Budget cuts force some EPA libraries to close.

Newsletter publishers who sell to U.S. government agencies, and the journalists who cover those agencies, must be dismayed with the Bush administration's latest move to limit public access to government information, this time the Environmental Protection Agency's libraries.

The administration's proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2007, which has not yet been passed by Congress but which went into effect October 1, cuts the Environmental Protection Agency's library system budget by 80 percent, leaving just $500,000 for operations.

The EPA released a plan last August to restructure its library system, which operates 26 libraries across the United States that offer public access to thousands of EPA documents. Of the 26 libraries, 10 regional ones and the headquarters library in Washington, D.C., will be or have already been affected by the budget reductions. The headquarters and three regional libraries have already closed.

Three ranking House Democrats--Representatives Bart Gordon of Tennessee, Henry Waxman of California and John Dingell of Michigan--have urged the Government Accountability Office to investigate the budget cuts. Their letter to the GAO stated that "a shuttered library does not further open and transparent government." The GAO plans to begin the investigation next month, said John B. Stephenson, director of natural resources and environment at the GAO. The recent takeover of Congress by the Democrats will undoubtedly add muscle to that investigation.

Among those protesting the budget cuts are the American Library Association (a "draconian" move) and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents at least 10,000 EPA employees.

The First Amendment Center, www.firstamendmentcenter.org, is following the case.