan Lubetkin with the Healing Our Waters Coalition also share how they’ve documented the benefits of federal investment and successfully communicated those benefits to protect investments in the Great Lakes.

Resource Media:

• Toolbox
• Building a Message
• Letters to the Editor
• Writing a slam-dunk op-ed
• Media Relations 101
• An introduction to nonprofit issue advocacy videos

Clean Water for All Campaign:

• Protect Clean Water Activist Tool Kit – includes communications resources for proposed budget cuts as well as for Clean Water Rule repeal

Environmental Integrity Project

• EPA Budget Alert: House Bill Cuts Spending for Most of EPA’s Workforce by 24%

Save EPA (retired and former EPA employees):

• A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump De-Regulatory Agenda
• Defending EPA’s Budget

Environmental Protection Network (volunteers with backgrounds in environmental programs at the federal, state and local levels:

• House Appropriations Committee Interior (and EPA) Budget Bill
• Overview of the Final Proposed Trump EPA Fiscal Year 18 Budget
• Analysis of the Trump Administration’s Initial EPA “Skinny” Budget

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership:

• A national bipartisan poll of hunters and anglers, which shows that 87% sportsmen and women on both sides of the aisle want no cuts to conservation in the federal budget

Environmental Council of States:

• Green Report on Status of Environmental Agency Budgets
• ECOS Summary of FY 2018 President’s Budget Request for U.S. EPA

National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA):

• President’s FY 2018 Budget Proposal Cuts EPA and Related Agencies
• NACWA Pushes Back on Proposed Cuts to Wastewater Funding Programs

Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA):

• FY17 Budget Reduction Plan and the FY18 Budget Proposal Talking Points

Center for American Progress

• Trump’s Budget Woefully Underfunds Critical State Environmental Agencies

Environmental Defense Fund

• Deep EPA cuts put public health at risk

Indivisible

• August Recess ToolKit: The Budget

Environment America Research and Policy Center

• Rough Waters Ahead – The Impact of the Trump Administration’s EPA Budget Cuts on the Great Lakes
• Rough Waters Ahead – The Impact of the Trump Administration’s EPA Budget Cuts on the Delaware River Basin

Example Media Stories

• Op Ed: Federal rollbacks threaten state’s drinking water, fishing spots, economy
• Op Ed: Don’t muddy Clear Water Act protections
• Op Ed: Flat Creek cleanup is good for all
• Letter to the Editor: Proposed cuts to EPA
• An unlikely resistance surges against Trump’s clean water threats
• How EPA cuts could impact Pennsylvania
• Advocates Worry Trump’s EPA Cuts Could Be Bad News For The Chesapeake Bay
• White House could slash Great Lakes funding by 97% as part of proposed EPA budget cuts
• Iowa pollution enforcement could lose big under Trump EPA cuts, critics warn
• EPA cuts could be costly to Tennessee
• Trump’s plans for EPA cuts could drastically slow cleanup efforts in Montana
• State AG warns proposed EPA cuts would hurt Hudson River
• Trump’s proposed EPA cuts would damage Maine’s environment and economy, critics fear. Sen. King calls the cuts ‘deeply troubling’ while Rep. Pingree says they’ll hurt Maine business.
• EPA cuts could hurt Texas

What You Can Do

• Assess budget cut impacts on your watershed and community
• Tell the Story: put a face on federal budget cuts
• Review the Toolkit Introduction